YELLOW RATTLE SEED HOW TO SOW

Yellow Rattle is typical of traditional hay Meadows. It is an annual, which germinates in early March, and its seed ripens in July before the Hay is cut. The seed then over winters on the soil surface. The plant is semi parasitic on grasses and can therefore suppress grass growth. This is particularly useful in more vigorous grassland where other wildflower germination and establishment would otherwise be inhibited by competition from the grass. The poorer the grass growth the more open the ‘sward’, the more species of wildflower that can be accommodated. NO FERTILIZERS SHOULD BE USED. Yellow rattle is one of the few wildflowers species, which can be sown over grass. Yellow Rattle seed should be spread thinly by hand onto very short grass during Sept/Dec. The seed needs to over winter to be vernalised naturally in moist conditions. Seed should be raked into the grass after sowing to ensure good contact with the soil.

Approx. 1gms is required per sq. metre.

It is important to ensure the grass is fairly short (No more than 2 - 5cm) by the beginning of March so that the seedlings can push up through the sward in early spring.

Do not cut the grass between Early March - end of July to allow the Yellow rattle seed to ripen. The grass should then be cut quite short and the cuttings removed. A good rake over after clearing and shaking out cuttings helps.