DanielleP
Well-Known Member
Does anyone have any tips of fertilizing the land what fertilizer to use and costs/where to get it from?
fertilzing land
- Thread starter DanielleP
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spaniel
Well-Known Member
Knowing absolutely nothing about your land, herbage or requirements thats pretty impossible to answer. Your local agric merchants would be the place to start and the purchasing of a soil sample kit.
0ldmare
Well-Known Member
Best thing is to get your soil tested to find out what it needs. You can buy a kit yourself or ask your local agricultural merchant if they can do it/recommend someone. It can save you a lot of money to know what you need to put on it.
I havent had my paddocks checked for a few years and notice that the clover has reduced while the buttercups have increased! Obviously it needs something. I have someone coming tomorrow to test and see what its short of. I try to avoid putting on standard fertiliser with lots of nitrogen as it just makes the grass grows like crazy and then you end up with over weight or laminitic horses.
I am still using up some old Cornish Calcified seaweed which was very good for just promoting healthy grass growth without it going crazy, but you cant get that any more. For my hayfield I put on a general fertiliser as well as the seaweed. The general fertiliser is 20:10:10 (The 20 is nitrogen, 10 phosphogen and cant remember what the other 10 is!)
I havent had my paddocks checked for a few years and notice that the clover has reduced while the buttercups have increased! Obviously it needs something. I have someone coming tomorrow to test and see what its short of. I try to avoid putting on standard fertiliser with lots of nitrogen as it just makes the grass grows like crazy and then you end up with over weight or laminitic horses.
I am still using up some old Cornish Calcified seaweed which was very good for just promoting healthy grass growth without it going crazy, but you cant get that any more. For my hayfield I put on a general fertiliser as well as the seaweed. The general fertiliser is 20:10:10 (The 20 is nitrogen, 10 phosphogen and cant remember what the other 10 is!)
spaniel
Well-Known Member
Oldmare have you found an acceptable alternative to the calcified seaweed?
0ldmare
Well-Known Member
No I havent found an alternative at the moment, but am going to ask the man who is doing the testing tomorrow to see what he thinks would do a similar job. The company he works for sell about 200 different fertilisers including organic ones so there must be something. I will put another post on tomorrow after his visit if you like.
The seaweed was great for so many reasons (didnt have to remove the animals, healthy steady grass growth etc). Its such a shame you cant get it any more.
The seaweed was great for so many reasons (didnt have to remove the animals, healthy steady grass growth etc). Its such a shame you cant get it any more.
jrp204
Well-Known Member
Calcified seaweed was used down here to bring up the ph, if you're getting loads of b/cups this is probably the problem rather that a lack of fertilizer. If the ph is low lime would be the answer but i'm not sure how long the horses would have to be kept off the field, not long i expect if it rains.
spaniel
Well-Known Member
Id certainly be interested to hear what he says Oldmare, thank you.
0ldmare
Well-Known Member
Just had the tester and he has taken soil samples. Apparantly I need to wait for a 1-2 weeks for the results. The samples will also tell me if the soil is deficient in any minerals etc. Cost £10 for each paddock.
He said there are now specialist horse field fertilizers which are slow release and dont need the removal of animals. But like everything its best to find out what your paddock needs before you just go and buy some.
Looking at the web for information about blasted buttercups I agree with JRP204, buttercups seem to like low PH of 4.5 -5.5. Grass seems to need 6 - 6.5 for optimal growth so thats probably why they suddenly flourished last year in the one field. Interestingly I was told there is a new herbicide just out that (apparantly) deals with buttercups better than anything else, called Forefront. You need a license to buy it though (total pain)
He said there are now specialist horse field fertilizers which are slow release and dont need the removal of animals. But like everything its best to find out what your paddock needs before you just go and buy some.
Looking at the web for information about blasted buttercups I agree with JRP204, buttercups seem to like low PH of 4.5 -5.5. Grass seems to need 6 - 6.5 for optimal growth so thats probably why they suddenly flourished last year in the one field. Interestingly I was told there is a new herbicide just out that (apparantly) deals with buttercups better than anything else, called Forefront. You need a license to buy it though (total pain)