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Next update on irrigation paddocks that were seeded on 8 October with the Soilkee.
Best laid plans was to have the seed in at the start of October which should then have seen about 4 weeks of rain plus top up irrigation to get them established. Well last real rain was 3 October so has been irrigation only.
We have had a first graze but it’s all looking a bit ordinary given the winds are drying everything out in addition to the heat and no rain.
The areas outside of the main water zones have had only a few things survive as you would expect and mostly chicory and plantain with one patch of buckwheat where there was some hay residue.
The areas getting the water have run straight to seed with really only the chicory and plantain again getting their roots in.
No real sign of linseed, safflower, radish, peas.
Hard to tell if the perennial rye, fescue and clover have been successful given the existing plants already in place.
What is interesting is that any lucerne that managed to get established last year is doing well, plus any remnant Kikuyu that we have been trying to kill has also taken off.
More scratching of the head needed on what to plant next year.
Here’s hoping we get some summer rainfall !!
Rebecca Archer and Carl Smith5 Comments-
Yes, pulling off a summer cover crop in this environment is proving to be very challenging, plus the soil disturbance one needs to carry out to deal with the existing stand of growth from the rainy season in order to successfully seed in spring.
No one is summer cropping the same species we use in summer cover crops in this area, for good reason, so it’s probably a stretch to expect those species to go well, even as a cover crop.
If it really worth it or would we be better off just focusing on seeding what we can in autumn?
Some of the renowned summer species I.e. sunflowers and buckwheat grow fairly well if seeded early in autumn.
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Even with irrigation?
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No doubt, irrigation makes it much more feasible, keeping in mind that we still have to get rid of the existing green cover to successfully establish a summer cover crop. This involves soil disturbance in the form of cultivation or herbicide application, and you cut the green growing season short.
One approach that could use to avoid having to do this (on pastures that don’t have kikuyu) would be to let the winter stand die off, then graze it to take down the residual vegetation, then seed it with summer species and irrigate to establish. In this case, you’d probably be seeding around December/January instead of October. Less water and weed control required and you get to utilise the residual stand of winter forage. Just a thought.
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One of my take home messages from Grant Sims was our environment is similar to Gippsland VIC. He said we should try planting summer crops in feb if sufficient moisture ( summer rain or irrigation). The theory being that we are not growing the crops for seed and therefore not worrying about maturity. We should be able to achieve good autumn performance with summer species while soil temp is warm enough and if moisture isn’t limiting. Autumn feed is very valuable, so worth a crack I reckon.
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Yup.
Another thing we don’t always account for is that when we terminate pastures that are still actively growing we may not give the microbiology that associates with those plants a chance to complete their lifecycle. Many endophyte species that live with winter active annual plants go into reproduction when the plants start to senesce and produce the spores/cysts/eggs that ensure their survival through the dormant season, and repopulation when germination occurs with the autumn rains.
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