Grass at Astwood - The Accidental Smallholder

Posted: Monday 13 April, 2015

by Rosemary at 10:16am in Grassland management 2 comments Comments closed

The grass at our rented grazing was ploughed and resown in 2007. The soil hasn’t been tested since then, so I’ve had it done this year. Testing every four years is generally recommended, unless there is a specific problem.

Got the results back on Friday. For some reason, all the paddocks are high in magnesium – this sounds like good news for preventing magnesium deficiency in the livestock, but it also inhibits the uptake of potassium by grass. I have no idea why there’s high Mg but it means that we don’t want to use magnesium lime to correct the pH.

A modest amount of lime is required – the pH is 5.8 / 5.9, where the target is 6.0. The area to be treated is 2.5ha, so we need 5 tonne of lime spread.

We also need modest amounts of phosphate and potash spread – between 20 and 50kg / ha.

I’ll speak with the contractor we use next week and get a price, then arrange the application.