The Birdsfoot Trefoil actually came up

I am always amazed when what I planted comes up. I may be conditioned to farming failures. 

This fall I planted Timothy grass for hay and I also added Birdsfoot Trefoil as an experiment.

The Trefoil, (or lotus major) is a legume which adapts well to lower pH soils, fixes Nitrogen, and is not supposed to cause bloat like alfalfa can do. Although, this will never be a pasture so I don't think this matters. 

I planted Trefoil mostly because my friend that owns the 3.5 acre field wanted to plant it years ago and only three plants made it though the summer.

I planted this a couple weeks ago somewhat against the recommendations of the seed salesman. I probably should have listened to the seed guy a fifty pound bag cost me almost $300.

Yesterday I checked on the field and I saw little broadleaf sprouts in with the Timothy. 

This was a no-tilled field so I may have trouble with frost heave if there is a lot of freezing nights. But, we shall see what we shall see.

Trefoil is the broadleaf in the center of the furrow. You can see little Timothy sprouts if you look closely. I am choosing to believe that the more mature grass plants are Timothy plants left over from the first planting.  Sprouts between the rows are no what I planted...

I prepared this field in the spring. It was disked twice and the harrowed and rolled four times. I then waited for a sprout and applied Glyphosate. After the sprout died I used my no-till drill to plant Timothy seed at 1/4" deep. There was a good rain afterwards and I think a lot of seed sprouted. However, it never rained for the next three months. 

I controlled summer annuals (sort of) by mowing so I will very likely have a lot of late summer weeds next year.

I replanted in late October into a damp seed bed. I planted the Timothy at 10lbs per acre and the Trefoil at five pounds per acre on every other row. (Although if you look at my photo you will see Trefoil on every row so it appears my plugs were leaking.)

My planting depth was supposed to be 1/4." The Great Plains 1500 with the CPH hitch is hard to set to a shallow depth. I put the Trefoil in the main box and the Timothy was in the smalls seeds box. The Trefoil was a coated seed so it was about the size of clover seed. Timothy is much smaller and lighter.

The small seed set up on by GP 1500 drops the seed behind the V-opener and right in front of the press wheel. Generally this means that the small seed plants in about a one inch wide band a little more shallow than what goes through the main seed box and out though the openers. The small seeds are covered by the action of the press wheels. 

There is also a floating harrow but I raised the harrow up. I wanted to leave a trench which holds moisture in dry weather.

I applied 6 gallons per acre of 10-34 liquid fertilizer which is banded in the row with the seed. This should help the plant grow through the cold wet winter.

This is the back of the Great Plains 1500. It is a rather poor view but I suppose you get the idea of how it works.