Native Grass Seeding 10+ Acres Mixed w/o Discing?

[trackdrone]

Hi everyone, long time lurker, recently signed up. I'm hoping for a little advice as to whether or not something is doable, because I haven't really been able to google the specifics of what I'm trying to achieve.

Overview: I have 100 acres in East Texas, an older timber property that was thinned and "cleaned up" about 4 years ago. Soil is very sandy loam, think sugar sand that ends up blowing lots of dust in this drought.

Several large "pasture areas" were created where all of the trees were removed, but stumps left, and has been heavily grown in weeds, that is, outside of dodging stumps, fairly easy to mow with the brush hog. There is about 4 acres of this that I want to seed with native grasses and wildflowers in the coming spring, with the goal of overtime controlling the undesirable weeds through mowing and creating native meadow.

In addition, there is about 6 acres of fairly open woods (mostly pine, some hardwoods) that has been overgrown with sweet gum and other brush in the past few years, that I'm having mulched and opened up this week, due to the number of stumps and the size of the brush growth just being too difficult to do in any short period of time with the brush hog. I'd like to seed this area the same as the meadows, since it will have little shade with the typical distance between pines of about 20-40'. The mulcher will grind the stumps down in this area to about 1" below the ground.

Now, everywhere I read says I need to disc the soil when planting these, and then work to get the seed buried .25-.5". However, this has three issues for me - 1 is budget -- the discer just isn't in it for the next year, 2 are the stumps and other hidden stuff in the ground that I just don't want to deal with, and 3 is time: I have much less of it available than I'd like at any given moment.

My question is - can I just brush hog and then spread the seed out in the spring across these 10 acres of weeded field and fairly open woods, and get a decent growth rate without having to prep all of the soil first? I'm not looking to create a manicured field, or create pasture for livestock, but instead to encourage healthy growth of desirable native meadow through initial seeding and regular brush hogging.

FWIW, the equipment I have available to me ATM is a Kioti NS5310H tractor, a 6' medium duty brush hog, and a 6' medium duty box blade. I intend to buy a spreader for seeding/fire ant control, and a tow-behind sprayer for roundup, but due to several other projects needing to be done, I'd like to not invest in any other implements if I don't really have to.

Thanks in advance!

 

[mwayne]

I'm in Ellis county, west of you, with clay loam soil and a few years into a similar endeavor. Based on my experience this far I think you would be disappointed in your ROI by simply spreading seeds on the ground and hoping for the best. Since you have a box blade (with rippers?) I would use that starting in late October to "till" the ground and then again as necessary to keep anything from growing until mid February and then spread seeds and cover with the 1/4 to half inch of soil, and then pack it in with tractor tires. If you are not already aware, these people have some info online and in their catalogs that is helpful.

Native American Seed - Wildflowers and Native Prairie Grasses

Specializing in native wildflower and prairie grass seeds from the Texas-Oklahoma-Louisiana region.

www.seedsource.com

This video may be helpful:

One advisor recommended a minimum amount of mowing to help natives compete against all the invasive species.
Good luck! PM me and I can tell you more of what little I know.

 

[hosspuller]

Can you rent a no-till drill in your area? Good germination and cuts through stubble. I did a hay field in weed infested ground. Burned it with round-up, then drilled seed through the dead weeds. Was a good thing too, since the dead weeds & their roots held the soil and seed through a few heavy rainstorms until the grass took over.

 

[oosik]

I made a "drag" out of a chunk of heavy woven wire fencing. I even cut and bent the wire down at specific location. I drag it with my ATV to "rough up the soil". Hand sew wild grass seeds. Turn the drag over - drag the seeded area to cover the seeds. It's not perfect but after reseeding for a couple years ( in the spring ) it looks good.

 

[jeff9366]

Now, everywhere I read says I need to disc the soil when planting these, and then work to get the seed buried .25-.5"

I cannot speak directly to the native species you are considering but most grass seed requires strong light to germinate. Grass seed is usually rolled in with a Cultipacker or a heavy roller, so seed is in firm soil contact but on the surface.

Plan your seeding for a time when regular rain is most likely on your ground for 6-8 weeks.

 

[jaxs]

Depending on who you ask,wildflower ,native meadow and weed mean different things to different people. A purest will say what grows naturally without human intervention eventually results in all three and I'm prone to agree.
Native Bermuda,Rye Grass and mixed clover is by far the most popular combo in East Texas. Without turning plant duff under and preparing a seed bed you are not going to establish much from seed.

 

[rScotty]

I made a "drag" out of a chunk of heavy woven wire fencing. I even cut and bent the wire down at specific location. I drag it with my ATV to "rough up the soil". Hand sew wild grass seeds. Turn the drag over - drag the seeded area to cover the seeds. It's not perfect but after reseeding for a couple years ( in the spring ) it looks good.

Shucks I thought I was primitive, but oosik has me flat out beat. Still, his technique is not a whole lot different than my high tech & sophisticated way to plant grass.

First I rake up the trash with an old landscape rake that wandered onto our place a few decades ago and took up residence at the end of the 3pt tool row just hoping to find a steady job. So far it's just been sprucing up corrals and roping pens once a season, but a ten acre grass field would be perfect. Still, raking the field is not necessary. It's grass we want, not smoothed out dirt.

What is necessary for grass to eventually beat out the weeds is to give it a good start. That means roughing up the soil with whatever is handy. Plowing, tilling, scraping, or lately we have used something even simpler: a FEL rock bucket with the tines pointed down about 15 degrees from horizontal and me driving backwards. Back and forth until it all looks wonderfully patterned and even. On the float setting, the weight of the bucket is all that is needed to cuts about 20 furrows an inch deep over an 8 foot width. You can even play with the wheel brakes and swing the front back and forth to make long wavy patterns in the soil... modern farming art. When you are done with that, it's a good time to take a photo. Straight or wavy, that field with the professionally neat pattern of furrows could win an award in a farm journal. Truth is, it won't look that good again for years. Not until the grass wins out anyway.

Now I wait for a forecast of light rains or at least a humid cloudy afternoon & evening to broadcast my native grass seed mix. This is the payoff and we treat it like a ceremony. There are all types of seed spreaders. Ours is a hand-held battery powered seedcaster that holds maybe a half gallon of seeds and is worked by a manual trigger as you walk over the field.
This seed caster is a plain and simple tool that doesn't try to look like anything more than what it is.... that being a cheap plastic tool streamlined to go 100 mph but forever doomed to walking speed.
It is called a Scott Wizz - that's right, it's a Wizz . No jokes, please - this is serious stuff now. The Wizz comes from Home Depot for somewhere under $30.00. Batteries included, but get some spares. Either because of or maybe in spite of the two tone plastic & streamlining, it really does do the job - and probably saved its price in seed the first acre it did. Plus it's kinda fun. Everyone wants a turn. Tom Sawyer wants one. Maybe we will seed again in the fall just for the pure enjoyment of it all.

To finish, fire up the ATV or tractor and just drag it again the other way with an 8x10 foot piece of chain link fence.
Hand rake the edges because trash and way too much seed tends to ends up there.... and it's DONE!

From here on out it's in other hands.
rScotty

 

[trackdrone]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the info and help. Looks like I'll need to get the surface roughed up, if I want to seed. Everyone I've spoken with in person is advising me the existing grass could be dominant on its own, against the seemingly never-ending greenbriar and numerous sweet gum saplings with a few years of mowing. We have some decent wildflower stock already, but I was hoping to cheat a bit and add a little diversity. Sounds like that may be an unlikely option, and glyphosate then run through with the box blade rippers may be the shortest path to a frsh start.

FWIW, the native grasses I'm looking to seed with come as a mix from East Texas Seed company, basically bluestem, sideoats, switchgrass and a few other things mixed in.

Thanks again!

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Can you rent a no-till drill in your area? Good germination and cuts through stubble. I did a hay field in weed infested ground. Burned it with round-up, then drilled seed through the dead weeds. Was a good thing too, since the dead weeds & their roots held the soil and seed through a few heavy rainstorms until the grass took over.

How well does it handle stumps?

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

My mother, who is a very capable woman, planted grass seed on un tilled ground just to show dad he did not have to disc. It came up just as good as where he plowed.