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Re: Re: competition of grasses

You wrote:
>It has been my experience that you can seed grasses (little >blue stem, big
blue stem, Indiangrass and switchgrass) into a >forb stand but you cannot
seed forbs into a little blue stem, >big blue stem, Indiangrass, and
switchgrass stand.
>MJ Hatfield

I have done several prairie restorations in southern Wisconsin with an
initial seeding of grasses followed a year or two later by forbs. I did not
have a problem getting the forbs established in an existing (newly
established) grass matrix.  In fact, in one converted alfalfa field that I
did not get a good kill on the alfalfa, the grasses took longer to get
established than the forbs that I seeded in a year after seeding the grasses.
 

When seeding the forbs into an established grass stand, I handbrodcast the
seed in January or February on a day that the snow is pretty much melted and
hopefully right be for a big snow storm (to cover the seed from surface
predation).  Then in the spring I burn the area that was seeded.  I realize
this will not work in a lot of areas, but it works for me in southern
Wisconsin where snow cover averages 6", but usually melts off between major
snow storms.

This method has been fairly successful, but I still have problems with
certain forbs species, i.e. Liatris aspera, not coming up in enhancement
seedings.

Patrick
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