Planting the 5-Acre Prairie - Driftless Prairies: Native Ecosystems

Once we decided on our goals, we made an agreement with a local farmer to crop the land — the first year would be corn and the second year would be soybeans. The land preparation is a critical step. The goal is to provide a weed free environment for the seeds to germination without unnecessary competition. It also cuts maintenance costs in subsequent years. We chose the cropping method for preparing the land. The farmer would herbicide in the general course of his crop management, killing most of the weeds growing between the crop rows.

This was in 2006 before we started our plan.

We were very surprised when the second year came up as corn. The farmer working the land decided corn prices were better than soybeans and disregarded our agreement. Grrr….

Surprise corn crop — The surprise 2nd year corn crop.

After the harvest — How the land looked after the harvest of the 2nd year corn crop.

Corn leaves lots of chaff and stubble, whereas soybeans do not. To make matters worse, the farmer’s equipment broke down. He was unable to get the crop out soon enough for us to hand herbicide remaining weeds. To break up the corn stubble, a friend disked it lightly and the farmer paid for this additional work.

Green Areas — Had the weather held for us, we would have applied a 2% glyphosate to these green areas.

We created our management plan to include two mowings the first year. To prevent damage to the equipment, we removed the larger rocks. We mowed the first time when growth was about 1’ tall and a second time when it regrew to about 1 ½’ tall. Each time we mowed it to 6″ tall. Mowing is important. It allows sunlight to the seeds and keeps weeds from setting seed. The first year of a prairie planting is ugly and mostly weeds.

Truck dragging rocks — We used the truck to drag some of these heavy rocks out of the field.

Jim using crowbar — Jim would use the crow bar to lift the rock so we could get the chain under it. Notice the corn field. By this time we had it cut short.

Last look before planting — This is what the ground looked like the weekend after we moved the rocks. We’re doing a one last check before planting.

Jim used these flags to mark out the quarter sections in prep for the seeding.

Day of the Prairie Planting

We mixed the seed with sawdust in our garage and placed it in buckets. We planted 10 lbs of seed per acre which extrapolated to 2 buckets per quarter section — a total of 22 buckets of seed. The sawdust came from a lumber mill not a woodworker. The wood needs to have some moisture remaining in it. Be sure there are no walnuts or cedars processed in this sawdust.

Each volunteer was oriented to their quarter section. They took their two buckets to their quarter section and walked back and forth tossing the seed out until they covered their designated section. Once the prairie planting was done, we adjourned to the local bar for a well-deserved lunch!!!

Buckets of seed — The buckets are lined up and ready for the volunteers.

Volunteers broadcasting seeds from their bucket on their quarter-acre section

Another view of the volunteers broadcasting the seed.

Whew! The prairie planting is done and the pressure is off. Now we wait until spring.

Many, many thanks to this great group of friends who helped plant this prairie!

Maintenance

As spring arrived and the weeds began to grow, we mowed two times as per our simple management plan. We were grateful we knew to expect nothing but weeds the first year! We ensured the invasive weeds were removed and we didn’t worry about the annual weeds. The mowing would prevent the annual weeds from setting seed.

Jim built this fabulous bench and added an umbrella so we could watch our prairie grow!

We created this sign so folks would know it was a prairie since the first year it doesn't look like much more than a field of weeds. — We created this sign so folks would know it was a prairie since the first year it doesn’t look like much more than a field of weeds.

In 2008, we continued removing invasive species during the growing months. I spent many hours on thistles and reed canary grass. By 2009, our prairie was looking pretty good but we will never let up on those persistent invasive plants!!

Monitoring RCG — In July 2009, the prairie is looking pretty good but I’m still monitoring the Reed Canary Grass patches.