Wet weather ‘ideal’ for wild bird seed mixes

By Tom Allen-Stevens

14 May 2012

Growers planning to establish wild bird seed mixes this spring still have plenty of time to sow the crop – recent wet weather has been ideal to help produce a good seedbed, while sowing should take place from mid to the end of May.

“This weather has been really good news for those establishing conservation seed mixes,” says Richard Barnes of Kings Game Cover and Conservation Crops.

“The conditions couldn’t be better – you need a warm, moist seedbed and aim to spray off any weeds that have germinated with glyphosate before drilling.

“Many growers will be behind with their mainstream arable programmes, and any spring-sown mixes can wait comfortably until things on the rest of the farm are up together.”

There’s more detail on when and what to sow on the Kings website.

And conservation seed mixes are the subject of this month’s Tech Talk, sponsored by Kings, in Crop Production Magazine.
Tom Allen-Stevens

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Richard Barnes outlines the key management implications, and gives an insight into how to get best value from wild bird and pollen-and-nectar seed mixes.

“A well managed bird cover crop can provide a huge amount of pleasure and interest, not just for the farm owner, but for farm staff and family,” he notes.

The May issue is CPM’s biggest-ever issue, with over 100 pages of agronomic insight and machinery analysis, including a 39-page Cereals event and Machinery Special. It can be downloaded here.

There’s also an additional 16-page Quality Wheat supplement. To subscribe to CPM, and receive the best-read arable journal for 15,000 farmers and agronomists, see here.