How long to leave the field after..

[Laur]

fertilising.
I applied granular fertiliser to my field just over a week ago and still have it cordoned off so the horses cant access the 2 acres that have been fertilised. However the grass is now looking very poor in the acre they are left in so I am quite keen to put them in the other part. How long is it recommended to leave the field before allowing the horses to graze it after fertilising? I used granular fertiliser bought from countrywide (yara new 52). Obviously I dont want to risk them eating grass that is going to harm them but they are keen to be going in there! Appreciate any advice.

 

[joeanne]

You should wait for a chuffing good rain fall so the granules disolve and are absorbed by the ground. After that I would wait probably a week to be sure, but I know people who put thiers out 24-48 hours after rainfall.

 

[Paddy Irish]

I'm not sure how long for fertilizer but it's about a min of 2 weeks for weed killer , make sure that you check that it's been rained in before you even think about it , if you've not had enough rain to wash it in , you'll see the granules if you look closely.

 

[Laur]

Okay thanks for the advice. We have had a vast amount of rain over the last 9 days and I cant see any of the granules on the ground. As far as im aware it is a just a fertiliser and not a weed killer.

 

[Aces_High]

I'm assuming it's NPK fertiliser? If so you can in fact leave them on it but that aside. The main reason why people tend to leave the paddocks resting is so you can see the results from putting the fertiliser on i.e good grass growth! After 9 days rain you will be fine. Please send your rain East! 9 days is very greedy!

 

[CBFan]

If you fertilise at the right time i.e before light showers, you can graze straight away. if fact you can graze straight away anyway although some horses get blisters on their lips from the fertilizer.

With weed killer you need to leave at least two weeks though.

just be careful if their current grazing is very poor and the fertilised bit is very rich (which I guess it will be) to introduce slowly... maybe strip grazing a metre or so at a time initially... or coming off it and onto the poorer bit for some of the time..