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Prior to final seedbed preparation, soil conditioning and weed control tillage will be carried out <br />through the use of chisel plowing and disking. Chisel plowing will relieve any topsoil compaction, <br />will aid in controlling weedy species, and will leave the site in a temporary toughened condition <br />reducing wind and water erosion potential. Disking will be used to condition soil, break up clods, <br />and control weeds through tillage prior to seeding. If annual weeds are a problem, several tillage <br />operations may be required to get adequate control. Harrowing and cultipacking prior to seeding <br />will be conducted as needed in order to provide the smooth, firm seedbed required. In any areas <br />that may be poorly drained, tillage will be timed in order to reduce bogging, excessive compaction <br />and excessive cloddiness caused by tillage when soils are wet. The best period for tillage in these <br />areas may be in the early spring prior to the irrigation season (prior to mid - April). Section <br />2.05.4(2)(d), Topsoil (Redistribution), contains additional information on subsoil and topsoil <br />conditioning. <br />Seeding will be done either with a cultipacker type seeder or a drill equipped with double -disk <br />openers, depth bands, and packer wheels. A cultipacker may be used behind the drill to also firm <br />the seedbed. Either of these two types of seeding equipment will provide the greatest level of <br />success in terms of proper seed placement and firming of the soil around the seed. Seeding <br />depths are usually about 1/4 inch deep for the species to be seeded, and never more than 'h inch <br />deep. Seeding will primarily be done using the alternate row method where all grasses are <br />seeded in every other row and the legume is seeded in the remaining rows. This method <br />decreases competition, especially for species such as birdsfoot trefoil which can be somewhat <br />difficult to establish and are poor competitors in the seedling stage. This method is an accepted <br />method for establishing good pasture and will assure the desired proportion of grass and legume <br />species over the life of the pasture. If it is determined that the drill seeding method is not desirable <br />for a particular area, then a broadcast seeder will be utilized to distribute the grass seed onto the <br />surface of the ground. A large tractor mounted broadcaster having the capacity of holding several <br />bushels of grass seed will be used and the tractor will traverse the field such that overlapping of <br />the seed will occur. After the seed is broadcasted, a spring tooth harrow will be drug over the field <br />to bury the seed approximately 1/4 inch. Since not all of the seed will be covered, the seed rate <br />will be increased 50% over the drilled seed rate. If the harrow is not utilized, such as in a topsoil <br />stockpile situation, then the broadcast rate will be double the drilled rate. <br />PR -06 May 2010 2.05.4(2)(e) -17 <br />