Too wet and too late to seed?

[Stephen Powles]

Section by section, I am in the process of restoring a wildflower-rich meadow using seed collected by either "hoovering" or with a seed harvester. In the past I have managed to get it in by late October. Largely due to the weather being too wet to prep the ground with tractor and spring tine harrow, the first batch I didn't get in until 25th November. I appreciate that this is late. I still have more to get in. It has yellow rattle in the mix. Am I better to get it in as soon as I can (to get the yellow rattle chilled) or forgo the yellow rattle, cut my losses and put it in during the spring?
You might be amused to see how I "roll" after seeding!
Stephen

"Rolling" post spring tine harrow prep work.

[Jeremy B]

Stephen,
I just spun some on for someone this week, it was a bit wet but not too bad, as long as it doesn't get waterlogged and rot the seed it should be Ok. Looks like your plot has a bit of a slope so I I think it will be fine.

I use a special scarifying harrow which doesn't get the seed in too deep, just creates bare soil on the surface.

Lets see how it looks next year.

Jeremy

[nickygradyscott]

you can always put Yellow rattle in the freezer for a while before sowing - and I would say you are not too late. I walk around the field with some pre-chilled seeds and sprinkle onto molehills and badger scrapes - works really well

[Stephen Powles]

Many thanks Jeremy and Nicky. Comforting to know. I was wondering how yellow rattle would take to going in the freezer - now I know !

[Henry Wainwright]

Many wild flower seeds including Yellow Rattle benefit from chilling to enhance germination (vernalisation) and break dormancy. I think DWT recommend sowing in the field before 31 December as a rule of thumb for this very reason. In general seed only becomes responsive to chilling temperature (that will break dormancy) when hydrated (in a moist environment) so putting dry seed in a freeze may not be so effective. Many references to mixing the seed with a moist carrier (sand, bark, moss, etc) and then putting in the fridge (4 deg C) for a few weeks prior to sowing.

In our field 2023 was a great year for Yellow Rattle. One reason I thought was that it was a good year for chilling for the seed that were in the field. Good cold snaps in Dec 2022 and Feb 2023. This Winter so far the chilling has been negligible. Let us hope for some cold and frosty weather in early 2024 to get our seed vernalised and actively geminate in the Spring!

[Stephen Powles]

Thank you, Henry.