Hay germination

[denis17]

Or do nothing and wait for the seeds to run out
Denis

[Did67]

And leave me a small square of 20 X 20 cm, let rise in ears to make me precise photos. I will try to identify. I suspect, without any evidence, of ryegrass (the hay may have come from a temporary meadow - grass that has been sown). Ryegrass is a distant cousin of wheat and its spikes are very similar.

The rest, I suggest you wilt it = return with a fork. Take advantage of the good dry weather window. Most of it should dry ...

[Did67]

Or do nothing and wait for the seeds to run out
Denis

Unfortunately, I have the impression that the roots will go to the ground and the plants will develop.

[Carl]

I will leave a good m2 in observation and return the rest.
Thanks for your advices !

[Grelinette]

Hello everybody

I am surprised that you are surprised to see the hay germinate, and more generally the grass which is used to mulch the soil!

Inevitably, all plants contain seeds that germinate.

For my part, having equines that I feed almost only with hay (and hay is only cut and dried meadow grass), here is what I see regularly:

- on the areas on the ground where I put the hay to feed the horses, there are many small sprouts that come out of the ground after a while even if the horses have eaten all the hay in appearance. This also allows me to ensure that the meadow regrows in various places by depositing the hay in different places in their park.

- under the pallets where the bales of hay are stored, many small hay shoots emerge from the ground: the hay seeds fall and then germinate.

- when I rake the hay debris around the hay storage, the hay debris mixed with the earth also germinates and this allows me to deposit this mixture where I want to grow meadow

- more fun ... horse droppings also germinate!
I regularly collect the droppings from the horses to clean their park and on the pile of droppings that accumulate I also see small shoots coming out, moreover also on the droppings that I left on the ground and that have dried. It is not uncommon to see a pile of manure completely covered with a small green grass.

There are at least 2 reasons for this: first the transit in the horse is very fast and all the seeds which are contained in the ingested hay, even chewed, are not assimilated and are found in the bottom of the dung then germinate, then the small seeds are protected by a fairly resistant envelope which is not altered by the gastric juice; and that is why it is better to flatten or crush certain cereals before feeding them to equines (barley, corn, oats, etc.).
Note also that a good nourishing hay is a hay that contains many small seeds, even invisible, and that it is this type of hay that horses prefer, and it is funny to see that when I bring them a hay ration with a wheelbarrow, the first thing the horses do is come and scrape the hay dust at the bottom of the wheelbarrow, and they love it!

[Ahmed]

I guess this is part of the evolutionary strategy of grasses: take advantage * of browsing by seed dispersal.

* The other aspect is the tillering ability when the grass shoot is cut, as well as the easy regrowth, unlike competing herbs.

[Did67]

Hello everybody

I am surprised that you are surprised to see the hay germinate, and more generally the grass which is used to mulch the soil!

Inevitably, all plants contain seeds that germinate.

Except that ... in a thick layer, it does not germinate (well, in 95% of cases, since here we have a case where it germinates - and that I know of another case).

You can "flip through" all the photos that I have posted online for 3 or 4 years, or watch the videos, you will see that my hay is ... clean! Except a few perennials which pierce it (buttercups, couch grass, bindweed, thistle ...). And many others have posted their photos!

Besides, in my book I admit that I don't have a totally satisfactory and coherent explanation.

But we are talking about layers thick (about twenty cm) and permanent bases...

Otherwise, indeed, it is the very basis of the living, it germinates!

[Did67]

* The other aspect is the tillering ability when the grass shoot is cut, as well as the easy regrowth, unlike competing herbs.

This is above all the "comparative" advantage of grasses, which explains their development in parallel with "grazers": the tillers are too short; the more the grazers graze (the upright stems) and the more the grass spreads out ... Where other plants have trouble as soon as their "heart" is cut off ... In a grazed meadow, the grass spreads out ... (even if the legumes play another card, that of the symbiotic fixation of nitrogen and that the bulbous - daffodils or wild daffodils play that of the bulb - very early start - looping the cycle before the others and "disappear" ) ...

We can see in this complementarity between grasses and grazers a kind of "symbiosis".

The principle is taken up by the "greenkeepers" of a golf course, except that their grazers are helical mowers!

[Did67]

To those who "are surprised", these photos taken the day before yesterday, in my vegetable garden [and this has been going on for half a dozen years!] ... You have to believe that there are "old wisdoms" which sometimes border on stupidity, "I have always been told that ..." that should be translated into "we would have done better to be silent ..." [or ".... to think before speaking" ...]

[This is not aimed at grelinette, I specify it, but the generally well anchored idea of ​​these "commonplaces" and other "popular beliefs" which are just errors of reasoning - in my book, I "dismantle" some of them- one].

All these flowerbeds have in common that they are former natural meadows (for centuries) converted into "flower beds" between last year and 4 years ago. They have NEVER been worked ("not even the grelinette", to use my usual expression) ... Not picked, not hoeed, not digged ...

We can see sporadically that some perennials are resistant: bindweed, bulbous buttercup, etc ... And also my onions and shallots (which I transplant directly through the hay) - there, that suits me ...

More no herb regrowth (Grasses). AND yet the winter outing was wet and long (until the arrival of the current good weather).

On one condition, which I keep repeating: to put a thick layer (20 cm).

But I recognize that there are exceptions, which I would like to clarify. The one we are talking about here is the second that comes to my knowledge (it is not much, compared to the hundreds of people who try phenoculture - maybe thousands?). I suspect ryegrass, but without proof.

[green68]

Photo of this day, the alleys are grassed while the cultivation strips are not

vegetable garden before mulching

The tapes were covered last fall