Durana rates?

Creek chub

Active Member
I’m considering planting Durana clover here in a month or so. Any suggestions on how much Durana and how much winter rye I should plant per acre?
 
4 lbs/ac and 50 lbs/ac rye
I forgot to mention that this soil is not too good. I checked it a couple years ago and it was 5.0 ph. It’s mountain land and I can only get bagged lime there but keep adding it each spring and fall. It’s about an acre and I plan on adding 10-12 bags in the next couple of weeks
 
8# and 100lb of rye is what works well for me. It also makes a huge difference how good your soil is, and how you plant the seed. Poor soil and broadcasting takes 1/3 more seed.
My soil is upland southwest va with quite a few rocks, not really big ones though. The plot has pearl millet right which did fairly well. I have a tractor and can disc it in but I’m sort of leaning to throw and mow. Any thoughts?
 
If your plot has slope I don't like tillage. If it's flat I'd turn up a little dirt with the disc, then spin the seed. A pass with a cultipacker helps after seeding, but isn't critical. The first rain washes the seed into the loose soil for good seed to soil contact. Broadcasting and then mowing is also ok, but germination rate is a little lower than having some loose dirt. It's very helpful for seed to have contact with lightly tilled dirt for germination. A twist to throw-n-mow is to run a disc through high grass, grain or something like your millet once before doing a standard throw-n-mow planting, in the right field conditions this method is very effective.
 
If you're looking for a solid stand of clover, is it even likely a person could seed too much clover? I mean, I know it might be a waste of money. But with small plots the seed is the cheap part. I know a lighter seeding rate of the WR is appropriate when using it as a nurse crop. But can you put down too much clover?
 
If you're looking for a solid stand of clover, is it even likely a person could seed too much clover? I mean, I know it might be a waste of money. But with small plots the seed is the cheap part. I know a lighter seeding rate of the WR is appropriate when using it as a nurse crop. But can you put down too much clover?
Overseeding isn't a big problem with clover like it is with brassica, unless it would be seeded way heavy.10 lb an acre and less is not overseeding territory for clover. Good clover seed is costly and the other aspect is that a failed clover seeding, which isn't uncommon, would need reseeding at additional time and expense.
 
8# and 100lb of rye is what works well for me. It also makes a huge difference how good your soil is, and how you plant the seed. Poor soil and broadcasting takes 1/3 more seed.
I’ve got 5# of Durana. You think it’s ok to add some medium red clover too ?
 
I’ve got 5# of Durana. You think it’s ok to add some medium red clover too ?

I'll just add, that when you look at the tag, on the Durana bag and subtract out the coating & inert material and factor in the germination rate, you might have actually 3 pounds of pure live seed, in that bag. You can see here that this 4 pound bag has 34% of coating, with a germination rate of 85%, it yields 2.244 pounds of pure live seed in that bag.


Imperial Whitetail Institute1.JPG
 
I'll just add, that when you look at the tag, on the Durana bag and subtract out the coating & inert material and factor in the germination rate, you might have actually 3 pounds of pure live seed, in that bag. You can see here that this 4 pound bag has 34% of coating, with a germination rate of 85%, it yields 2.244 pounds of pure live seed in that bag.


View attachment 16506
Very good point. I’ve probably been underseeding
 
Yes, you may or may not have underseeded ....... always important to read the label and make sure of what you get and what the recommendations are for that specific seed. Some clovers come pre-inoculated (like Durana) and some are raw seed and you have to, or should, buy and apply the right inoculant. If you cultipack before and after seeding, I think you can get away with less clover seed. If you don't have a cultipacker, then seeding heavier is a good idea.

inoculants.JPG
 
Would it he better to frost seed the durana instead of fall planting with my cereal grains if Im going heavy and layering my cereal grains?
 
Would it he better to frost seed the durana instead of fall planting with my cereal grains if Im going heavy and layering my cereal grains?
I’ve only planted Durana once and it was fall planted. Don’t expect much out of Durana at first. I actually thought I had a failed planting that fall when I seeded it with oats. However, the next spring the Durana exploded and turned into a clover carpet by summer
 
Would it he better to frost seed the durana instead of fall planting with my cereal grains if Im going heavy and layering my cereal grains?

I think if I was going to plant Durana or any perennial clover, I would focus on a fall planting and focus on giving it the greatest chance of success. A fall planting of clover in a food plot with ph above 6, will stand the chance of fewer weeds and surviving a hot, following, summer. Not sure where you are located, but down south, perennial clovers need to be planted in the fall to get a good root established to survive a hot dry summer.

I understand your layering of seeds, but again, I would put my primary focus on establishing a good clover plot. You don't have to do the who plot in clover. You can do just the shadier areas, if you like and your layered cereal grains in the center.
 
Back
Top