Grass seed for airstrips

[Romeo Tango]

Can anyone recommend a good grass seed mixture for my airstrip, or a source of advice. It’s in Dorset UK, clay soil.

Bill
:)

[Ex Oggie]

Personally, I would go for green. Apparently it's this years black. :D


Seriously though, you could try the flying farmers website. I don't have a URL, but they would be the best clued up on croppy type thingies.

[stiknruda]

Suggest that you speak to your local seed merchant and tell him that you want a slow growing "amenity" mix with no clover. Slow growing means that it will take a while longer to establish but will not need cutting every week in the growing season.

Clover tends to grow much more rapidly than the grass and can readily take over. It also impairs braking when wet!

I have used the above for 4 years and it probably gets cut 7 or 8 times between early March and end Oct.

Suggest also that you have a friendly farmer air-drill it for you once the strip has been power-harrowed and levelled with the power-harrow levelling boards.

You will need to roll it once the grass starts to grow to encourage tillering.

How are you going to cut it?

Stik

[Genghis the Engineer]

Interestingly I was once told that for runways you want a reasonable (30-50%) proportion of white clover (no idea what the difference between clovers is) because it gives a much stronger surface that doesn't get muddy and churned up in the winter.

G

[stiknruda]

Amenity grass is the sort that councils put down on playing fields and it contains a high percentage of red feskew which does the knitting together job that your clover would have done Ghengis, without the drastically different growth rates!

Stik

[Genghis the Engineer]

Fascinating stuff - you've obviously made a study !

G

[Monocock]

As a fellow farmer to Stik I'm afraid I have to put the oar in here!

The amenity (slow grow) variety is certainly the easiest to maintain in the summer but be very careful in the winter. The lack of clover means that there is a lot more mud about in the winter and we all know what that does to our braking and TOR's.

A good mix of ryegrass and 30% clover will be quick to establish in the early autumn and the clover will provide an excellent "mat" to avoid the mud splattering in the wet season.

The key to any successful grass establisjment is how fine the soil is at the seedbed preparation stage. A knobbly seedbed means less soil/seed contact and will almost certainly result in uneven establishment.

Apply some nitrogen fertiliser when you first sow it and make sure you roll it really well with a flat roller. The nitrogen will help the rapid germination and allow the seed to get away well.

Yes, a ryegrass / clover mix might require topping more frequently (I'm at once every 8 days at the mo') but you will find it a much better surface to fly from.

Is the ground flinty? If so make sure you remove as many of the big ones as possible as they do tend to work there way up through the soil during the year and can be a nightmare with punctures etc.

Roll every spring after the last frosts with a heavy flat roller and make sure you aren't tempted to cut the grass for the first time each year too early. If you do you'll regret it 'cos it'll go rampant 4 weeks before it normally would.

One last word of advice, make the last cut before winter a long one. If it is left too short it will become muddy VERY quickly.

Sorry to bore you all!!!


:8 :8 :8 :8

[BlueRobin]

I've laid the odd lawn or two in my time from seed so just to back the points up then.

Clay soil - no problem. Grass is after all a weed and will grow practically anywhere.

Drilling is essential to guarantee germination (or use a fork is you have plenty of time on your hands). This shouldn't be sparsely done either. Grass seed won't germinate, especially on clay, if left lying on the top of the soil.

Nitrogen. Agreed. A young grass crop mated with nitrogen in the soil produces a lush growth. Perhaps the cheapest form of nitrogen can be applied by using sulphate of ammonia, a basic chemical compound. Although farmers may have more readily available, cheaper sources of chemicals ey Stik?

Organic? Well, blood and bone mix is more slow release. Chicken manure is good if only because it adds organic matter to your clay soil. I have used neither of latter btw.

Just wondering what mix do they use at military fields to get the ground so smooth? Grass at Syerston is like a bowling green.

[QDMQDMQDM]

Where in Dorset is the strip? Are any of us ppruners welcome?

David

[stiknruda]

Agree with Monocock on the fertiliser - IIRC - I think I used some left over 20:10:10 as it was "free".

My strip is on top of high ground and when I acquired the land it had already been properly land drained with the old fashioned permeable clay pipes - so I don't really have a problem with wet patches. My pet hate is seing all the clover circles at 3" high whilst the grass having been cut a week earlier is a nominal but uniform 1 1/2"


I use an 8ton flat roll and in addition to spring rolling try to roll it perpendicular to the strip after I have harvested the crop on either side after a light rain or dew. I then roll it the long way, too. This minimises those little ruts caused primarily by the tractor or gang mower wheels.

Do be very careful about the seed bed preparation - a chum of mine locally has wasted a year and a few hundred quid on seed because the bed was poorly prepared, it is very rutted. Land my aeroplane on his strip? I wouldn't even take my tractor down it!


Stik

[BlueRobin]

High ground? In Norfolk? Whasat look like then? :confused: :p ;)

[Ludwig]

There are some serious hills in Norfolk, mainly grain mountains and cash opiles from poor hard up farmers, Stik.:D

[TheKentishFledgling]

Bloody hell! I've always thought grass is grass? (Just spend an hour or so cutting ours every few summer weeks) :confused: ;) :hmm:

tKF

OK, I'll leave now :O

[Romeo Tango]

Thanks all. Advice noted.
The srtip is to be in North Dorset, near Gillingham.
Will be operated under 28 day rule so no vistors (for now anyway).

Happy Flying

:D

[Blind lemon]

On the subject of grass strips etc, can anybody advise me on
how best to form the white lining on airfields. After undertaking the topsoil strip in shape you want is it a crushed stone infill and base with a limestone mix laid on top to get that white effect ?

I have a STOL airstrip with displaced thresholds and wanted to delineate the start and end with markers / numbers but havnt got around to it yet, but dont the best way to do it.

:confused:

[Romeo Tango]

The professionals seem to do it by digging out where the white lines are to be and filling with chalk lumps (or something else white and not too grass friendly)

This is by observation - I'm not an expert!

[Skylark4]

Off at a bit of a tangent but:- I'm told that the standard answer to the often asked question of the gardeners/groundsmen at Christchurch college is as follows.
How do you get such wonderful lawns, what grass seed do you use?
Any old seed will do. You just mow it twice a week for three hundred years and there you are.

Mike W

[Romeo Tango]

That's all very well but I don't want it for lounging around on with pretty girls and/or revision notes.

But thanks for reminding me - I'll have to have a special patch of soft grass for that ....

:)

[Boing_737]

Whats wrong with a swathe of black tarmac?:} I here it looks good if you get those little white stone chips in it.

Alternatively, why not wait until someone (I think we all know who) comes round and asks you if you want your driveway tarmac'd - LOL

[Blind lemon]

Romeo Tango

Thanks for the advice, sounds cheap and easy too.:ok: