Wildflower planting advice needed

[ruffdog]

Do you have local experts like these guys?

Native Restoration

 

[jyoutz]

I'm tilling mostly to kill as much grass out there as possible. I'll throw them out and walk on them I guess. I don't have anything to press them into the ground with.

Getting the seed pressed into the soil or covering them with a thin layer of mulch is critical. The highest percentage of seed sitting exposed on top the ground will have poor germination due to bird and rodent predation and germinant roots drying out.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

Do you have local experts like these guys?

Native Restoration

My island is only about 1,500 square feet I don't need that level of assistance. I just wanted to make sure I'm not peeing in the wind planting in the spring. Good idea if I were going to do a large area.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

Getting the seed pressed into the soil or covering them with a thin layer of mulch is critical. The highest percentage of seed sitting exposed on top the ground will have poor germination due to bird and rodent predation and germinant roots drying out.

You think setting my tiller super shallow and going back over it after I brodcast the seed would work? I'll only be able to get my walk behind tiller and hand tools out there. My homemade barge will barely float the tiller.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

Also I guess I could spread out a bunch of straw on top?

 

[ovrszd]

Don't know about experts. But I have 70 acres of these.

 

[ovrszd]

You think setting my tiller super shallow and going back over it after I brodcast the seed would work?

Not with a high percentage of success. So allowing for a lower percentage of success you will need to elevate the seed population considerably.

My "expert" is my Niece's husband. Third generation Sod Farmer. Again I say, the seed should be no deeper than one and a half times the diameter of the seed. Over tillage is bad.

 

[ruffdog]

Don't know about experts. But I have 70 acres of these.





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Nice! I have a friend that put 80 acres into flowers like that. The cool thing is different flowers bloom at different times so his fields change colors. When he did his latest burn, he collected the deer sheds and there were a bunch. He has also released pheasants most of the years.

 

[ovrszd]

Also I guess I could spread out a bunch of straw on top?

Mulch will help. If mulching I'd want even less tillage.

Do have a water pump that you can irrigate with?

 

[ovrszd]

Nice! I have a friend that put 80 acres into flowers like that. The cool thing is different flowers bloom at different times so his fields change colors. When he did his latest burn, he collected the deer sheds and there were a bunch. He has also released pheasants most of the years.

Yep. Mine are that way too. My mix had prairie grasses including blue stem in it. One field is 8 years in. The percentage of blooming flowers has diminished and the percentage of prairie grasses has increased. Fine with me. Blooming flowers start early. Prairie grass heads out late. Perfect timing. And the scene changes. I can see almost all of mine sitting on my front porch.