Steps For Successful Cereal Frost Seeding

1. BE PREPARED – There is a narrow window of opportunity when conditions are right for frost seeding. Late March - early April conditions could right at any time. The ideal conditions are when:
   • there is no snow;
   • the frost is out of the ground; and
   • the night temperature drops to -4° to -7° C.
     
2. Seeding can typically start around 3:00 a.m. and run until about 8:00 in the morning. Aim for air temperatures of -2 to -6° C with 1" of frost. Do not attempt when temperatures drop below -7° C because the ground will be frozen hard enough to break a no-till drill.
3. Avoid compaction or rutting. Seeding into a light frost will support the tractor and drill. Don’t mud it in!
4. Select well drained fields with good soil structure, where possible. But we are hopeful it will work on those heavy, undrained clays as well.
5. Crop rotation is important. Following soybeans is best. High crop residue can cause planting problems.
6. Fall burndown fields will have reduced competition from perennial and winter annual weeds such as dandelions, quackgrass and chickweed. As with no-till seeding, these weeds should be controlled in the fall. At frost seeding time, these weeds will be dormant. Therefore they cannot be sprayed in the spring prior to seeding.
7. Use a no-till drill that can slice into light frosted soil and place the seed into the bottom of the trench. Aim for 1 to 2.5 cm (½ to 1 inch) planting depth. Don't worry about the seed slot closing. Mother Nature will take care of it. . Grower experience in 2003 with broadcast seeding on the soil surface was extremely variable, in some cases disastrous. Get the seed in the ground!
8. Consider increasing seeding rate by 10%. Research in 2003 by Wendy Asbil at Kemptville College found about a 10% yield advantage to increasing the spring wheat seeding rate by 10% above the targeted 1.4 million plants per acre. This may compensate for the lower plant stands as experienced in the 2003 University of Guelph study. Increasing seeding rates more than 10% reduced yield.
9. Use a starter fertilizer. When the soil is cold phosphorus is less readily available. Use a liquid or dry fertilizer with the seed, such as 50 to 100 pounds per acre of MAP. This might mean mixing the seed and the fertilizer together in the seed box.
10. Use fungicide treated seed. Seed germination and emergence is slower than traditional, dry soil seeding dates.
11. Plant the headlands first. Farmer experience can tell you that the wheel traffic can make the headlands difficult to plant into afterwards.
12. BE PREPARED to topdress your nitrogen fertilizer, spray for annual weeds and harvest earlier than you would with traditional, dry soil seeded spring cereals. Nitrogen should be applied around the tillering stage and before the stem elongation stage. Annual weeds will also be more advanced than traditional seeding dates. Frost seeded cereals will be ready to harvest earlier than cereal seeded at a traditional seeding date. Remember, delayed harvest can result in a lower grade (falling number, greater risk of "weathering", mildew, and even sprouting in hard red spring wheat).

DO A PLOT!! We are looking for more information on this planting technique. If you are interested, or going to give it a try, give Scott or Peter a call for plot protocols and suggestions. Help us figure out if this really is as good as it looks!

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