CULTURE

The following discussion is intended to assist you in planning and managing your plantings of Native Seeds of the Grand Prairie. They are based upon the work of seasoned professionals and prairie bioneers as well as some of my observations while growing seeds in EARTHSKIN NURSERY.

There is no one right way to establish prairie. Each circumstance may offer unique challenges and require unique solutions based upon the resources at hand. However, if you can understand some of the science and ecology of seeds, species and prairie communities then you can use some of your own reasoning in assessing what is best applicable to your site.

Some of the opinions expressed here are only that and are subject to questioning and revision. The science/art of establishing prairie is in its infancy. If I have left something out that you would like to see addressed, please let me know and I will try to incorporate it in these pages. Remember, while there are several excellent books written on prairie establishment, not one of them has yet "written the book" on this subject. It is big and I can only scratch the surface here in cyberspace.

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COMMON MISTAKES TO AVOID

Don't rush! One of the biggest mistakes is rushing a planting into the ground without forethought, planning, and preparation. Prairie seed is a scarce and valuable resource, so don't waste it. You may need one and possibly two years in advance of planting to eliminate established vegetation and prepare the soil properly.

Don't plant more than you are capable of managing! Many plantings are often abandoned to the weeds during the establishment year because manpower and equipment are not available to mow them even once or only once (and often late at that). Most plantings require several mowings at not more than monthly intervals to prevent weeds from competing heavily with young seedlings and reducing stands. So, if can only mow 5 acres, don't plant 10. Wait a year and put in a second planting. If you have a large site, break it up into manageable sections and plant it over several years instead of trying to do all of it in one year. This will allow you to see what happens the first year and adjust your plans for subsequent plantings. Ironically, one factor interfering with this recommendation is that sources of funding such as grants, and cost share programs such as CRP necessitate large plantings in one year instead of stretching them out over several years. Good follow-up management in many of these situations is lacking and results are often mediocre at best.

Don't abandon hope! Prairie plantings take time. Prairie seedlings emerge slowly over one to four or more weeks, depending on temperature and available moisture. You must get down on your hands and knees to see them when they are young. Distinguishing them from weeds is difficult for the untrained eye. Once established, 3 to 4 years pass before your planting will really start to look like a prairie. Most of the wildflowers and grasses are perennial. They grow very slowly the first year, establishing more roots than tops. Annual weeds compete heavily with the wild species the first couple of years, creating a rough and weedy look. Usually, the third year, the perennials burst ahead of the weeds in the spring, unfurl their banners, and claim survival status.

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the nature of wild seeds.

In the temperate climate of the Midwest, conditions favorable for growth are not continuous in time. A species' continued survival depends on its ability to enter a dormant state in which it ceases growth. Deciduous woody plants form buds. Similarly, herbaceous plants form dormant seeds or dormant underground roots with buds. Think about it. Seed are shed in the summer and fall. The most favorable time for germination and survival is the spring. So, dormancy mechanisms evolved to prevent germination in the summer and fall and preserve viability until conditions are favorable for germination in the spring or summer.

"The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low, each like a corpse within its grave, until Thine azure sister of the spring shall blow." Shelley, Ode to the West Wind

Also, a diversity in the degrees of dormancy within each gene pool and among cohorts of seed populations produced over several years under varying weather conditions enables wild seed to remain dormant for varying periods. Thus, a reserve of seeds is maintained in the soil and germination is dispersed in time. So, if lethal conditions like an extreme drought or a late spring freeze do occur after a portion of the seed population has emerged, the entire population is not eradicated. When you plant a prairie, only a portion of the seed will germinate the first year. A high proportion of some species will emerge the first year while some species may have little or no germination until they undergo a natural wintering cycle. The greatest percentage of some species will emerge the second year. Germination of some species will trickle on for three or more years.

Horticulturists have devised many seed treatments that break dormancy and activate germination. The two most common methods are: cold stratification and abrasion of hard seed coats. Moist stratification can be very effective when done correctly at the right time as determined by temperature and soil moisture. Cold, moist stratification is most effective when the treated seed is planted by the middle of April in central Illinois. The benefits of stratification are reduced if planting is delayed to the middle of May. Some species will go ahead and germinate well. Other species like compass plant and rattlesnake master may be induced into a state of secondary dormancy when they encounter warmer soil temperatures. Their "eyes" on the environment seem to tell them that something just isn't right about going instantly from 34 degrees to 80 degrees. Much of this seed will survive and emerge the following year. However, some seed could dry out and die if the seed has imbibed water during moist stratification and dry conditions occur after the seed is planted and germination has begun following a late spring planting.

Planting in the "dormant season" or late Fall to late Winter (frost seeding), will naturally break the dormancy of many species of wildflowers and improve their germination potential in the Spring.

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PLANNING

Define your Goal: Dreams, Reality, and Budgets

Is your goal:

A prairie reconstruction with high species diversity?
A pretty patch of wildflowers in the front 5 acres that you are tired of mowing?
A conservation program planting?
A planting on the farm or hunting parcel to attract wildlife?

Is your goal realistic? If you are purchasing seed, the main factor separating plans for the above goals is the budget. A high diversity planting with a high seeding rate of forbs can cost upwards of $1000.00 per acre for seed alone. Seed for a very colorful planting consisting of 25 to 30 species of wildflowers seeded at 3 to 5 pounds of forb seed/acre and 5 grass species can be purchased for $300 to $500/acre. Conservation plantings, seeded at lower rates of forbs and grasses will require an investment around $100 -$200 per acre for seed. Another key factor to consider is the amount of time and energy you are willing to invest in the success of the planting. The amount of time and energy that you will need to invest will be generally proportionate to the amount of money that you invest in the project.

For smaller landscape plantings, if you are weighing the costs of prairie plantings, consider the cost of other landscape alternatives. The cost of seeding turf grasses can be up to $2000.00 per acre if you have the job done by professionals. The cost of landscape design and planting with annuals, perennials, shrubs, and trees can be several more thousand per acre for initial installation followed by high maintenance costs. At the upper end of $1000.00 per acre of prairie seed, the cost per square foot would be a little more than 2 cents. Two cents for 30 to 50 seeds. Two cents for many flowers and grasses that can endure well past your tenure. At $500.00 per acre for seed, your cost is about one cent per square foot. Where applicable, prairie plantings are economically competitive with the traditional landscape alternatives.

Means of economizing on seed costs:

Purchase grasses separately from forbs. Mixtures of grasses and forbs are usually more expensive than when purchased separately.
Don't plant every species on every acre. Beef up the more visible sites with more forbs and plant fewer species in the less visible areas. Species were not evenly dispersed over prairies. You can achieve a fairly good representation of diversity by planting different species in different areas of a field and save a lot of money by not planting all of them in the same mix. Match species to variations in moisture or slope. Plant the dry or dry mesic species up top, and the mesic at the bottom of a hill.
Reduce the amount of expensive forb species and increase the amount of cheaper species. In our standard mixtures I have tried to achieve a balance in cost as well as providing fairly high total seed counts.
Vary the seeding rate. Again, if you have an area near a road, in front of your house, or along footpaths or nature trails where a lot of color is more important, then plant that area with a higher seeding rate of forbs and taper off the rate in other areas.
Purchase quality. Buy seeds that have high purity and viability and purchase seed that is sold on a pure, live seed basis (PLS).

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SITE EVALUATION

The moisture regime of the site is determined primarily by soil type, drainage, slope and sun exposure. Light textures like sands or loamy sands tend to be dry. Loams and clays hold more moisture. Some subsoils drain rapidly, while others impede drainage. The upper slopes of hills tend to be drier while the lower slopes tend to be more mesic. Southern to western exposures are drier than east or north slopes.

The fertility of the site is a key factor. Generally the best prairie plantings occur on the least fertile fields or parts of fields. These might be spots where top soil has eroded on the side of a slope and exposed more of the subsoil. Prairie plants have more of a competitive advantage over annual and perennial weeds on the poorer soils than they do on richer soil with higher nitrogen content and higher moisture holding capacity. High nitrogen and more moisture gives the quickly growing annuals and perennial weeds a big advantage in the year of establishment and make it more difficult to keep up with mowing. Perennial weeds like Canada Goldenrod also tend to be less of a nuisance on the drier sites with lower fertility.

Determine what vegetation exists on the site. This includes any perennial grass cover as well as perennial weed species. One perennial weed, Canada or Tall Goldenrod is especially problematic in prairie establishment. This species is very widespread and is found in many fencerows, pastures, ditches, rights of way and old fields. The seed is quite easily spread by the wind so if any of it borders your proposed planting site, this could be a problem as it is a serious competitor that has dominated many prairie plantings as well as degraded remnants. You should seriously reconsider any plan to try to establish prairie in any old field where Canada Goldenrod has grown with abandon. I would recommend finding a cleaner site. Many weed seeds remain viable for a very long time, so I doubt if trying to reduce seed populations with a couple years of repeated cultivations would accomplish much. On large reconstruction projects, where portions of the area will be planted over an extended time frame, it is important to not allow Canada Goldenrod and other weedy species to just grow and produce seed in the fallow areas. I recommend, if possible, to keep farming these areas with corn and soybeans using herbicides that keep the fields clean of weeds.

Homeowners who want to convert part of their lawns into prairie are subject to some very disappointing results if their lawns are heavily infested with many of the weeds that infest lawns -- dandelions, white clover, plantain species, pokeweed, bindweed, perennial grasses, etc. etc. You may not be aware of these weeds until you stop mowing or till up a patch of turf. Many of these weeds are perennials, making it much more difficult to manage them effectively without damaging the prairie species. To take a safe approach, I advise that you do not just kill out a patch with Roundup in one season, especially later in the summer or early fall and do a dormant seeding the following winter. I would plan on taking at least two growing seasons to prepare the site, killing emerged vegetation with repeated applications of a Roundup type herbicide. Observing what emerges the first season will tell you what species and densities of weeds you will be dealing with and whether you might be safe to plant the second year. It is possible that several years might be required to prepare a nasty site properly. On the other hand, a site that has been cleaned up through repeated use of lawn herbicides that kill only broadleaf vegetation may, ironically, be better candidates. Be forewarned, even in these cases, that the soil is full of weed seeds from prior land use, seed rain, and bird droppings. I must add, that if you do not have a mower that can chop off a lot of weedy material at a 4 to 6 inch height, your chances of rescuing a new prairie planting from a weedy mess is greatly diminished. If you can only mow with a lawn type riding lawn mower, then rolling the site to reduce any clumps caused by tillage will make it easier mowing over the planted site.

Be prepared for unexpected surprises if you plant in pastures. For example, red clover is often present in pastures in southern Illinois. Many of these sites will have a population of red clover seed in the soil that will germinate with soil disturbance and compete very heavily with prairie plantings. I have seen prairie plantings where red clover was planted as a hay crop in previous crop rotations. The prairie plantings that were done two years after the last crop of red clover had significantly more red clover than plantings which were done four years after the last crop of red clover.

Older prairie plantings composed only or mostly by prairie grass. Can you introduce forbs to add more diversity to these plantings? Yes you can if you are willing to put some time and management into the job. For a long time, many people thought that that chances of introducing forbs in established prairie grasses and especially tall grasses was an impossible task. Research in the past few years has demonstrated that it can be done successfully. The key input is mowing the prairie grasses back severely during the year of forb establishment. The logical course of action to me would include this regimen: 1. Burn all the old growth off in the late fall or during the winter. Do a dormant, broadcast seeding of the forbs. 3. Mow the grass repeatedly and not allow it to get much taller than about 6 to 12 inches. I recommend experimenting on a smaller area to begin with and that you have a reasonable chance of mowing regularly. Another alternative would be to substitute some mowing with the application of a reduced rate of a grass herbicide that would weaken, but not kill the existing grass. The chances of doing this will depend partly on how thick the established grass is. You will have a better chance of succeeding if openings exist between clumps of grasses and if it has not formed more of a sod like cover.

Find out the recent herbicide history on ag fields. If you can plan in advance, try to follow a planting of Roundup resistant soybeans that did not receive any other herbicide treatments.

Find out if any local weed ordinances might affect your plans. You might need to do some lobbying or educating local officials or neighbors.

Can you get a burn plan approved? If not, you will need to plan on how you can mow off and physically remove the old tops periodically.

Evaluate your ability to maintain the planting by prescribed burning or mowing. Planting near buildings, fences and most woody plants will limit your ability to burn. Use existing firebreaks such as stands of cool season grasses where possible. Otherwise you may need to plan the planting of firebreaks into the management plan.

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DETERMINING WHAT SPECIES AND HOW MANY TO PLANT

Once you have determined the moisture regime of the site, you can utilize species lists that classify species by their adaptation to different moisture conditions (see Traits ). Some species were restricted to specific types of prairies such as sand prairies, hill prairies or wet prairies. Many species were more widely adapted and were common in many types of prairie. Find out what species actually grew in your area by visiting local remnants or examining local species lists.

The number of species will depend on your goals. Prairie reconstructions are the most demanding. Native prairies were very diverse in species. There were often over one to two hundred species in some very rich prairies. We offer some of the most common species. You can supplement these species with selections from other nurseries with wider species lists. Most very diverse reconstructions are the work of governmental and nonprofit organizations or ecological restoration businesses that obtain seed from their own nurseries as well as from native remnant prairies or planted prairies.

Do not try to establish your planting by digging plants out of prairie remnants!

You can achieve some very pleasing results by planting 20 to 30 species of forbs combined with 3 to 5 native grass species. A good mixture will include spring bloomers, summer bloomers and early fall bloomers to provide continuing color from May to October.

Recognize that some species can be aggressive. Some are prolific seed producers. Others can spread aggressively by underground rhizomes. Some are big and take a lot of growing space. If seeded too thickly at the start, these aggressive species can crowd out the less aggressive and more conservative species resulting in reduced diversity and possibly an unbearable appearance. Forb species that can be problems are noted in the list of species' traits. Avoid planting too much Big Bluestem, Indian Grass and Switchgrass with your forb and grass planting. The maximum I recommend is one half pound of Big Bluestem and one quarter pound of Switchgrass per acre. Both of these native grasses are very dominant and can increase in the stand. It is probably best to plant these in separate areas by themselves especially when seeding lower rates of forbs. Indian Grass can also compete heavily with forbs so I recommend planting no more than one pound per acre.

A big problem with many of the existing prairie plantings is that they are heavily dominated by tall grass species. Some of these plantings initially had some forbs in the stand, but these have been crowded out and lost as the grasses gained dominance. A often cited cause is too much spring burning. Late spring burning may be a factor; however, I believe the main problem is that a good ratio of grasses and forbs were not established at the start. I have seen plantings that have a heavy Indian Grass component yet have maintained a rich component of forbs. In these situations it appears that a critical mass of forb species having what we describe as staying power was established with the grass. Some of the species of forbs that I have seen in such stands include: Compassplant, Prairie Dock, Rosinweed, Showy Tick Trefoil, White False Indigo, Round Headed Bushclover, and Rattlesnake Master. It is probably no coincidence that several of these are the same species that are often present in degraded prairies we see when driving along railroad rights of way.

Shorter grasses are often recommended as better nesting cover for game birds including pheasants and quail. If this is your goal, then I also caution against planting too much Little Bluestem. Seeded too heavily on rich soil, the cover of Little Bluestem at the ground level can be just as thick as the taller grasses when the previous year's of growth were not consumed by fire. So, I would recommend not planting any more than two pounds of Little Bluestem per acre. Exceptions might include places where you need more grass to compete with problem weeds like Canada Goldenrod.

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SEEDING RATES

Factors considered in designing seed mixtures, ratios and rates:

How much of each species you want to see represented. Species differed in their commonness or frequency within each prairie. Some were very common while others were widely scattered either as individuals or clusters. Some species are especially beautiful and colorful, so you might want to include more of these. You might also wish to plant species that are attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds at a heavier rate.
Ease of establishment. Some species establish readily from seed while others can be difficult. Some are classified as pioneers that dominate the early stages of plant succession. Others are more conservative and take more time to take their place in the stand.
Seeding rates of aggressive species need to be limited at the start to prevent them from dominating a planting (see above discussion on aggressive species).
Seed prices. Prices vary widely from $5.00 per pound to over $1000.00 per pound. This must be factored into the composition as determined by the budget.
Seed counts. This refers to the number of seeds per unit weight, usually expressed in seeds/ounce or seeds/gram. Large seeds like Compass plant have about 650 seeds per ounce. Very small seeds like Culversroot have as many as 750,000 seeds per ounce!
Pure live seed weights. Pure live seed is the actual percentage of pure live seed in a lot of seed. It is calculated by multiplying purity (seed expressed as a % of total weight) times the viability (%germinated +% live dormant). A lot that is 95% pure and has a viability of 90% has a PLS of 85.5% (95*.90 = 85.5). To make up a pound of Pure Live Seed requires a bulk weight of 1.17 lbs. (1/.855 = 1.17). Native grass seeding rates are usually expressed as pounds of pure live seed per acre. This may also be required in some specifications for wildflowers.

The only logical way to approach putting together mixtures is using as a starting point the number of seed of each species needed per square foot. Look at the factors listed above and you can see how starting from specifications based upon weight alone can lead to some very unsatisfactory results. It is OK to use weights based upon seed counts after determining the number of seeds you want to plant per square foot or other units of area. So, lets say you want to plant one seed of Prairie Blazing Star per square foot. It has 11,500 seeds/ounce. 43,560 square feet/acre divided by 11,500 seeds/ounce equals 3.78 ounces per acre. One seed per acre of Black Eyed Susan would only take 0.45 ounces of seed (43,560/96,000 seeds/ounce).

How many total seeds per square foot are enough? Again, this will be determined by your goal, budget and resources. A very high quality reconstruction involving the use of 50 or more species may take 50 + seeds per square foot. Acceptably good results can be achieved by using a seeding rate of about 20 to 30 seeds per square foot including grasses and forbs.

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Preparing the Planting Site

Objective: Firm, yet friable seed bed, free of live vegetation. Be patient! One year may be needed to properly prepare your planting site. Among the really big mistakes people make in planting prairie seed is not killing out established stands of perennial grasses. Just disking them up without previously killing with a systemic herbicide like glyphosate will result in renewed growth of grasses that will compete with and possibly ruin your planting. Also, just drilling seed into living brome, fescue, or bluegrass is best avoided if possible. There might be occasions when the existing vegetation is very thin on infertile soils where you might be able to skip killing the existing perennial grasses. Even in these cases you would need to follow up and burn these sites every year to give the advantage to the native species.

Dealing with existing vegetation in:

Lawns or areas with established perennial grass: While lawn grass is actively growing in spring or fall, apply glyphosate herbicide (Roundup, Ranger, or Kleenup. Always read product labels. This does not constitute an endorsement). Allow about two to three weeks depending on temperature for an effective kill before tilling. Retreat if first application does not provide nearly 100% kill. If you are averse to using pesticides, you can kill sod by smothering with a blanket of black plastic or other material that masks all light. Also, repeated tilling every few weeks will eventually kill it out.

Old Fields and weedy pastures: Mow or burn off old growth in spring. Treat new vegetative growth at least twice starting in June, again about mid July, and if needed, once again in late September. Your goal is to eliminate growing perennial weeds that will be growing and susceptible to herbicides at different times in the growing season. Consult weed control experts and read product labels for proper timing, rates, and methods of application for different species. This will not have any effect on the population of weed seeds (see further discussion of this in the site evaluation section above). Another approach is to keep the field mowed during the summer to prevent any seed production from the perennial grass. Allowing grass seed production will result in a bank of grass seed that will grow up and compete with prairie plant seedlings. Then in the fall when the grass is more susceptible treat with Roundup. Fescue is also very susceptible to a product called Plateau. This can be followed up with spring applications of Roundup before planting.

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Preparing the Seedbed:

No-till: Consider no-till drilling on sloping, erosion-prone sites. Drill into killed sod or a dead cover of winter killed oats or crop residue. See discussion of range land drills later. It may also be possible, depending on the density of surface cover of old plant residues, to do a dormant, broadcast seeding without using any tillage.

Tilling: Till up soil to a 4-inch depth with a rototiller, disc, or field cultivator. Old fields and pastures may need plowing first. Avoid over tilling that fluffs up and dries the soil too much. Tilling up sod, especially with a rototiller can leave the soil surface very loose with clumps of sod for over one year. The soil surface will dry rapidly reducing moisture available for seed germination and seedling establishment. Germinated seed may dry out or not get their roots established unless repeated rains or irrigation keep the surface wet. It would be good in such cases to let the soil settle and roots degrade for a year or so before planting. Rolling the soil will alleviate some of this problem. Rolling will also smooth the surface and facilitate the mowing of the new planting to manage weed growth.

You can go ahead and plant soon after this initial tillage or you can delay planting as a cultural strategy. Rain between your first tillage and planting can benefit you by firming up the soil and stimulating annual weeds to germinate and emerge before planting. If you had planted earlier, these weeds would now be competing with your wildflower seedlings. Now, before planting, you have the opportunity to herbicide this first weed flush which usually occurs mid April to mid May in central Illinois.

Final prep before spring planting:

If you are drilling seed, you can spray glyphosate on emerged weeds 2-3 inches tall about one week before planting or a few days after planting, before your prairie seed germinates and emerges. Watch this closely so you don’t fry the good plants. Emergence of some species seed can start in as little as five days in warm, moist conditions.

If you are tilling, you can also kill off the first flush of weeds with a combination of glyphosate herbicide and tillage. Spray the weeds when they are 2-3 inches tall, wait about 7 days to allow the herbicide to work, till a shallow seedbed (1-2 inches deep) and plant. An alternative is to till about 7 days following the last tillage. If there is sufficient soil moisture, many seeds will germinate and begin to emerge. Tilling alone will kill many weeds at this susceptible stage of growth. These strategies will alleviate, but not eliminate the problem with annual weeds competing with your precious prairie seedlings.

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Seeding

Objective: Even coverage of seed over the planting area, placement of seed at proper depth in the soil, and firming the soil. Seeding depth is critical. Do not plant the seed more than 1/4 inch deep. It is better to have some seed laying on top of the soil than to plant it more than 1/4 inch deep.

Broadcasting:

Advantage: Offers flexibility in planting different mixtures of species in different areas to provide a more realistic mosaic pattern or a gradation by height.

By hand: One or two people can easily plant one to two acres in about an hour or two. Even large areas up to ten to fifteen acres can be hand planted in just a few hours with the help of several friends and a plan. Mixing the seed with an inert carrier such as sawdust provides a larger volume of material for more even and visible distribution. Marking a gradient with flags or stakes will help to organize the planting in larger areas. Try to achieve some overlap between swaths to avoid streaks. Splitting the seed/carrier mixture in halves and planting at right angles improves distribution.

Mechanical: Cyclone type seeders with small seed openings will probably clog up and frustrate you. The Truax Company makes a broadcast seeder that will handle fluffy prairie seed. The hand carried unit is heavy. Another model designed for ATV’s will probably work ok.

Another option is to use a fertilizer buggy or other equipment with spinner type spreaders. Have the fertilizer supplier blend the seed with a dry fertilizer such as potash or limestone as a carrier. Oat seed or sawdust might also serve as a carrier. The wildflower seed will not throw as far as fertilizer, limestone or heavier materials, so you will probably have to reduce the swath width by at least half to achieve even coverage. If the spreader is designed to spread a swath of 60 feet, then cut the rate of application by half and spread swaths of 30 feet between passes with the tractor and spreader.

Good results are being achieved with fertilizer spreaders that utilize air flow thru a boom as a distribution mechanism. Agricultural fertilizer companies supply this equipment and apply fertilizer as a custom service. This is a better choice for very large acreages. The seed can be spread on the surface during the dormant season or if it can be spread over a prepared seedbed and rolled into the soil in the spring. For further information and pictures about air flow spreaders click here: AIR FLOW SPREADERS

Incorporating seed and firming the seedbed: Try to cover seed no deeper than one-quarter inch. On small areas seed can be covered shallowly by raking or dragging a section of cyclone fencing (dog kennel type) behind a garden tractor. On larger areas, tillage equipment such as a spike tooth harrow can be adjusted to achieve shallow incorporation. For firming the soil, a lawn roller can be used on small areas or in larger fields a fluted roller like farmers used for clover and grass seeds will also work. A good tool to use is a cultimulcher or cultipacker that has teeth for shallow tillage and covering and a wheel in the back for packing.

Drilling:

Advantages: No till drilling reduces the need for tillage, and achieves seed distribution and placement in a firm seedbed.

Disadvantages: Chance of planting seed too deeply in loose soil where tilled or where soybean crop has softened the soil. Plugging of tubes, dragging up trash between coulters and furrow openers, soil buildup on furrow openers, are often encountered. Plus they are slow!

No-till: No till, rangeland drills include Truax and Tye. These drills feature coulters which cut a slit through trash and sod, a seed box that agitates and meters fluffy grass seed, furrow openers which regulate seeding depth, and press wheels that firm the soil behind the openers. To view photos of a rangeland drill click here: DRILL

    The drill should be set up and operated so that forb and grass seed is planted no deeper than ¼ inch. Furrow openers should have ½ depth bands. Check the seed depth! If the seed is being placed too deeply, STOP! If you cannot make any adjustments, then disconnect the small tubes from the small seed box where they attach to the fluffy seed drop (assuming you are using it for the small seed) and just let the small forb seed fall on the ground. Some coverage will be achieved by the soil flying from the furrow openers and closers.  With adequate rainfall, much of this seed will germinate on the soil surface especially where sufficient plant residues maintain more moisture near the surface. If it does not germinate the first season, chances are good that it will during the second or third season.

     If sufficient quantities of seed are available for planting jobs greater than 10 acres, small seed (including seed the size of the hulled tick trefoils and smaller) can be placed in the small seed box. This will require calibrating the small seed box. Unless you are planting at least 1.5 or more pounds of small seed per acre, calibration can be difficult with a standard Truax drill because the seed cups must be closed down so tightly that they might not work very well and might actually grind the seed.   Truax makes a gear reduction kit that reduces all gear settings and application rates by one half. Truax sells this as an option; they need to make this standard on all their drills. This would allow planting smaller quantities of seed or opening up the cups more for the same application rates. Also, stop occasionally and check the drop tubes on the small seed box. They can clog up.   Differences in the levels of seed remaining in the small seed hoppers will reveal that some drop tubes might be clogged.

     For most planting jobs it is easiest to just mix the forb seed with the fluffy grass seed and plant all of it in the fluffy seed box. I once thought that settling of the smaller, dense forb seed (like the prairie clovers) in the fluffy seed box could be a problem. However, after watching the action of the agitator mechanism in the box more closely while planting, I am not as concerned about smaller seed settling out and being planted before the larger seed drops. If this is a concern, I would premix only the larger forb seed (like the coneflowers, rattlesnake master, blazing stars, and silphiums) with the fluffy grass seeds.   Some people go ahead and mix in about half of the small seed at the same time. They then add the remaining small forb seed to the top of the fluffy seed in the seed box as they plant. The agitator will mix it up as the planter progresses through the field. As they plant they stop the planter periodically and portion out a little more forb seed on top of the grass seed, gauging about how much is needed to finish the planting without running out.   You will also need to check the small and the large drop tubes occasionally to make sure that the seed is flowing and has not clogged up below the finger pickups in the bottom of the hopper.

    Again, one of the problems with the Truax drill is that the standard drill without the gear reduction option cannot plant lower quantities of fluffy grass seed that are recommended in some situations (four pounds per acre or less).    This depends partly on how clean the grass seed is or how much it has been "defluffed" or debearded with seed cleaning machinery. Cleaner seed flows through the planter more quickly resulting in higher seeding rates than are wanted even at the lowest gear settings. So, my advice to Truax is to make this option a standard feature on all equipment.

    Another problem with the Truax drill is that it does not do a great job in corn stubble. The coulters in front are all in a single gang or row and the distance between coulters is close enough for corn stalks to start bridging up between the coulters. Care needs to be taken to look back occasionally to watch for "bulldozing" of corn stalks in front of the coulters. You might also notice the tractor engine lugging down or pulling harder. Debris can also become lodged between the disc openers and stop the disc openers from turning.

    These rangeland drills are often available from IDNR Biologists, NRCS and SWCD Conservationists, and chapters of Pheasants Forever and Quail Unlimited. They can assist with planter set up and can answer many of your specific questions about using their drills.

Other mechanical seeders and drills requiring tillage: The Brillion company makes an alfalfa-grass seeder which when equipped with a brush type seed feeder can handle fluffy grass seed and forbs. This drill drops seed evenly across the seeder rather than in rows and presses the seed into the worked seed bed with a fluted roller. The Truax company has recently introduced a new planter that combines their upper seed box units with the lower unit of the Brillion seeder. They call it the "Trillion".  If I had the option, I would use this tool before I would use the regular Truax drill which has some serious design flaws detailed above.

    Will conventional grain drills work? Don't even try it if you are planting fluffy seeded grasses. Avoid the temptation and save yourself the frustration.

Cover Crops

Are they needed? Unless you really need to prevent erosion on sloping sites you can probably avoid planting cover crops with your spring planting. A common practice is to plant 30 lbs./Acre of oat seed with the native grasses and forbs in the spring. The rationale is that the oats competes with the annual weeds without competing with the native grasses and forbs (nurses them). I can’t imagine that the oats do not also compete with the good stuff so use your judgment. Avoid planting rye grain as a cover crop. Rye has allelopathic properties that could affect your seeding.

Side Oats Grama, a native warm season grass seeded at 1 to 2 lbs/acre is fairly quick to establish and may provide some soil cover without heavy competition the first year. Planting one lb./acre of Canada Wild Rye may achieve some of the same objectives.

If the site is prepared a year in advance of planting, a cover of oats seeded at 1 to 2 bushels per acre in the late summer or early fall will winter kill and provide soil protection into the following spring. You can then either dormant or frost seed in the fall or winter, or no till into this cover in the spring. Paraphrasing an old farmer's adage, "The best cover (nurse) crop is a dead cover crop."

Frost Seeding

In the first section on the nature of seeds, I discussed dormant season planting in the fall or winter as a strategy to break seed dormancy and improve germination. Frost seeding refers to an old method of planting that farmers have used for ages. The seed is simply broadcast on the surface of the soil. Freezing and thawing of the soil plus rain and snow will "work" the seed into the upper soil surface to about the right depth for that seed to germinate in the spring. Frost seeding needs to be done while there is still a good chance of receiving a few nights of below freezing temperatures. This should probably be done by the end of February to mid March at the latest.

I think this is a good strategy for seeding into very dry soils like sands or in heavier soils that can crust over very badly. Sands dry out very rapidly with the warm windy days of May. Having the seed out there as early as possible will give the seed a better chance to germinate when the soils are cooler and moister near the surface during March and April. This also increases the probability of receiving more spring rains than if planting is delayed until May. In the heavier soils, later plantings are more likely to be crusted in by heavy rains followed by sun and wind. Early plantings can also be crusted in, but it is likely more rains will follow to help loosen the soil surface enough to allow emergence.

A good method to facilitate frost seeding is to prepare the soil the previous summer and seed oats as mentioned above in cover crops. The dead tops of the winter killed oats provide a good nursery environment for getting seed germinated. Often, in my nursery, I observe many young seedlings emerging from under debris from the previous years crop or around the base of established plants. The trash on the surface catches the seed that has shattered off the previous season, prevents it from blowing away and also preserves more soil moisture near the surface for seed germination.

One of the first thoughts people have when I introduce this concept is that birds will eat up the seed. I have not seen this to be a problem. Usually there is enough cover to hide the seed. Also, freezing and thawing will quickly "plant" the seed. I do not recommend throwing the seed out on top of the snow. Wind can blow the seed away or birds can easily pick seed off of the top of snow. Planting on bare soil just before a snow fall is probably a good practice.

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Weed Control: "Tis an unweeded garden, that grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature possess it merely." Shakespeare, Hamlet

Objective: Reduce competition (space, water, light, and nutrients) and seed production from annual and perennial weeds. While your prairie perennials are putting down roots for the long haul, the annual weeds are racing to produce seed. Until your perennials, with their stored root reserves, can get the jump on the annuals in the spring, you need to provide them with some management assistance.

Mowing: Plan on mowing at least two or three times the first year!!!   One of the biggest mistakes made in the first and possibly the second year is not to mow. I have seen foxtail grow up so tall and lushly, that there is no chance of any plants surviving in the dense shade under their canopy. When they die, they fall over and mat the soil with a mulch about four inches deep, effectively preventing any seeds from germinating under this thick mulch the second year.    Don't let anyone persuade you that you do not need to mow. Often when a client has someone come out to look at a new planting, the weeds are still less than a foot tall and at that stage the weeds may not need mowing. The recommendation, "don't mow" is given, and the next thing that happens is that the weeds have grown to 6 feet tall, the planting has been adversely affected, and it is too late to mow without doing more damage to the planting. Your goal this first year is not to provide nesting habitat for game birds, so forget about the "mow after August 15" rule.

The critical time for mowing is early in the establishment of the new planting. So, mow to a height of about 4 to 6 inches when weeds grow to a height of 8 to 12 inches.   This does absolutely no harm to the prairie plants (unless you go into a very wet field and muck it up with wheel tracks). Most of them are only very tiny seedlings about one inch tall at this stage. Repeat mowing when weeds reach the above threshold height. This is especially critical where weedy grasses including foxtail and crabgrass have emerged thickly. Dense stands of weedy grasses create very heavy shade. Searching for prairie seedlings in unmown areas of these weedy grasses late in the growing season often reveals that most prairie seedlings have either been eliminated or are in very weakened and stunted condition.   I am sure that weed competition has a selective effect on many plantings due the the differential tolerance among species for weed competition.   Only the fittest may survive.

In large areas flail type mowers are preferred over rotary mowers since they chop weeds into smaller pieces. However, a rotary mower will work fine if you do not let weeds grow too tall before mowing. Mowing very tall and lush weeds can result in too much mown and fallen debris covering and smothering the prairie seedlings especially in the wheel tracks.

In the second year you might have to mow at least once. This will especially help the new seedlings that have just emerged. An early walk through the second year planting often reveals newly emerged seedlings of species such as Compassplant that needed a wintering cycle to break their dormancy. If weed growth was heavy the first year, chances are that you will need to do at least some spot mowing the second year. In some extreme circumstances such as when a drought has really adversely impacted emergence in the first year, then you should probably treat the second year like a first year planting and mow accordingly.

Herbicides: Plateau herbicide is being used to control annual weeds in some new plantings. This releases the prairie seedlings from the heavy competition of grasses like Giant Foxtail and the results in many cases are remarkable. One major drawback is that only a few species of prairie forbs are labeled as being tolerant to the herbicide. Also, Canada Wild Rye is not labeled -- it is quite susceptible to Plateau. To increase diversity in these planting, one practice is to plant the tolerant, labeled species in the spring and then follow up with a dormant seeding of the non labeled, susceptible species the following winter. If a lower rate of 4 oz of Plateau is used the first year, there should probably not be enough of a carryover to affect the susceptible species the second year, although this really needs further study before it is widely adopted.

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PRESCRIBED BURNING

    Prescribed burning stimulates the growth of prairie species helping them to jump ahead of annual weeds during the early establishment years. Later, burning will help to keep woody plants including brambles, shrubs, and trees from gaining a foothold and taking the planting over. Illinois would have been mostly forest instead of prairie had it not been for the prairie fires started frequently by the native Americans.

    When to begin burning? I have seen situations where there was no mowing done the planting year. The weeds were 6 feet high and extremely dense. Over winter, the weeds matted down forming a mulch about 4" deep. I thought, in that situation that burning this mulch off in the spring would have helped more seed to emerge and given the year old seedlings more room and light to grow. If you mow the planting as recommended the first year, there may not be enough fuel to burn the second year.

    Usually after two growing seasons, the grasses will have grown sufficiently to provide fuel to burn in before growth resumes the third season. From this point, annual burning is generally recommended for several years to aid establishment. This is critical, especially if you have planted early species like shooting stars or wild hyacinth that make their ephemeral growth early in the spring (March). Reducing the shading and cooling effect of dead vegetation is very important.   I have also observed in situations where cool season perennial grasses have survived herbicide applications prior to planting, that annual burning greatly favors the growth of the native grasses and forbs. Some people practice later spring (into mid April) burns thinking that the late burns set back the cool season grasses. I believe that just getting rid of all the old vegetation accumulated on the surface around the perennial cool season grasses has a greater benefit. By opening up the soil surface with burns in the late winter before the forbs begin growing and before the forb seeds germinate and emerge gives the plants the most competitive advantage to begin their growth early in the spring before many of the weedy species have germinated or resumed growth. Burning later in the spring torches off much of the good stuff and gives the weedy species like foxtail an opening to germinate and compete. Many of the established forbs resume their growth and some forb seed begin germinating and emergine early in March!   You want these up and growing vigorously before the annual weeds germinate. So plan your burns accordingly. (Hint to the bosses -- give your employees the flexibility they need to manage the work in a timely manner and quite burdening them with meetings, desk work, and bureaucratic drudgery when they need to be in the field!)

    Exercise great caution with burning. Prairies can burn with great intensity. Attend prescribed burning classes if possible. Get some experience burning with volunteer organizations like the Nature Conservancy or with neighbors.   Develop a burn plan for each site. Include firebreaks in your site plan. Evaluate the weather and know the limits of your people and resources to handle a fire under the circumstances.     How to Manage Small Prairie Fires, written by Wayne Pauly is a good starter reference.

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REFERENCES

Henderson, Richard A. 1995. Plant Species Composition of Wisconsin Prairies, An Aid to Selecting Species for Plantings and Restorations Based Upon University of Wisconsin-Madison Plant Ecology Laboratory Data. Technical Bulletin No. 188, Dept. of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707.

Mirk, Walter, 1997. An Introduction to the Prairies of the Upper Midwest. The Prairie Enthusiasts. Boscobel, Wisconsin.

Mutel, Cornelia F., and Stephen Packard, eds. 1997 The Tallgrass Restoration Handbook for Prairies, Savannas, and Woodlands. Society for Ecological Restoration. Island Press, Washington, D.C./ Covelo, California.

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