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["Gloria Morris" <gloriamorris59 AT gmail.com>]

Hey Bev,

When I previously established chicory, it was in a ten acre alfalfa field
that was fading down and needed to be replanted. The farm soil was a clay
loam, slightly acidic. The field was cut short for hay the previous year,
and was still short in the early spring when I planted it. I was unable to
obtain a drill, so I broadcast the seeds by hand, using the frost seeding
method. Broadcasting by hand over 10 acres was no small feat. I made several
passes over the field from different directions to try to spread the seed
evenly. Then I drug the pasture with a harrow. It worked. I planted a
grazable orchard grass and chicory and got a good stand. You don't want to
graze it until it gets established, and it does best with rotational grazing
(as do many grasses). It needs a well-drained soil and a pH of 5.5 or higher
to thrive. It does best in a high fertility soil, with plenty of available
N. A stand of chicory will last 5 to 7 years. So, you will either have to
replant, or allow it to go to seed from time to time (meaning restricting
grazing).

Before I get it established on my new place, I'm going to have to do some
soil testing. I have sand here, pure sand. I have no idea at this point what
my pH is, and looking at the soil, I'd say it is low on the fertility scale
('course I'm a girl from an area of BLACK soil, so this sand takes some
getting used to, and it is possible that it has more fertility that I think
- they grow some pretty high dollar crops around here). I'm figuring it may
take some time to build up the soil, though. And, I want to cross-fence so
that I can rotate grazing. But if I can get chicory established here
eventually, it is amazing for grazing. It is high in protein and mineral
content, produces a respectable amount of forage (tested at 73 pounds of
forage per acre, per day during peak growing season), withstands drought
conditions well due to its deep tap roots, and is very palatable to
livestock (I previously grazed sheep, horses, and a cow on it).

HTH,

Gloria


On 2/13/07, EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net> wrote:
> I've tried growing chicory a couple of times...can't seem to get it to
> grow..any suggestions?
>
> B