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dave฀williams Overview A well-planned seed mix is essential to reconstructing a diverse and stable plant community. Selecting species for any native planting involves knowing the physical characteristics of the site (soil type, hydrology, slope, aspect, and sunlight exposure), then choosing the most appropriate native plants for that site. All native plantings should include grasses, sedges, and forbs (both legume and nonlegume species). The seed mix should also include annual, biennial, and perennial species to foster early establishment and maintain long-term diversity. Cost and availability of the seed are often the primary factors in determining which species and how much seed of a species to include in a seed mix. Seeding calculators are valuable tools to enable practitioners to develop diverse seed mixes within a seed budget. It is also important to consider the source of seed (see chapter 2) and the ratio of forb to grass species in the mix. A well-planned seed mix will result in a diverse, weed-resistant prairie plant community that will last a lifetime. Criteria฀for฀Species฀Selection Selecting the appropriate species of native plants is one of the first steps in planning a reconstruction project. This requires information on site conditions (soil type, moisture, slope, aspect), species characteristics (geographic distribution, light requirements, life span, phenology), appropriate seed sources, and seed cost. All these factors affect the kind and number of species included in a seed mix. soil฀type฀and฀moisture Each soil type is a unique blend of sand, silt, clay, and organic matter that affects how the soil drains and retains water. Every plant species has evolved to Designing฀Seed฀Mixes 24฀ reconstruction฀pl anning grow within a certain range of soil moisture conditions. Planting species that are best adapted to the soil moisture of the site will insure their persistence. Include only native grasses, sedges, and forbs in the seed mix that match the soil moisture conditions of the site. There are five general soil moisture categories: wet (hydric), wet-mesic, mesic (moderate), dry-mesic, and dry (xeric). Wet soils include poorly drained and very poorly drained soils that typically have standing water for part or most of the growing season. Examples of Iowa wet soil series include Palms Muck, Clyde, Coland, Colo, Garwin, Maxfield, and Sawmill. Proceed carefully with sites that have wet soils. These areas may harbor prairie remnants because they were typically too wet to farm (see chapters 8 and 9). Wet-mesic soils include somewhat poorly drained, lighter-colored clay soils. Examples of Iowa wetmesic soils include Amana, Cooper, Floyd, Kensett, and Muscatine. Mesic soils include well-drained and moderately well-drained loamy soils. Examples of Iowa mesic soil series include Bassett, Dinsdale, Kenyon, Olin, Rockton, and Saude. Dry-mesic soils include somewhat excessively drained glaciofluvial, eolian, and thick loess soils. Examples of Iowa dry-mesic soil series include Dickman, Hamburg, Flagler, and Zenor. Dry soils include excessively drained sandy or gravelly soils and shallow loam soils on steep slopes and ridges. Examples of Iowa dry soil series include Bertram, Chelsea, Dickinson, Finchford, Flagler, and Sparta. To determine the soil type of your site, visit with your local Natural Resources Conservation Service office to obtain a soil map or look online at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/. slope฀and฀aspect฀ The site conditions on a slope and the direction it faces (aspect) affect the establishment of native plants. The upper portion of a slope is usually drier than the lower portion; south and west aspects are relatively more dry than the north and east aspects at the same elevation. Thus, there is a sorting of species along the moisture gradient from the top to the bottom of a slope and around it as the aspect changes. Vegetative changes due to slope and aspect can be seen in many native plantings in roadside rights-of-way. These sites often transition from dry to mesic to wet soils in a small area, and the changes in species composition associated with those soils’ moistures can be dramatic. If the slope is gradual and the changes in moisture conditions can be easily seen, the extra effort to seed only the species that match the moisture condition of the soil may improve establishment of those species. If the soil moisture gradient isn’t as apparent, slopes will need to be shotgun-seeded with all species, requiring inclusion of species in the seed mix that match each moisture condition. [18.221.165.246] Project MUSE (2024-04-16 14:19...

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