Native prairie... general questions and my plan

[Rally1148]

So my plan for using the whole summer to clean my field was shot down by my neighbor. He owns the equipment, so I must comply :)

As of now the field was just disked, and we're planning to spray in a week or two at green up, and then no-till drill into that. Lots of weeks came up in the fall planted rye, but I'm MOST WORRIED about vetch that is coming up. We've had a heck of a time with it. I'm not really worried about it once the grasses get established, but until then I'm worried that it'll be too competitive.

The soil is very sandy, but has 2-4 inches of old pond muck on top of it. It will hold water if it isn't dry for a week at a time, but other than that it's the driest spot I've got. I'm wanting this area to be thick, but not TOO thick. My main goal is to provide some cover in order to make the deer travel in a certain direction, and use my plot during daylight. I'm planning on eventually planting some hazels and DCOs in it. I don't want to encourage bedding, because this is in a very visible place, I'd be toast walking to my stand.

Here are my questions:

1. Do you think that this is adequate prep?
2. Will this be too late to plant? If so, can you plant in the fall?
3. I'm thinking of using a boatload of wildflowers and switch (CIR if I can find it), big blue, indian, and little blue. How does this sound for a dry area?
4. What sources would you all recommend? I'm looking at Prairie Seed Farms' Tall grass diverse mix, but it says its for mesic soils. For half an acre, it's pretty much the best price I've found.


Anything else I'm forgetting?

 

[sandbur]

If it is very sandy, I would plant a string of red cedar or jack pine and forget the NWSG. I know that was not your question.

do you get decent stands of switch or other NWSG on your light soils? I just seldom see it by me.

 

[Turkey Creek]

Native prairie is fall seeded here, cant speak to your local.

Stock Seed Farms out of Murdock Nebraska they do have a website.

 

[wiscwhip]

If you make it thick enough to encourage daytime travel, IMO it will also be thick enough to encourage bedding, at least at times of low light. One other thing, switch will not likely do very well if your soil has a low moisture holding capacity. Big and Little Bluestem, Indiangrass, Canada and Virginia wild rye would likely be better candidates. The nice part about that is they also tend to grow a lot less thick in those types of soils, so your issues with encouraging bedding might be alleviated. If you do use switch, make sure it is a variety that is adapted to drier upland soils, lowland switch cultivars will likely struggle in your situation.

 

[Freeborn]

So my plan for using the whole summer to clean my field was shot down by my neighbor. He owns the equipment, so I must comply :)

As of now the field was just disked, and we're planning to spray in a week or two at green up, and then no-till drill into that. Lots of weeks came up in the fall planted rye, but I'm MOST WORRIED about vetch that is coming up. We've had a heck of a time with it. I'm not really worried about it once the grasses get established, but until then I'm worried that it'll be too competitive.

The soil is very sandy, but has 2-4 inches of old pond muck on top of it. It will hold water if it isn't dry for a week at a time, but other than that it's the driest spot I've got. I'm wanting this area to be thick, but not TOO thick. My main goal is to provide some cover in order to make the deer travel in a certain direction, and use my plot during daylight. I'm planning on eventually planting some hazels and DCOs in it. I don't want to encourage bedding, because this is in a very visible place, I'd be toast walking to my stand.

Here are my questions:

1. Do you think that this is adequate prep?
2. Will this be too late to plant? If so, can you plant in the fall?
3. I'm thinking of using a boatload of wildflowers and switch (CIR if I can find it), big blue, indian, and little blue. How does this sound for a dry area?
4. What sources would you all recommend? I'm looking at Prairie Seed Farms' Tall grass diverse mix, but it says its for mesic soils. For half an acre, it's pretty much the best price I've found.


Anything else I'm forgetting?

Warm season grasses are just that, they need heat to start growing and depending on where you are located probably won't start growing until June. Cool season grasses like most weeds will start as soon as adequate moisture is available and you have reasonable temps. Typically you want a clean slate to plant NWSG in and planting after a couple of years of soybeans is the best method. Once the cool season grasses start I would spray your field with a strong dose of roundup with crop oil, wait 2 weeks and spray it again with roundup and depending on your mix a pre-emergent like Plateau. You need to use a low dose of Plateau as it can inhibit switch and some forbs if put down to heavy. You will need to find someone in your area who sells Plateau by the ounce as you don't need much.

I have sandy soil and if your area is arid and remains dry you will not get very good height out of Indian grass. Each location is different and tailoring a NWSG to your area is tuff without some on the ground experience. I am currently working on a multi-year interseeding effort to improve my NWSG stands as the mix recommended by my local NRCS office was not tailored for my soil.

Good luck

 

[Rally1148]

If it is very sandy, I would plant a string of red cedar or jack pine and forget the NWSG. I know that was not your question.

do you get decent stands of switch or other NWSG on your light soils? I just seldom see it by me.

I've seen it planted on some pretty bad stuff here. Hopefully it'll work for me!

If you make it thick enough to encourage daytime travel, IMO it will also be thick enough to encourage bedding, at least at times of low light. One other thing, switch will not likely do very well if your soil has a low moisture holding capacity. Big and Little Bluestem, Indiangrass, Canada and Virginia wild rye would likely be better candidates. The nice part about that is they also tend to grow a lot less thick in those types of soils, so your issues with encouraging bedding might be alleviated. If you do use switch, make sure it is a variety that is adapted to drier upland soils, lowland switch cultivars will likely struggle in your situation.

I'd actually like it thick enough so that they feel they are secure walking next to it or on the edge of it. I don't want them going through it, as much as using it as an edge for them to travel along. I was leaning more towards big blue, but I was under the impression that it did worse on sandy soils

Warm season grasses are just that, they need heat to start growing and depending on where you are located probably won't start growing until June. Cool season grasses like most weeds will start as soon as adequate moisture is available and you have reasonable temps. Typically you want a clean slate to plant NWSG in and planting after a couple of years of soybeans is the best method. Once the cool season grasses start I would spray your field with a strong dose of roundup with crop oil, wait 2 weeks and spray it again with roundup and depending on your mix a pre-emergent like Plateau. You need to use a low dose of Plateau as it can inhibit switch and some forbs if put down to heavy. You will need to find someone in your area who sells Plateau by the ounce as you don't need much.

I have sandy soil and if your area is arid and remains dry you will not get very good height out of Indian grass. Each location is different and tailoring a NWSG to your area is tuff without some on the ground experience. I am currently working on a multi-year interseeding effort to improve my NWSG stands as the mix recommended by my local NRCS office was not tailored for my soil.

Good luck

So if I got a good spray in now, I'd be alright? I'll have to look into Plateau. Soybeans and corn aren't options, as this plot is about 1 acre in total, and I'm planting prairie in about half an acre.


So, overall, more big blue, and just a bit of switch?

 

[wiscwhip]

We had Little bluestem and Canada wild rye(occasionally Indiangrass) which grows native in the openings on the sandy ground around our old place, but you won't get much height or security cover from either of those. Don't count out switch, just do your research on which ecotypes are from drier, upland sites.