Lucerne
In the South Island, Lucerne is normally sown in the Spring as it prefers to go into ground where the soil temperature is on a rising plane; however it is often successfully established in the early Autumn in most North Island regions.
The three main keys for establishing a successful lucerne paddock are, a free draining soil type, soil pH of 5.8 to 6 and freedom from perennial weeds i.e. couch and browntop. Sowing into paddocks that don't have these three basic requirements will lead to a reduced life expectancy of your stand.
So therefore your planning has to start early, we recommend your first step is to get your fertiliser rep to take a soil sample and discuss with him what steps (if any) need to be taken to get the fertility to a stage where its suitable for Lucerne.
Also before deciding on your establishment method, either traditional cultivation or direct drilling/minimal tillage, you will need to access your paddock for any perennial weeds and work out the best plan to get rid of them.
For more in depth information on how to best establish and manage a Lucerne stand please click on the links below.
There are many different cultivars of Lucerne to select from on the New Zealand market. For information on our very successful
Icon and
SuperSonic Lucerne's and all the other cultivars commercially available please feel free to
contact us.
Website Link: Click here to go to our
Lucerne website page.
Download Link: Click here to download our
How to grow Lucerne Guide.
Download Link: Click here to download our
Lucerne Management Guide.
Website Link: Please
click here to contact us today about our Lucerne.
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New Rules for Gaucho and Poncho Seed Treatments
When it comes to protecting your newly established pasture from insect attack, Specialty Seeds recommend the use of
Poncho Seed Treatment.
The manufacturers of Poncho, Bayer, have just been granted a new withholding period (WHP) for both Poncho and Gaucho treated seed used for "stitching" (i.e. oversowing into grazed pasture). Previously the specific WHP when oversowing or stitching in was 42 days, this period for this method of establishment has now been reduced to
only 21 days.
This represents a significant drop in the WHP and will be welcomed by all uses of Poncho and Gaucho. It is a reflection of the commitment Bayer New Zealand has to both the New Zealand farmer and members of its Advanced Seed Treatment Technology club (ASTT) of which Specialty Seeds Ltd is a foundation member. The ASTT club is a Bayer New Zealand initiative to set and maintain high standards of seed treatment among its members.
Website Link: Please
click here to go to our
Seed Treatments area of our Specialty Seeds website.
Website Link: Please
click here to contact Specialty Seeds today about your best seed treatment options.
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Feeding Kale
Last month both Chris and I attended one of a locally held Kale field days. These field days where run by Agricom and where held at different locations throughout Canterbury. They were designed to inform farmers on how to get the best from their kale when feeding them out.
Although it was a cold Canterbury winter morning the information was very interesting and if you would like to see a brief summary of the day's events please click on the download below.
Download Link: Please
click here to download our
Feeding Kale PDF Download.
Website Link: Please
click here to contact Specialty Seeds today about the best kale options for your farming situation.
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