Dry weather has provided a window for reseeding unproductive grassland in early September. When reseeding in autumn, it is a race against time.

The earlier the job is completed the better. Ideally, try to have the job finished by mid-September at the latest.

This will give time for grass seed to establish itself and for you to treat it with a post-emergence weed spray. There are also the added benfits of the grass being more frost tolerant.

Timings

Given the small window from the end of August to mid-September, give careful consideration about how you will reseed an old sward.

If a sward has not been burned off by now, the advice is to leave it if you intend on a conventional ploughed reseed.

It will take at least one week to 10 days for the old sward to die back, which eats well in to the window for autumn reseeding and the weather may turn.

An alternative is to graze the old grass hard with stock to reduce the amount of trash, then plough it down. Apply some lime and farmyard manure before ploughing.

Focus on getting a good herbicide applied to the reseed to control weeds, especially if the old sward has not been burned off before ploughing.

Stitching

If the new grass will be stitched in, there may be time to burn off the old sward if carried out before the end of this week.

Graze off the old grass to reduce trash. Disc and powerharrow the field to create a tilth. Drill grass seed at the first opportunity and apply a compound NPK fertiliser. Again, treat any weeds once the new sward has established.

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