SILVERADO 9 LUCERNE PER KG

Silverado 9 Lucerne — description, seed rate and planting time

Upper Murray Seeds’s Silverado 9 is a highly winter-active lucerne (Medicago sativa) variety, rated Winter Activity 9. It is bred for Australian conditions and is suited to both grazing and hay production. It has good persistence, rapid regrowth after grazing or cutting, good leaf retention when making hay, and resistance to several important lucerne pests and diseases. UUMS+1

Seed and planting rates

When to plant

Silverado 9 can be established in autumn, winter or spring, with the best timing depending on your local rainfall and climate.

• Autumn: generally preferred for highly winter-active lucernes such as Silverado 9 because of their good cold and frost tolerance.
• Winter: possible where conditions allow good establishment.
• Spring: UMS recommends aiming for mid-August onwards, once soil temperatures and daylight are increasing. UUMS+1

For Queensland, planting time needs to be matched particularly closely to local soil moisture and temperature rather than simply following southern Australian sowing dates.

How to plant

• Sow at approximately 1 cm deep—lucerne should not be planted too deeply. UUMS
• Use a well-prepared, firm seedbed and good weed control before sowing.
• Lucerne seed should be inoculated with the AL strain of Rhizobium to promote effective nodulation and establishment. UUMS
• Avoid sowing directly into an old lucerne stand; UMS recommends a minimum one-year disease break between lucerne stands. UUMS
• Silverado 9 performs best on well-drained soils. Although it has improved acid-soil tolerance, liming is recommended where soil acidity is an issue.