Planting Time

The weather this fall and winter has been unusually wet.  Getting the seed planted turned out to be a major challenge.  By the time I got all of the soil prepared, the rain started and simply didn't let up.  You can't plant seed when the tractor bogs down in the mud. 

 I found a nice photo of the site on Google Earth recently and posted it on the left here.  Below is the project plan developed by Marc Pastorek.  The site was almost fully prepared at the time of the photograph.  The section at the lower right of the field had not been turned over so it is hard to see the open area at about the 3 o'clock position.  I got that area prepared by the end of November so this photo
looks like late October. 



The planting had to wait for a window of time when the ground was dry enough and I had time enough to get it done.  The holiday season was busy and I left the country for a couple weeks.  So, finally, on January 9th, the forces collided.

Marc Pastorek send a load of seed that he had collected on his seed farm in Mississippi for the job and a special seed spreader.  These wild seeds are not clean and contain a lot of sticks and stems, so an ordinary spreader won't work.  Marc has a spreader with a sort of thrasher attached to the spinning seed thrower that breaks up the mass of seeds and stalks and allows them to fall through the holes in the spreader. 

This is what the "seed" looks like in the spreader - more like straw.  The spreader breaks it up and shoots it out.  Most of the seed is very light and kind of floats to the ground wherever it feels like falling. 

I put down 60 pound of mixed prairie seed over about 3 acres.  That rate of 20 pounds an acre is on the high side for meadow restoration which suits me fine.  Below is a list of the species that should be represented in the mix.  Its a mouthful. 


Seed list for herbaceous plants for Louisiana Cajun Prairie and Eastern Coastal Prairie

monocots

Agrostis hyemalis  Winter Bent Grass

Andropogon gerardii   Big Bluestem

Andropogon glomeratus  Bushy Bluestem

Andropogon gyrans  Elliot’s Bluestem

Andropogon ternarius  Split Beard Bluestem

Andropogon virginicus  Broomsedge

Antenaentia rufa  Purple Silkyscale

Aristida purpurescens  Three Awn Grass

Ctenium aromaticum  Toothache Grass 

Dichanthelium commutatum   Variable Panic Grass

Dichanthelium scabriusculum   Panic Grass

Dichanthelium scoparium  Velvet Panic Grass

Eragrostis elliotti    Elliot Lovegrass

Eragrostis refracta  Coastal Love Grass

Eragrostis spectabilis   Purple Love Grass

Erianthus giganteus     Sugar Cane Plumegrass  

Erianthus strictus   Narrow Plumegrass                    

Muhlenbergia capillaris  Coastal Muhly Grass

Panicum aciculare   Panic Grass                                      

Panicum anceps  Beaked Switchgrass

Panicum dichtomum   Panic Grass 

Panicum scoparium   Velvet Panic Grass   

Panicum virgatum  Switchgrass 

Paspalum floridanum  Florida Paspalum     

Paspalum plicatulum  Brownseed Paspalum

Schizachyrium scoparium  Little Bluestem

Schizachirium tenerum  Thinleaf Bluestem

Sisyrinchium angustifolium   Narrowleafed Blue-eyed Grass 

Sisyrinchium rosulatum  Spreading Blue-eyed grass 

Sorgastrum nutans  Indian Grass      

Sporobolus junceus  Prairie Dropseed

Tradescantia ohioensis  Common Spiderwort   

Tridens ambiguous   Pine Barren Tridens

Tridens  flavus  Purple Top Grass    

Tridens srtictus Long-spike Tridens      

Tripsicum dactyliodes  Eastern Gamma  

composites and forbs

Aster dumosus  Bushy Aster  

Aster lateriflorus   Calico Aster

Aster paludosus V. hemispherica  Showy Aster

Aster patens  Clasping Leaf Aster   

Aster puniceous  Roughstem Aster

Aster praealtus   Tall Blue Aster 

Aster pratense     Silky Aster   

Bidens aristosa  Beaded Beggar’s Ticks 

Cacalia ovata  Indian Plantain                                

Chrysopsis mariana  Maryland Golden Aster   

Chrysopsis graminifolia  Silk Grass  

Coreopsis tripteris  Tall Tickseed       

Corepsis pubescens

Coreopsis lanceolata

Coreopsis tinctoria

Echinacea pallida  Pale Cone Flower

Erigeron philidelphicus   Showy Daisy Fleabane   

Eupatorium rotundifolia  Round Leaf Boneset      

Eupatorium hyssopifolium   Narrow Leaf Boneset 

Eupatorium perfoliatum    Boneset  

Euthamia leptocephala   Flat-topped Glodenrod    

Euthamia tenuifolia    Narrow-Leafed Flat-topped Goldenrod   

Gaillardia aestivalis  Yellow Indian Blanket 

Gnaphalium obtusifolium   Rabbit Tobacco  

Helianthus angustifolius  Narrow Leaf Sunflower 

Helianthus mollis  Ashy Sunflower    

Helinium  vernale  Vernal Sneezeweed

Liatris elegans  Pinkscale Blazing Star                      

Liatris spicata  Blazing Star  

Liatris squarrosa  Button Blazing Star       

Liatris squarrulosa   Blazing Star

Liatris pycnostachya  Kansas Blazingstar

Pasiflora incarnata   Passion Vine            

Rudbeckia grandiflora   Rough Coneflower

Rudbeckia nitida  var. texana    

Rudbeckia hirta  Blackeye Susan

Silphium gracile   Slender Rosinweed 

Silphium laciniata   Compass Plant

Solidago nitida  Flat-topped Goldenrod      

Solidago odora  Sweet Goldenrod      

Solidago rugosa  Roughleaf Goldenrod   

Solidago sempervirens  Seaside Goldenrod  

Vernonia gigantea     Giant Ironweed    

Vernonia texana  Texas Ironweed        

 

composites and forbs

Amsonia tabernaemontana  Eastern Bluestar

Agalinus fascilata  Beach Purple False Foxglove

Agalinus  purpurea   Purple False Foxglove

Baptisia alba Wild White Indigo                                     

Baptisia sphaerocarpa  Yellow Wild Indigo          

Baptisia bracteata var. leucophaea   Secund Fruited Wild Indigo

Baptisia nuttalliana  Nuttall’s Wild Indigo

Buchnera americana  American Blue Hearts

Callirhoe papaver  Winecups                   

Chamaecrista fasciculata  Annual Cassia 

Chaerophyllum tainturieri   Wild Chervil  

Croton monanthogynus   Dove weed 

Dalea candida    Slender White Prairie Clover    

Erygeron strigosus   Fleabane       

Eryngium yuccafolia  Button Snakeroot      

Erythrinia herbacea  Coral Bean    

Euphorbia corollata   Flowering Spurge     

Gaura lindhiemerii   Lindhiemer’s Beeblossom 

Guara longiflora   Longflower Beeblossom

Hibiscus mosheutos   Crimsoneyed Mallow                   

Lespedeza capitata  Round Head Lespedeza       

Lespedeza virginica  Slender Lespedeza  

Lobelia puberula   Purple Dew Drop     

Manfreda virginica  Rattlesnake Master           

Monarda fistulosa  Wild Bergamot        

Monarda lindhiemeri  Lindhiemer’s Beebalm      

Monarda punctata  Spotted Horsemint

Neptunia lutea  Yellow Powderpuff 

Passiflora incarnata  Passion Flower

Penstemen digitalis   Smooth Beardtongue

Penstemon australis ssp. laxiflorus  Beardtongue

Polytaenia nuttallii  Prairie Parsley

Prunella vulgaris   Common Self-heal        

Psoralia psoralioides   Sampson’s Snakeroot

Psoralia simplex   Single Stem Snakeroot

Pychnanthemum albescens  Whiteleaf Mountain Mint       

Pychnanthemum tennuifolium  Thin Leaf Mt. Mint       

Pychnanthemum muticum  Lowland Mt. Mint

Rhexia  mariana   Maryland Meadow Beauty   

Salvia azurea  Blue Sage

Salvia lyrata  Lyre Leafed Sage

Schrankia quadrivalvis   Sensitive Briar

Scuttelaria integrifolia   Helmet Flower

Teucrium canadense  Canada Germander

Tephrosia onobrychoides   Multibloom Hoary Pea   

Verbena halei   Texas Vervain      

*    many species not listed, such as some species of milkweeds, that have very brief, irregular bloom/seed collection time and/or seed of plants that are few in given populations, are collected and added as they are found year to year and in very small amounts, to the mix.

Site Prep Continues

First, some tools of the trade.  I started prepping the dirt with a disc harrow that I already had.

Disc Harrow - Good for breaking up soil

The problem with the disc harrow is that I was having trouble getting it to chop up the grass and turn it into the soil.  So, I got a tiller attachment.

Tiller Attachment

Tiller is doing a very good job at turning over the soil and grass and leaving not much behind but dirt.  Unfortunately, I had a really bad day last weekend and tore up the drive shaft.  The shaft pulled off the tiller and kept spinning because it was attached to the PTO on the tractor.  The clutch, which is big and heavy, flopped around until the shaft separated, but in the process tore up the shaft.  I swapped out the tiller for the disc to keep working and then managed to knock a front tire off the rim and cut it up.  So, I got the tire replaced and am waiting on a new shaft.  In the meantime I continue to disc up the dirt.

Now, I also received the cultipacker I ordered.  It came in on Friday and I picked it up at the freight company.  Here it is.

Cultipacker

I think I mentioned this in an earlier post, but this is a salvaged cultipacker, re-manufactured by an Amish guy in Lancaster, PA. 

Now for updated photos.  

A lot of the dirt is looking pretty good - very little grass left and fluffy dirt.  

Its pretty easy to see what areas need more work and which areas are fine.  This area is pretty good.  I need to go over a few areas with the tiller once I get the drive shaft back.

Then, there is one more area that I have not worked on yet.  This photo shows what the land looked like before I started.

To the left you see the area to be busted up and on the right is an area of grass that will remain.  The tall grass is Virginia bluestem grass - the early succession grass that has moved in.  

So, here is a panoramic view of the meadow area from the street. You can see the grass path that winds through the meadow. 

Eye Candy

For those of you who can appreciate a well prepared soil bed, I offer the following images of my progress:

 I have not cut the area I am working for meadow planting all season.  The result is encouraging in that we have some volunteer plants.  I don't know what they are, but it seems if you just give nature a chance it will find its balance. 

Dirt work

Well, its November and we are getting ready to plant seed in the meadow.  Marc Pastorek is very busy drying seed in preparation for the active planting season.  In the meantime, I concluded that the disc harrow was just not breaking the existing sod well enough to expose the soil for seeding.  After searching far and wide for a rental or loaner, I finally purchased a 70" tiller attachment for the tractor.  This past weekend, I ran the tiller over the two larger areas of the meadow project and the result was very good.  The soil is now exposed and the existing grass is mostly uprooted.  I followed with the disc harrow for good measure and got a little deeper turn to the soil. 

Today, I finally lit the burn pile that has been accumulating for the past couple years.  It was a little windy and a little dry, but the pile was well isolated.  I found that my brulee torch did a very nice job of lighting off the diesel, which can be a bugger to light.  The pile burned fast and hot and is now smoldering and should be ashes by morning.

I have a lot more work to do before the whole plot is ready to plant, but a light schedule this week.  So, I hope to get things ready by the weekend.  Next up, I will be ordering a cultipacker.  Again, I searched far and wide for a loaner to no avail. It seems that people in the south don't use cultipackers.  A cultipacker is a piece of agricultural equipment that crushes dirt clods, removes air pockets, and presses down small stones, forming a smooth, firm seedbed. Where seed has been broadcast, the roller gently firms the soil around the seeds, ensuring shallow seed placement and excellent seed-to-soil contact.

I found a good source in Pennsylvania that handles a lot of used agricultural equipment.  It turns out that they buy old, broken cultipackers and have an Amish guy who rebuilds them into smaller units.  I can get a 6 1/2 foot Little Joe at a good price and have it shipped down on motor freight.  By the time I get all of this equipment, I guess I could go into the meadow preparation business. 

Preparations

I spent some time this weekend working on preparing for planting this fall.  I cut the areas that are going to remain grass and ran the disc harrow over the major areas that are going to get planted.  There are four major areas that had a low enough tree density to turn the soil.  the largest area I had turned a bit a couple weeks ago.  I hit that area again today for a second pass and got the other areas on a first pass.  The grass is pretty long, making it hard to break through to the soil.  But, the disc is killing the grass at the surface and will prompt seed growth in the soil.  The goal is two fold.  First, the seed that I plant in November needs to get to the soil in order to germinate.  Second, the main competition for the new grasses and other plants will be the existing seed load in the soil.  By killing the top grass and exposing the soil, the seed bank is forced to sprout and this leaves less seed of undesirable grasses in the soil later.

I posted a number pf pictures to a new page, titled Progress Photos.  The areas in preparation are kind of dead looking.  Not that much to see.  But, I do have a picture of the new tractor.  I think she needs a name.  I am open to suggestion.

I have good notes on the failure of the Long Leaf pine to regenerate after being logged out, but need to sit down and write it properly.  The short answer is pigs, or what we call today, feral hogs.  Go figure.