JC Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 Whats the most common source of seed for crops, is it "bought in" or "dressed" on the farm or neither?? Also, what is actually done to the seed between being harvested and then re-used as seed?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 JDC grows quite a lot for seed grain. Its dried very slowly, Germination tested, Graded, Dressed and then bagged up by the merchant.I don`t know if home dressed is as popular as it used to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Ferguson Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 Whats the other options then graeme Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pingu Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 We dress alot of our grain to be used for seed a good 70%+ this year for our use only though rest sold as normal grain, we just aim to use the best quality stuff we have harvested and get it dressed its alot quicker and worked out cheaper with current seed prices Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav836 Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 You can buy in the seed in cwt or 500kg bags with a variety of different dressings on it, I believe from memory C1 or first generation seed is what you buy in for seed production and C2 which is the seed off the previous harvests C1 is what would be bought in for malt/milling/feed grain production. The two farms I help out on both grow their own seed for the next year, I believe that hey do have to pay royalties to the breeders for this though. All dressing and treatment was carried out by Hutchinsons with a mobile seed dressing rig on a lorry on one of the farms, the other does it himself with a 'Heath Robinson' type setup in the barn consisting of a Boby dresser with a sprayer pump cobbled onto it :D This only applies to grain crops though, as most OSR is Hybrid then farm saving of seed is not really a viable option as it will lose some of its characteristics if memory serves me correct, this comes in 25kg bags. Sugar beet is a whole different thing altogether, all is produced in mainland europe and bought in as part of the contract through British Sugar, it comes in boxes known as units which I believe is 100,000 seeds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnDeereMan Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 Anyone know if there is a web site selling small quantitys of spring barley, winter barley, etc Thanks for your help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav836 Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 Anyone know if there is a web site selling small quantitys of spring barley, winter barley, etc Thanks for your help How smaller quantity are we talking of here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnDeereMan Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 To buy kilos idealy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav836 Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 The only way you'll get it in quantities under 50kg is to speak nicely to a farmer as they usually have a little bit left over from cleaning out the drill. I don't actually know anywhere you could get treated seed corn in any smaller quantities straight from the supplier \ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerrabbit Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 If you are only wanting a small quantity of seed the best thing to do is to get it off a farmer that grows his own barley for milling for winter feed for cattle and/or sheep. The best time to get it is in February or March as then you will not have the problem of storing it as the farmer will have better storage facilities. For such small quantities there would be no point in dressing it or having it dressed. Doing it this way will save you money. We always drilled our own saved seed for years, never had a problem with it and always had good crops. One thing I will say, till the seed a little thicker, say 1.1/2 cwt per acre instead of the normal 1 cwt or 1. 1/4 cwt, this will allow for losses. Years ago it was always said to plant:- 'One for the Rook, one for the Crow, one to die and one to grow' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdc Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 As above.....even 50kg bags are hard to come by nowadays. I have some left if you pay the postage!!! I grow seed from 'C1' - first generation seed which is kept very clean weed wise, inspected twice, harvested as per normal but segregated from any possible contamination, dried at a low temperature to preserve germination (normally around 98% or more) and stored until the merchant needs it. He dresses it and treats it with a variety of seed dressings - normal fungicide, deluxe fungicide, insecticide, manganese etc. bags it up labels it with a batch number and sells it as C2 second generation. I grow C1 for myself and get a mobile dresser in as below. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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