Starting prairie type field

I posted this thread awhile back and there is some good info in it. I wound up buying bulk native grass and wildflower seeds and spreading them. The guy I bought them from (referenced in the thread) noted that it would take a couple of years to get going. This is the second spring since I broadcasted everything, so we'll see. I definitely don't have a pine savannah yet .

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Awesome! Thanks for the link

there is a note in bluemoons' previous thread about fire...i want to emphasize that as much as possible as not only preferred, but required. and actually, when you read the best practices that LA Seed sends out with their prairie restoration stuff, they say burn it every year in the winter.

so i did a little experiment in two places in my yard. in a big bed-like area i spread a bad of seed, let it do its thing over the summer/fall, then hit it with a weed torch this winter. it has exploded this spring...not exaggerating at all. it is a lush (but still low, its early) carpet of prairie grass and returning wildflower plants

the other area is a location where i've always had a burn pile. due to the drought, it sat all summer and just got bigger, and was eventually colonized by goldenrod. a month or so ago i burned it, and the goldenrod sprouting exploded, everywhere. i probably will dig most of it out and throw it on my ditch bank, but you get the idea

OP, Native Habitat Project on YouTube is a good follow. He's in my neck of the woods and has gotten a pretty big following now.

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What is there now?

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clover and st aug grass mostly. I am just going to Round-up the area and go from there. Then keep mowing at 6" height for 2 years, should be good by year 2.5ish

at this point, it kinda is.
its been introduced since the early 1900's, so its not going anywhere and its so ubiquitous that whatever changes it has made to the plant hierarchy around it have done what they are going to do. so just dont spread it, and pull it out where you dont want it.

i actually transplanted some of it in one of my beds, but theres a hard border at my driveway and if it gets a little too wooly i just kneecap it and it gets back under control. but i eradicated it where it was growing among my trees

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Burn it down a few times

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Ok so round up, scrape as low as i can go, rake and burn


I will do that

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Burn it down a few times. Anyone that knows anything about prairie establishment will tell you the same thing--sod grasses will choke out a prairie in a hurry. Those plants need time to establish, and sod grasses spread alot quicker than prairie plants can establish.

You almost need a clean seedbed in order to get prairie going.

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Fire at the right time is important. Burn it in the Winter or early Spring and it will burn hot enough to take out (or at least knock down) the undesirables, but the ground has enough moisture to keep the seed bed cool letting what seed are there survive. Burning when it is too dry with lots of fuel creates a really hot fire that can kill the seed bed.

Seeds from many natives can survive for years and years, waiting for conditions to improve.

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Fire at the right time is important

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Sure, but bahia and bermudagrass don't mind fire.

Plenty of universities doing research on this very subject, as well as federal agencies.

A burn in South Louisiana will very seldom be enough to keep bahia or bermuda at bay while establishing prairie vegetation.