salvaged hay..

[DennisArrow]

I get the impression that you are trying to seed a hillside and concerned with the run off, soil erosion, and the seed staying in place long enough to germinate and get some roots into the subsoil.
For me, a fast growing/germinating grass is required. I have pretty much the same situation where my goats are in my forest and there is a lot of bare soil on the hillsides. What HAS worked for me is a rye grass. Marshall Rye is what I use in NW Ga. An ol guy down the road goes out and buys oats/feed and spreads that.
The deal is, this is winter grass, germinates quickly, and grows quickly. Yes, you have to sow more seed in April/May/June as the rye dies; but you have those roots down in the soil holding it in place for the new seed...........
Just my thoughts.........good luck.......Dennis

 

[Taylortractornut]

Rye is a good suggestion we use that on our landfill slopes in the fall and winter. Seed laying on top or in cold wet soild wont be hurt, i mean thats what it does in nature. Try spreading muck from the bottom of an old pond, tIn a few days youll have green fuzz about an inch tall. The water and cool ness helps to rot off the husk of the seed. We use hay on our slopes, actually I m in the hay blowing business. Hay is a great hing if you dont care about weed seeds the first year. I buy already harvested oat and wheat straw thats the left overs they bale that comes out the back of the combine. In some cases I can get a farmer to cut some of his crop when its dry enough with a hay mower and leave it full of seed. It makes a great thick fall and spring grass. Some folks even let it grow out an make a crop the first year to attract birds. One of the jobs I did last year was for a frien who had his house finish and the lot needed some works the slopes were steep 2 to 1 and will be a rough cut job not manicured. He had several old moldy bales that came off his cow pasture. on th e steepest wet parts we cut the twine and got a little bit started off and rolled it down the hill. It laid a nice thick layer down. Then one we set one at the top of the slope parallel and unrolled them then would move down a bit and do it again. It was almost pure sand under it. The hay broke down that winter and spring and put on about a a 1/2 inch of topsoil.