Yellow Rattle seed (Rhinanthus minor)

Yellow Rattle, also known as Hay Rattle, is a pretty wild flower that attaches to grass roots and suppresses their growth enabling wild flowers to flourish in grass lawns and meadows.

These pretty Yellow Rattle wild flowers do a great job weakening and reducing grass competition for wild flowers in open lawns and meadows. They are annuals and flower throughout the spring and summer and look lovely. Their dry seed pods rattle, hence their name. They shed their seeds from July, which germinate in the spring and become new plants and continue the grass suppressing effects for your grassland.

The best time to sow my Yellow Rattle seed is between August and February. It enjoys being exposed to the winter cold which assists germination, which happens during late March or April.

You should sow your Yellow Rattle seed over the surface of the ground having first cut the grass very tight (scalping it so you can see the soil surface) and removed the cuttings. The rain will stick the seed down to the soil amongst the base of the grasses where it will germinate in the spring and attach onto the grass roots. I suggest you sow at a rate of 0.5 grams of seed per square metre; this is quite an economic rate and you can sow at up to 2 grams per square metre if you are a little impatient to see results as the economic 0.5g/sqm rate relies on the fact that the Yellow Rattle will produce more seed each year allowing its population to grow within the meadow. I have developed my pack sizes to reflect the economic seeding rate of 0.5g per square metre to appeal to those of a more frugal nature as it is not the cheapest of seeds i.e. a 100sqm pack contains 50g of seed and a 2000sqm pack contains 1kg of seed. My Yellow Rattle seed is cleaned to a very high standard to ensure you only sow Yellow Rattle and not any weeds seeds that have hitched a ride with it!

To view my blog article on how to enhance a grassy field using Yellow Rattle seed click here.

If for any reason the plants don’t germinate in large numbers during the first year, be patient as then they usually surprise you in the second year.

The seed pack can be stored in a cool, dry place until you are ready to use it.

Yellow Rattle Plant plugs are also available which are an alternative for small areas, to view these click here.