Pennsylvania Sedge dilemma

[Jaxon Holler]

So portions of my logging process are wrapping up and I'm hoping to convert a few clear cut areas to oak savanna/meadow areas going forward. One area is about an acre in size and I've got all the tops piled up to burn this winter. Everything was sacrificed this spring with a spring tooth harrow and the tractor work moving tops and rocks. The soil is sandy and classified as a sandstone barren with mostly rock and very shallow soils.
Here's the dilemma. Pennsylvania sedge is covering the ground and there are almost no forbs or grasses. White pine seedlings are popping up as well as red and white oaks seedlings.
Should I spray patches of sedge to bare the soil and see what comes back, let it go and see what happens, or spray the sedge and plant a native mix of grasses and forbs to jump start the process?
I know the sedge is a native component but it's not reaching a height which encourages bedding/cover or food.

 

[Wild Thing]

I would get rid of the sedge if you can. It has zero wildlife value IMO and it shades out the soil to discourage anything else from coming up through it. I have a lot of it in my hardwoods and the only new growth that comes up through it is Leeks. Once the leeks are done for the year the sedge blocks everything else.

Dr Craig Harper told me to try Basagran on the sedge but I haven't got around to it yet.

 

[Native Hunter]

Since we are only taking about an acre, I would spray the sedge and kill it. Then wait and see what comes up after that and move forward from that point. However, from the way you have described it, I think you are going to end up with a forest of oaks and pines rather than a savannah - unless you also kill a bunch of tree seedlings as well.

PS - Not all ground has a seedbank with the meadow species that get tall enough for deer bedding. But, if that's what you want, there is nothing wrong with waiting and seeing if some of those species do exist there after you whack the sedge. Time is basically all you lose by experimenting and trying different things.

 

[bigboreblr]

I battle sedge in the adirondacks. Spray and rye the snot out of it for a year or two, then go for your savanah plan there. Learning to live with it will be much better than fighting to destroy it.

I have basagran, but it was raining when I wanted to put it up at camp.

To keep things alive in barren sand, you're likely need to light lime and fertilize annually. Atleast every other year.

Sedge has tubers underneath. Much like clover's reaction, roundup stunts it, but doesn't kill it. Roundup annually and it'll look alot better. You can roundup, then basagran, then harrow what young things pop up. IF you can work this with a dry spell after these things, you can get it sedge free.

Not sure about PA sedge. Yellow nutsedge and mace sedge are prolific seeders and those seeds can be dromant for a long time. Couple it with seveal days to a week of flooded situation, they take a tough hold on your spot.

I fight the sedge some, but just let it grwo with what I want. Annual ringle applications of roundup make it mangeable. Talking 30% or less sedge with your desired growth. Better you get your soil, the better you can fight sedge. Sedge lives where others don't......

 

[bueller]

They destroyed great deer habitat on the federal lands by me to create large oak savannas which are not great deer habitat, way too open. On the flip side any small meadow type openings with Pennsylvania sedge covering the ground are typically loaded with beds.