Overseeding Hay Ground

[Margo]

Needing to overseed some established hay ground. Have a good stand of fescue, orchard grass and clover. Will use a sod drill and drill more fescue. What would be a good rate to apply per acre. Will spread lime as well. Thanks.

 

[mtf]

8 to 10 lbs. If you have a pretty good stand already.

 

[Margo]

Thanks

 

[DanielW]

I go heavy on over seeding. At least 10-15 pounds per acre, and at least every other year (sometimes every year). But that's primarily because our ground is so rocky and so steep: I'll happily throw a lot of money and time into overseeding if it prevents me from having to plow or (especially) pick stones for another few years. But I've had only marginal luck with fall overseeding. I find frost seeding in the early spring works far better, and red and alsike clover work best. Trefoil and Timothy also do pretty well. I think the problem with fall seeding that there's just too much competition from the pre-existing grasses to let the new plants get decently established before first frost.

A neighbour also frost-seeds and then spreads lime using a drop spreader. He figures the lime helps cover the seed and give better ground contact. I can't argue with his theory or results, because he has some fields that haven't been broken up in 20+ years and are still looking quite good.

 

[Steve in VA]

Needing to overseed some established hay ground. Have a good stand of fescue, orchard grass and clover. Will use a sod drill and drill more fescue. What would be a good rate to apply per acre. Will spread lime as well. Thanks.

I drilled a second round of orchard grass 3 years after establishing it. I opted to drill 15 lbs/acre in the fall. I had good return. I plan to repeat with 10 lbs/acre fall of 2025.