So I plan on planting 1 acre of chamomile by direct seeding. I'm thinking about just spreading it by hand but I'm curious how do other farmers usually spread the seed?
chamomile seeds are so tiny, it may help to mix with something else that’s kind of granular (sand, etc). i’d imagine there’s a real risk of seeding unevenly. i’ve grown a fair amount of chamomile, but i usually plant early and pot up before planting out. i can see why you wouldn’t want to do that at acre-scale! i do wonder if the tiny direct-seeded seedlings will be able to compete with weeds.
I use chamomile on paths. I order bulk organic chamomile tea by the pound from Amazon, way, cheaper than buying seed packets. I hand broadcast on windless days, but since I am just covering paths, I can be a bit carefree.
Our inability to change everything should not stop us from changing what we can.
The weed competition thing is the real challenge at that scale. Chamomile seedlings are tiny, anything else growing nearby just swamps them. Sand mix for spreading makes sense though, otherwise you end up with clumps in some spots and nothing in others.
Leaftide — garden tracker I built for tracking fruit trees & veg
He got surgery to replace his foot with a pig. He said it was because of this tiny ad: