Plant the right grass

[Native Hunter]

The two fields below are separated by a fence row with cedars. Both pictures taken today. The first picture is Switch Grass and the second is Big Bluestem. Both were fine during hunting season, but the Big Blue flattened not long after that. We have had almost no snow at all this year.

All other grasses standing well including Indian and Little Blue. BTW - Little Blue grows 6 feet tall on my place, so it's really not a "short grass" if you get the right cultivar. Fields with Big Blue mixed with Little Blue and Indian look pretty good because the LB and IG helps support the BB.

 

[scott44]

Good comparison, I like the looks of the BB and Indian grass but they don't stay standing here and look like yours. The switch will fall but bounce back up after the snow melts.

 

[Native Hunter]

Good comparison, I like the looks of the BB and Indian grass but they don't stay standing here and look like yours. The switch will fall but bounce back up after the snow melts.

I must have a good Indian Grass cultivar. It never flattens. My only fault with Indian is that it is slow to bolt and get tall. Once it does bolt, it's great.

 

[Native Hunter]

I might also add that the switch takes the prevailing winds. It butts up to an open field. Yet, its the one that stands.

That BB has the fence row with cedars to protect it, but it doesn't help.

 

[scott44]

I have used switch for cover and screening, this is a screening from our north fence line, trees on left.

 

[Steve Oehlenschlager]

Big blue stem is still a great grass. Not necessarily as a winter cover for deer. It was/is one of the best grasses for a large swath of land that was the tall grass prairie. Hundreds of species were dependent on it. Probably wasn't too many deer in the middle of the tall gras prairie!

 

[Native Hunter]

Big blue stem is still a great grass. Not necessarily as a winter cover for deer. It was/is one of the best grasses for a large swath of land that was the tall grass prairie. Hundreds of species were dependent on it. Probably wasn't too many deer in the middle of the tall gras prairie!

The good thing for me is that I only have one small field that goes down like that, and it stands well through our gun season. The 5 year old buck I killed this year apparently was bedding in that field at least part of the time. He would come out of it in the afternoons into the main plot.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Guys with these grasses - We don't have anything like that planted at my camp. How long does this stuff last ?? A couple years - or longer ?? Do you mow it ....... do you have to mow it ?? We can't burn it like I read some of you guys do - forest fire danger. All thoughts and guidance welcome !!

 

[Native Hunter]

Guys with these grasses - We don't have anything like that planted at my camp. How long does this stuff last ?? A couple years - or longer ?? Do you mow it ....... do you have to mow it ?? We can't burn it like I read some of you guys do - forest fire danger. All thoughts and guidance welcome !!

They are perennial bunch grasses and should last indefinitely. Even though there are lots of benefits from burning, I've been going 6 years and have never burned. I don't intend to. After trial and error I think its best to mow them in late spring / early summer just before or just after they start putting out new growth. That knocks the cool season competition back and keeps cool season weeds/grasses from going to seed. It also hurts any woody competition that has started to grow and allows the NWSGs to shade them out before they can bounce back much. By the time you need cover for hunting season - you have it.

There is some maintenance to NWSGs. I don't think they are for everyone. Also, I doubt that as far as deer are concerned that NWSGs have any advantage over a tall weed field.

 

[Native Hunter]

Some more recent NWSG pics:








The big blue before it flattened:

 

[Catscratch]

Some more recent NWSG pics:








The big blue before it flattened:

Beautiful pics! I've always been a big fan of grasses.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Thanks for the info Native - much appreciated. Is that big blue around 5ft. tall ?? You could hide an army in there. Is there a shorter type of native grass - say, 2 ft. to 3 ft. - that's good for fawning cover and doesn't require a gob of work ?? Mowing is not a problem. By the way - how short do you mow it ??

 

[Native Hunter]

Thanks for the info Native - much appreciated. Is that big blue around 5ft. tall ?? You could hide an army in there. Is there a shorter type of native grass - say, 2 ft. to 3 ft. - that's good for fawning cover and doesn't require a gob of work ?? Mowing is not a problem. By the way - how short do you mow it ??

Never mow below 10 inches. Big Blue is more like 9 feet tall. Indian is 8 or 9. CIR switch here gets 7 or 8. Little Blue hits 5 to 6. Pic below is Little Blue a few days ago.

You can get cultivars of Little Blue that are much shorter but for deer habitat I like the taller. There are some more grasses that stay short such as side oats grama and Virginia wild rye. I had those too but the taller grasses overtook them. But I like the taller grasses. Switch is my favorite.

Most of the work with nwsgs comes in establishment. After that it's just a matter of giving them the advantage over invaders. One mowing annually at the right time is a great tool.

 

[j-bird]

I'm very pleased with the fact that I used a mixture (even though the indian and big blue didn't do so well). My switch was drilled in with the seed being put in a separate seed box in the drill. It's very evident which row is which seed with the switch doing very well and standing nice and tall. I realize a monoculture is bad, and switch can be aggressive, but it makes great cover. My buddy even complained that the switch had gotten too tall to see the deer in it and that we needed to raise the enclosed blind to see better. The weaker rows get other annual weeds like ragweed and the like to grow and I just leave it alone. Biggest issues I have had are johnson-grass, canada thistle (which I spray early and that helps a lot) and now this stilt grass looking stuff (battling grass in grass is difficult). Most other "weeds" I simply allow to do their thing. I burn the whole thing off in the spring to control woody saplings as well (part of my CRP agreement). I have summertime pictures where if it wasn't for my ROP on my 790 Deere you wouldn't see it! Easy to hide deer and would be very difficult to hunt (I planted mine for cover for the deer and not to hunt in). I will also comment that you want the tallest thing you can get. These grasses produce a long stem that they grow the seed on but that doesn't really provide cover, you want the grass blades themselves to grow as tall as possible. I'll look into mowing vs burning - I like burning as it makes shed hunting a lot easier!