NC forest service has warm season grasses for sale

jug

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Yeah I bought a box.
Planted a box of the longleaf savanna mix in my clearcut here in Harnett county
 

robertc

Eight Pointer
Yeah I bought a box.
Planted a box of the longleaf savanna mix in my clearcut here in Harnett county
Hey Jug,

Did you plant the mix in a Loblolly or longleaf pine stand? I'm getting ready to thin my Loblolly stand and was thinking about planning some type of native grass in between the rows hopefully to spread as time goes and prescribed burns are completed.

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CRC

Old Mossy Horns
I'm guessing these are coastal ecotypes or varieties better suited to the coastal plain than the mountains?
 

para4514

Eight Pointer
Contributor
The key is going to be getting your stands thin enough to have enough sunlight to the ground for the next several years. Most forest production oriented folks will warn you about ice damage when you take it that low. If you are concerned you may want to heavily thin along field edges and road shoulders. Depending on acreage may want to have some small gaps cut. By doing this you can maintain portions of the stand for production while having strategic areas for wildlife. Often if you get the stand open enough and add fire you don't need to plant anything.

If you do plan on planting make sure they do not put the logging slash back in the rows you want to plant.

Lots of options for planting natives in the understory. If logging is complete before mid-May you can just broadcast seed in the bare soil in the drag rows. If you want tall growth look at switchgrass, indiangrass and big bluestem. Be mindful that dense stands might prove difficult to burn without damaging the residual pines. For shorter grass consider little bluestem, indiangrass, tridens purpletop and beaked panicgrass. May also want to add some small partridge pea and possibly some wildflowers to provide food value. Deer love black-eyed Susan.
 

robertc

Eight Pointer
The key is going to be getting your stands thin enough to have enough sunlight to the ground for the next several years. Most forest production oriented folks will warn you about ice damage when you take it that low. If you are concerned you may want to heavily thin along field edges and road shoulders. Depending on acreage may want to have some small gaps cut. By doing this you can maintain portions of the stand for production while having strategic areas for wildlife. Often if you get the stand open enough and add fire you don't need to plant anything.

If you do plan on planting make sure they do not put the logging slash back in the rows you want to plant.

Lots of options for planting natives in the understory. If logging is complete before mid-May you can just broadcast seed in the bare soil in the drag rows. If you want tall growth look at switchgrass, indiangrass and big bluestem. Be mindful that dense stands might prove difficult to burn without damaging the residual pines. For shorter grass consider little bluestem, indiangrass, tridens purpletop and beaked panicgrass. May also want to add some small partridge pea and possibly some wildflowers to provide food value. Deer love black-eyed Susan.
This information has been very helpful. Thank you.

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jug

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Hey Jug,

Did you plant the mix in a Loblolly or longleaf pine stand? I'm getting ready to thin my Loblolly stand and was thinking about planning some type of native grass in between the rows hopefully to spread as time goes and prescribed burns are completed.

Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk
Yeah I would not try the longleaf savanna mix up there in Rockingham county under loblloly pines. I planted mine in a clear cut planted back in longleaf only
 
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robertc

Eight Pointer
Yeah I would not try the longleaf savanna mix up there in Rockingham county under loblloly pines. I planted mine in a clear cut planted back in longleaf only
Okay, thanks for the input.

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sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Is there any way to fill out a stand of switchgrass that came in half way? Half switchgrass and half - well, everything else. I tried overseeding it by just spreading some on top last year with some leftover (3-yr. old) seed, but that didn't do anything. I've given it 3 years now, and it's filled in a little, but it's still really patchy.
 

para4514

Eight Pointer
Contributor
Is there any way to fill out a stand of switchgrass that came in half way? Half switchgrass and half - well, everything else. I tried overseeding it by just spreading some on top last year with some leftover (3-yr. old) seed, but that didn't do anything. I've given it 3 years now, and it's filled in a little, but it's still really patchy.

You could burn it, then disk or do something to lightly scarify the soil and broadcast some seed in late March or early April. If you buy seed make sure the germination is high (>85%) and dormancy, sometimes shown as "hard seed", is low (<15%).

After 3 years I would ask what are you wanting out of your stand and what has come up between the clumps of switchgrass? I would think you should be getting broadleaf "weeds" and blackberry that are improving the habitat quality over just a dense stand of switchgrass.
 
Most switchgrass stands that we have dealt took at least 3 years to become fully established. They all eventually turned into beautiful stands as long as early successional species were controlled during that time.
 

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
You could burn it, then disk or do something to lightly scarify the soil and broadcast some seed in late March or early April. If you buy seed make sure the germination is high (>85%) and dormancy, sometimes shown as "hard seed", is low (<15%).

After 3 years I would ask what are you wanting out of your stand and what has come up between the clumps of switchgrass? I would think you should be getting broadleaf "weeds" and blackberry that are improving the habitat quality over just a dense stand of switchgrass.

It’s a field border. primarily a screen. The other stuff is all manner of local weeds, but they mostly lay down in the winter whereas the SW stands up.
 

para4514

Eight Pointer
Contributor
After 3 years it will likely take some additional seed or you could plant plugs depending on how large the area is. May want to check with a few different sources to get the highest germ.
 

para4514

Eight Pointer
Contributor
Several nurseries on online will ship them. Depending on how much "sweat equity" you wanted to put into it you could divide some of your existing clumps.
 
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