Cool Season Pastures

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA

Seeding Rates

   Planting pasture and forage crops at the proper date is important to allow good germination and emergence. Planting date can also affect the probability of seedling exposure to insect and disease problems. 

   Planting should be early enough to allow good crop establishment before winter weather becomes severe. The amount of growth produced by plants and the amount of grazing available before winter freezes occur are affected by the planting date. Seed planted into prepared seedbeds can be planted earlier than if planted into undisturbed sod since summer grass sod remains competitive in the early fall planting season. Planting too early into growing sod may result in poor stands or stand failures.

   Inoculate Legumes

   Forage legumes, when they have the proper rhizobia in root nodules, can provide their own nitrogen and often furnish some additional nitrogen for use by associated grasses. The rhizobia needed are not the same for all legumes and are not even the same for all clovers. 

   Application of the proper rhizobia to the seed before planting (inoculation) is necessary to ensure that they are present. Only packages of rhizobia with labels that specify the legume that is being planted, and for which the expiration date has not passed, should be used. Using an adhesive in applying the inoculant increases the effectiveness of inoculation. Either commercial adhesives or mixtures of water with syrup or sugar can be used. Most clover seed is now commercially coated with several components, including the proper rhizobia inoculant. ∆