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Grass at AstwoodRSS feed

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.

Comments

Lawrence Hayes

Monday 31 August, 2015 at 8:15pm

Who do you get to test your grass? How much do they charge?

Thanks, Lawrie

Rosemary

Tuesday 1 September, 2015 at 5:48pm

We used Agrovista but any of the fertiliser suppliers will do it. If you are in Scotland, SRUC (formerly SAC) do it too. Think it's about £15 a time for a basic pH, P, K and Mg test - quite a lot more if you want the minor and trace elements tested for as well.

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