Pasture Improvement: Broadcast Seeding

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Oversown seeds...
3. The roots of oversown seeds...
4. Seedlings are vulnerable...
5. Other Pasture Improvement Recommendations
   • Choosing the Improvement Technique
   • Rejuvenation
   • Renovation
   • Seeding into the Sod
   • Limited Tillage
   • Frost Seeding
   • Using Livestock to Renovate Pastures
   • Fertilizing Pastures
   • Nutrient Cycling
   • Soil Tests
   • Impact of Grazing Animals on Pasture Fertility
   • Weed Control
   • Trampling Effects
6. Related Links

Introduction

Applying seed on the soil surface of an old pasture is an easy and inexpensive way to reintroduce productive legumes and grasses. This approach makes it possible to improve almost any pasture regardless of the topography or stoniness. It works best on thin sods with bare ground showing, and is more successful on fields that have been heavily grazed prior to seeding.

Broadcast seeding is more risky than seeding into sod for the following reasons:

1. Oversown seeds often have difficulty germinating.

   Seed broadcast on top of the soil experience more severe conditions than buried seed. Moisture conditions and humidity levels change quickly at the soil surface, and this rapidly fluctuating environment makes for poor germinating conditions. It is not unusual for less than 75% of oversown seed to germinate.

2. The roots of oversown seeds can have difficulty penetrating the soil surface Pand, if conditions are dry, growing fast enough to keep up with retreating moisture in the soil.

   The primary danger is that the tips of developing roots will be killed. The root tips, the sites at which roots grow, can quickly become desiccated. The roots must establish for the plant to anchor in the ground, absorb water and nutrients.

3. Seedlings are vulnerable to competition from older plants already established in the pasture.

   Competition from the existing plants must be controlled by grazing or clipping.

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   Related Links

   ... on forages and pastures, visit Forages and Pastures (OMAFRA)
   ... on weed control, order Publication 75 Guide to Weed Control: Forage Crops
   ... on agronomy for field crops, order Pub.811 Agronomy Guide for Field Crops: Chapter 3 Forages
   ... on field crop protection, order Publication 812, Field Crop Protection Guide
   ... on livestock, visit Livestock (OMAFRA)