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03 Aug 2011, 6:07 PM gethin Joined on 06 Dec 2005 Posts 32 Using yellow rattle in grass margins Visited a farm recently that had sown yellow rattle in their grass margins. There had been mixed success with it failing to establish in many, but where it had got a foothold, it made a big impact; keeping grasses suppressed to create a much more open structure and greatly improved floristic interest. There were noticeably more grasshoppers moving around which would have been highly accessible to foraging birds. Have others tried/seen this work well and any thoughts on the best way to getting yellow rattle established in margins. I’ve had experience of incorporating it into hay meadows – usually best to sow after cutting when the sward is open and grasses suppressed, but grazing probably helps a lot in grassland through improving seed-soil contact and keeping grasses down.    Report

04 Aug 2011, 9:23 AM Richard Lockett Joined on 27 Nov 2008 Posts 13 Re: Using yellow rattle in grass margins Hi Gethin, In my experience it's pretty easy to get established. The last time I did it we sowed in early winter into a short sward. We used the tines on the forks of a tractor loader to scratch up the surface and create some bare soil  and scattered it in. Once it's established into seems to spread quite readily. Scotia Seeds have some useful info on their web-site: http://www.scotiaseeds.co.uk/Arch0610YRattle.php Richard    Report

13 Aug 2011, 9:49 AM FarmerTom Joined on 26 Mar 2010 Posts 9 Re: Using yellow rattle in grass margins Hi Gethin I added my Hay Rattle seed to my grass and wild flower mix and drilled it on to the surface and rolled it in. Under stewardship you have to cut your margins in the first year, three or four times to suppress weeds. Despite this the Hay Rattle survived the cutting or some of the seed germinated in the second year(more likely) as Hay Rattle is an annual. In the second year it flowered produced seed and has increased each year since. As long as you take a crop of hay off your margin late enough to allow the Hay Rattle seed to mature then it should look after itself. In fact you may find it takes over and you loose too much grass in which case you could take an early cut one year before it has matured and control it. This brings up the subject of the practice of cutting half your margin in June which is promoted by some Natural England Adviser's to extend the flowering period, if you do this you may kill your Hay Rattle on half your margin!!    Report

24 Aug 2011, 5:28 PM gethin Joined on 06 Dec 2005 Posts 32 Re: Using yellow rattle in grass margins The general recommendation for grass margins is to cut the 3 m next to the crop edge (on a 6 m buffer strip) annually after mid-July, so that will be fine to allow yellow rattle to persist – it’s the pollen and nectar mixes that require half the area to be cut around June. Seems most people cut their margins in August or September after harvest, but I recently spoke with a farmer who believes that changing the cutting date on his grass margins (variety of grass and floristically enhanced) to later in the winter has improved their value to wildlife. He has found that late winter cutting leaves less mulch behind to suppress less vigorous plants; he thinks because the plants are drier and ‘shatter’ more. Also, this timing allows any seeds on grasses and broad-leaved plants to be available for longer and he sees many birds feeding on the margins through winter.    Report

04 Sep 2011, 8:43 AM FarmerTom Joined on 26 Mar 2010 Posts 9 Re: Using yellow rattle in grass margins The management prescription is once established the strip must be cut or grazed to deliver the desired outcome for your situation. Which is nicely vague which allows farmers to try different methods of management to suit their own circumstances, the result being good for biodiversity on the whole. There are two ways of cutting your grass one for hay or some other type of forage, end of August beginning of September the best time as it allows you to take a crop of hay off which still has some value. It usually covers the cost of paying a contractor to make it. It gives time for flowers to seed and the birds to feed on them and does not give too much time for the grasses to grow back too much in the Autumn. Removing the hay helps to keep the nutrient levels down which in the long run will help with the competitiveness between the flowers and the grasses. The second way of cutting is to cut and mulch and your farmer friend seems to have found the best way to do this by doing it in the winter when there is less mulch to smother the wild flowers. The advantage of this method is that the wildflowers have fully flowered and nature taken full advantage of this. The disadvantage is that mulching does not remove the nutrients and can create bare patches when too thick, so long term could effect the wildflower margin. We need a long term trial or just keep all methods for a diverse countryside.    Report

05 Sep 2011, 12:21 PM gethin Joined on 06 Dec 2005 Posts 32 Re: Using yellow rattle in grass margins Cutting and baling the margins for livestock forage is probably the best method all round, but so many arable farms arent interested in this, so later cutting to minimise mulch seems a good way forward. As you say, variety of management will only be a good thing so no absolute right or wrong    Report

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