fertiliser/grass seed

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lucymay9701

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Hi, Please can someone give me some advice on looking after my horse paddocks? I have 2 small paddocks both of which have become very chopped up and bare. Usually I just get the fields chain harrowed and fertilised. However this year I have decided to re-seed the 2 paddocks as there was quite alot of weed growth in them last year. With one of the paddocks I would like more grass growth where as with the other I would like to keep it barer but want to re-seed so as to get the grass covering instead of weeds if that makes sense! I was previously told by the farmer that I should fertilise at the same time as re-seeding. However I was wondering will grass seed work if I don't ferilise and would it just result in slower growth? I was thinking of using both fertiliser and grass seed on one paddock and just the grass seed on the one I want to keep barer but am unsure if this would work? Any tips would be appreciated! Thanks very much.
Lucy x
 
Dear lucy
I think i understand where you are coming from!

So seed and fertiliser togeather,if the ground or soil is poor and low in organic matter,yes.

Seed only with excellant soil and good ground moisture fine.

use a fertiliser on poor soils low in organic matter you will require higher rates of Nitrogen 20-6-6 .
on poor soils with organic matter yes that means manure.

No fertiliser will result in poor growth on poor soils, as the roots will not establish and the grass leaves will be slow to grow so the grass may wither and die.

On rich soils with lots of earth worms in the soil,different from redworm remember you can lower the nitrogen levels or use no fertiliser at all.

keep a paddock bare if you had a laminitic horse yes but the top layer of soil will suffer from drying out and will weaken the existing sward.

Simply seeding, fertiliser organic matter and soil moisture are all crucial in a good grass sward.

Finally ask your farmer is it a rich or poor soil, does it dry out quickly or retains water.

Rob
 
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Be careful using a fertiliser with a high nitrogen content as this will cause the grass to "flush" and you could end up having problems with laminitis. There are low nitrogen products on the market designed specifically for horse paddocks (Graze-on is one), these encourage slow consistent growth over a longer period of time.
 
Unless you have another paddock to use it's a pain but may be better to reseed one at a time, as a re-seeded paddock should be rested for at least two months prior to grazing by horses (longer if it doesn't have the right weather conditions to help it grow) as they are such hard grazers. Until the grass is properly established grazing it too soon will see it plucked out at the roots / trampled before its established, never to return - which turns out to be a pretty expensive reseed. There are lots of different types of seed designed for 1,2,3 years, permenant, hay producing, grazing etc so best call one of the bigger providers for which type is best for your requirements. Very good advice to spray first so as not to fertalise weeds but unless you're spot spraying (and depending on the type of spray you use), a lot of them can't be used within a certain period of reseeding as will be present in soil and not allow grass seed to grow properly or flourish either. Does all depend on the type of spray used though. You may be better to reseed one paddock in the spring and then do the other one in the autumn, rest and fertalise the following spring. We always reseed paddocks September and then rest them all winter (when we need less grazing), fertalise in March/April and then use them after that. Have found the grass is much more established after a longer break than if you re-seed in spring and then graze a couple of months after, but of course depends how soon you need to graze.
 
Thank you everyone for your replies, that was all very helpful. I don't think the soil quality would be great in my paddocks so sounds like I would need to use the fertiliser with the grass seed. The farmer did recommend that, I was just wondering if it would still work without fertiliser but just end up barer but sounds like it probably wouldn't work at all! I have decided to re-seed and fertilise one paddock and then make a decision on the other around the end of August. What I was worried about is that I will be advertising a stable and grazing available soon and I didn't want to put someone off coming if they had a laminitic horse/pony (as my set up is quite good for that) so was worried about both paddocks ending up too rich. By just reseeding and fertilising one paddock it will mean I still have a bare paddock and then if I don't end up finding a livery with a laminitic horse or pony I can make a decision to do the other paddock later in the year.
Thanks again
Lucy x
 
The fertiliser the farmer is interested in, is to produce an initial what we call Root to shoot ratio for the emerging grass to get establised.

As earlier stated till the sward is establised it is not recommended to put horses out and to topp at lease twise for the new meadow to becone established.

For this reason laminitus should not be an issue.
 
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