Frost seeding detail

[bigboreblr]

You guy do anything special for frost Seeding? Drag a harrow 1st? Is that clover plant you see above ground still alive? Or does it grow new off the root?

I am frost seeding clover plots of 1 to 3 years old. After year 3 I usually just redo them from till. I have been putting a mix of medium red, ladino, and dutch white.

Also, I am trying something a bit different for the next few years. Every fall, light till, plant red clover and oat and maybe wheat and winter peas. Would you guys bother frost seeding that area each year?

 

[Someday isle]

Just recently frost seeded my trails. A couple weeks prior I like to blow the leaves off the trail and then I just spread seed.

 

[Bassattackr]

Frost seed to bolster your existing stand. Frost seeding needs seed to soil contact. If the area isn't bare enough to require it, skip.

 

[yoderjac]

You guy do anything special for frost Seeding? Drag a harrow 1st? Is that clover plant you see above ground still alive? Or does it grow new off the root?

I am frost seeding clover plots of 1 to 3 years old. After year 3 I usually just redo them from till. I have been putting a mix of medium red, ladino, and dutch white.

Also, I am trying something a bit different for the next few years. Every fall, light till, plant red clover and oat and maybe wheat and winter peas. Would you guys bother frost seeding that area each year?

Frost seeding uses the natural freeze thaw cycles that cause the soil to heave and crack that draws small seeds into the germination layer. No soil prep is needed for true frost seeding. The key is timing. You need to do it when daytime temps are high enough to melt the top layer of soil and nights are cold enough to frees it hard. You can frost seed some seed earlier, but the longer the seed is on the top, the more time for it to be predated. I've seen small birds just go crazy in the winter after frost seeding on top of the snow. The seed shows up real well for them to find when little else is available.

Frost seeding does not require bare soil. It does require seed soil contact. You are not going to have much frost seeding into turf grass like fescue, but crops like WR and clover and easily be frost seeded into.

 

[bigboreblr]

Frost seeding uses the natural freeze thaw cycles that cause the soil to heave and crack that draws small seeds into the germination layer. No soil prep is needed for true frost seeding. The key is timing. You need to do it when daytime temps are high enough to melt the top layer of soil and nights are cold enough to frees it hard. You can frost seed some seed earlier, but the longer the seed is on the top, the more time for it to be predated. I've seen small birds just go crazy in the winter after frost seeding on top of the snow. The seed shows up real well for them to find when little else is available.

Frost seeding does not require bare soil. It does require seed soil contact. You are not going to have much frost seeding into turf grass like fescue, but crops like WR and clover and easily be frost seeded into.

I do pretty well with frost seeding my lawn. Before the winter, the thatch needs to be cleaned up in thicks spots. Not frost seeding, but spray clethodim on a lawn and adding clover in the late summer in NY has worked good for me. My backyard lawn is typical country boy lawn. I have frost seeded and put seed after flooiding in the spring. Has worked good too.

2 winters ago, I was frost seeding my spot while snowmobiles were going on the trail. I planted only ladino in the fall and was putting regular medium red and ladino mix for the frost seed. The red came up. Trail was maybe 6 inches of snow with 3 inches of ice base below it. Soil is sand with alot of organic dead lead and rotten tree material on it.

Buckwheat and corn wouldnt survive the ocassional ATV traffic on the trail. After 4th of july, maybe a 12-15 vehicles go by. Most use the middle of the trail which is beaten into a path. Other hunting clubs in the area travel to the reservior on the trail. Not suposed to, but most are hunters too and quite respectful. daikon raddish, wheat, oats, and austrian peas survive. Clover does pretty well too.