Soil Temp.April 20/15

[farmaholic]

Hillside without alot of trash.
@ 1 inch about 5 degrees
@ 4 inches about 1 degree.

[newguy]

So what temp is OK to go? Cultivated a field and will be seeding it to grass and oats mix today.

[freewheat]

With lows this week -4 and down to -8 for Thursday, and single digit highs, she ain't gunna warm much.

At least I can haul grain maybe.

[farmaholic]

For here the calander says its too early....and is.

[SASKFARMER3]

Frost still in ground trac hoe hits at 1 to 2 ft.
With cold temps this week. Wow today is cold ok the water is cold!

[newguy]

Hope to start seeding peas in a week just want to get this grass in and done. Best grass catches I have ever got was seeding in April and it starts with the first shower. Last year when seeding peas airdrill brought up ice where the cows were fed in the field. Peas did fine.

[grassfarmer]

Newguy, was pondering the same thing last week re getting some grass and oats custom seeded in MB.
Consulted a forage expert who said you need about 4C for germination and the grass doesn't want to be deeper than a half inch anyway. His concern with seeding early was not so much the plants getting frosted but with the seed rotting. He said if your top half inch is reasonably dry the seed would just sit there until it warmed up enough to germinate but if it was wet, or gets wet with another rain/snow event you risk the seed rotting. Can't afford that with the price of grass mixtures.
Would I be right to assume the oats wouldn't take much hurt? seeding them deeper where it might be wetter and colder would the coat they have on them hold up better? I know we could seed it early into wet ground in Scotland anyway.

[perfecho]

Seeded a couple of pastures late last fall.....time will tell.....

[newguy]

Oats is more of a carrier for the grass to feed evenly.most of the grass will be on the surface.enough oats will germinate to have something to cut the first year and leave stubble.grass and oats will be pressed into the ground with a roller to ensure seed dirt contact.have had amazing luck by doing it this way.will need a shower to get things started. If that never happens before July the grass will be the least of my worries.

[Braveheart]

Our best stands come without using a cover crop. Broadcast (with a Valmar) then harrow and use roller. We find there's enough wild oats and volunteer grain for something to cut for green feed.

Grassy, if you're planting legumes with your grass, it's too early in MB. Frost could still be an issue. We aim for mid May.

[Hopperbin]

Sask3 was using trackhoe on one year old breaking and hit a lot of solid frozen ground on saturday. I would not think of planting before may one here. Even though drainoff was pretty good.

[grassfarmer]

Thanks Braveheart, your average last frost date will be about a week earlier than ours here.
Tough call though in an "early" year, if it warms up and dries out earlier than usual and you don't seed earlier it gives the weeds a head start and might leave your seeds short of moisture.

[Braveheart]

Grassfarmer, true re an early year and moisture, especially shallow where your forage seeds will be.

[furrowtickler]

Soil temp warmer now than our start last year - 2 weeks earlier.. Should make for a better start.

[sumdumguy]

May the rains stay away until end of May. Wouldn't that make for easy seeding, for a change. Everybody ready? Seed in the dust, bins will bust.