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Native Warm Season Grass

Truax Seed Slinger

I purchased an ATV mounted Seed Slinger recently for dormant seeding fluffy NWSG seed and put it to the test the other day and it worked flawlessly.

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It handled the fluffy, (nearly impossible to sow by other broadcasting methods) seed with ease, note it has a separate seed compartment for small hard, seeds like switchgrass, wildflowers, clover etc.

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Price is roughly $560 but it appears well built and easy to mount/remove from the ATV

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Because the seed is like spreading "dandelion fluff" it doesn't spread far with perhaps a 4' wide path but I ran about 8-10 mph and quickly covered a lot of acres.

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The ATV option allows one to get into wet, boggy fields, small hard to reach places, gives the landowner the option of doing the seeding themselves without investing in a $10,000 drill or hiring someone to do it.

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It is of course just an option that may or may not be right for you...but I am happy with this one so far....

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Call Truax to order....

TRUAX SEED SLINGER
 
Well it has been awhile! I haven't been on IW or any other fourm all summer and fall due to work and internet issues!:thrwrck:...
I had a lot of reading to catch up on this week! I have missed you guys and all of your great posts! I can't wait to share some some of the stuff I've been working on as well. Meanwhile, Congrat's on the buck Paul and Congrats on finally getting some PCG to grow Phil! Did you ever take pictures or video of how you harvest seed from them? and Paul, that NWSG seeder is awesome! I have the hand crank model and it works great! I wish I had got the atv model however because my shoulders get pretty sore on anything more than an acre! Heavy!
 
IQDM said:
Well it has been awhile! I haven't been on IW or any other fourm all summer and fall due to work and internet issues!:thrwrck:...
I had a lot of reading to catch up on this week! I have missed you guys and all of your great posts! I can't wait to share some some of the stuff I've been working on as well. Meanwhile, Congrat's on the buck Paul and Congrats on finally getting some PCG to grow Phil! Did you ever take pictures or video of how you harvest seed from them? and Paul, that NWSG seeder is awesome! I have the hand crank model and it works great! I wish I had got the atv model however because my shoulders get pretty sore on anything more than an acre! Heavy!
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I cut or pull the entire seeds heads of and then its kind of like shelling corn. they are collected in a paper grocery bag since they poke through a plastic one. I roll each individual stem of the seedheads in between my fingers and they usually come off pretty easily. Now some are tough to get the seeds off. If they are tought to just roll off the seedhead, I just pull them off the stems.

The percentage is still very small of what I have got to grow seed wise, but the good thing about PCG is it will spread by rhizomes...went back and sprayed that area of all the fescue this November so it should really spread out this coming year.
 
Ok so I have a crp mix that is going to be planted this spring on a property that I help do habitat work on... (habitat work for free hunting = sounds good to me :way:)
The owner picked out a mix that he felt was the "tallest cover" when I asked him what seeds were in the mix, he mentioned some clovers (which didnt really scream cover to me) and red top... Does anyone know about red top? I havent heard it mentioned in this thread. Is it any good as far as cover is concerned? I would have rather him go with a mix that I knew a little more about... (indian, Little blue, big blue, switchgrass, etc.)
But it is his land, he calls the shots and I just plant it. :)
 
Is red top what is also called purple top?...gets about 3 feet tall and its not anything near being what I would call cover??
 
I did some research and found out that red top is actually a cool season grass... which makes sense to me now because the mix contains clovers. It must be a cool season CRP mix... Wouldn't be my choice :(
 
tomt said:
I guess my parcel is good proof that it may take 3-4 years for a prairie to get established. Can't wait to burn next spring.

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Granted I took these pictures in a area that had some "natives", But at least I know they were in the hopper when planted.

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This looks amazing.....Im sitting here day dreaming my back 20 acres will look like this in a few years
 
New to the game

Hey guys,

I found your amazing thread about a month ago while doing research on NWSG's. I stumbled onto one of your archived threads and eventually found my way hear. I have read just about all the threads since 2006 and am blown away by the knowledge and generosity of sharing that knowledge on the thread with others. You guys are awesome.

First I must come clean and say that I am not from Iowa but my parents lived there and my sister currently plays soccer for the hawkeyes. I love the state but must admit I live in Illinois. So I'm hoping you guys are willing to help out and out of stater on some questions I have. I will post pictures of the whole process from scratch as we move along.

Now to the point. We are closing on a piece of property on friday. It currently has about 70 acres of CRP. Im not sure which grasses are in there as I havent looked closely enough the couple times I have been there, but I do know it isn't what we are looking for. The height of the plants are only about knee high and we are looking to get some good cover developed for wildlife (especially deer and turkey).

My first question is will it be possible, without voiding the contract, to transfrom these CRP feild into grasses with more height and desirablty.(we are looking at CIR, Big blue, and indian grass with some possible forbes mixed in)

Second if it is possible, what is the best way to go about it. I understand frost seeding and drilling right into the frozen ground/sod being the best method to go about it but in this case do you recommend tilling the land first to get all of the debris in the ground and then packing it to allow for a firm seed bed or will there be enough exposed soil to just seed over the mowed old grasses?

Also is it necessary to plant beans this year to allow for a round up spray and wait till next year to plant the CIR,Big blue and Indain grass mix?

I know we will have to consult with a NRCS guy about the whole process but there is nothing like asking guys who have done it first hand and understand the whole process.

I'm just trying to get a head start on the whole process and would love any pointers/information. I can see the passion and enthusiam in many of your post and can see myself having that same fire once the whole process begins!

Thanks again for all the information you have provided in previous posts and keep it up!:way:

Tim
 
tsainswo8768 said:
Hey guys,

I found your amazing thread about a month ago while doing research on NWSG's. I stumbled onto one of your archived threads and eventually found my way hear. I have read just about all the threads since 2006 and am blown away by the knowledge and generosity of sharing that knowledge on the thread with others. You guys are awesome.

First I must come clean and say that I am not from Iowa but my parents lived there and my sister currently plays soccer for the hawkeyes. I love the state but must admit I live in Illinois. So I'm hoping you guys are willing to help out and out of stater on some questions I have. I will post pictures of the whole process from scratch as we move along.

Now to the point. We are closing on a piece of property on friday. It currently has about 70 acres of CRP. Im not sure which grasses are in there as I havent looked closely enough the couple times I have been there, but I do know it isn't what we are looking for. The height of the plants are only about knee high and we are looking to get some good cover developed for wildlife (especially deer and turkey).

My first question is will it be possible, without voiding the contract, to transfrom these CRP feild into grasses with more height and desirablty.(we are looking at CIR, Big blue, and indian grass with some possible forbes mixed in)




Hi Tim and welcome to IW...even though yor from Illinois ;) Ha ha...JK.
Most NRCS offices would love more guys like you IMO. I am doing the same thing and while cost share will be limited to non-existent, they should have no trouble giving you the go ahead.


I think your best yield will be a good kill thsi fall, then drill in the seed next January or February, followed by plateau for BB/Indian or atrazine for Switch IF you really want to give it a boost. If not, spraying again after planting can give one more kill to anything that comes up, as long as you do it early enough before the NWSG germinate, which I think is around 62 degrees soil temp.

Good luck!
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Tim,

This forum is nationwide and we do our best to help everyone :way:

NRCS will not allow you to plant soybeans on CRP acres (except in a designated food plot) but they will almost always allow you to convert it to NWSG.

Best bet is always to mow in late summer, spray in September and dormant seed in late winter but you can attempt a spring spray with sometimes less then desirable results.

get the ok from NRCS and then please come back and ask questions each step of the way and we'll do our best to answer your questions....:)
 
tsainswo8768 said:
Hey guys,

I found your amazing thread about a month ago while doing research on NWSG's. I stumbled onto one of your archived threads and eventually found my way hear. I have read just about all the threads since 2006 and am blown away by the knowledge and generosity of sharing that knowledge on the thread with others. You guys are awesome.

First I must come clean and say that I am not from Iowa but my parents lived there and my sister currently plays soccer for the hawkeyes. I love the state but must admit I live in Illinois. So I'm hoping you guys are willing to help out and out of stater on some questions I have. I will post pictures of the whole process from scratch as we move along.

Now to the point. We are closing on a piece of property on friday. It currently has about 70 acres of CRP. Im not sure which grasses are in there as I havent looked closely enough the couple times I have been there, but I do know it isn't what we are looking for. The height of the plants are only about knee high and we are looking to get some good cover developed for wildlife (especially deer and turkey).

My first question is will it be possible, without voiding the contract, to transfrom these CRP feild into grasses with more height and desirablty.(we are looking at CIR, Big blue, and indian grass with some possible forbes mixed in)

Second if it is possible, what is the best way to go about it. I understand frost seeding and drilling right into the frozen ground/sod being the best method to go about it but in this case do you recommend tilling the land first to get all of the debris in the ground and then packing it to allow for a firm seed bed or will there be enough exposed soil to just seed over the mowed old grasses?

Also is it necessary to plant beans this year to allow for a round up spray and wait till next year to plant the CIR,Big blue and Indain grass mix?

I know we will have to consult with a NRCS guy about the whole process but there is nothing like asking guys who have done it first hand and understand the whole process.

I'm just trying to get a head start on the whole process and would love any pointers/information. I can see the passion and enthusiam in many of your post and can see myself having that same fire once the whole process begins!

Thanks again for all the information you have provided in previous posts and keep it up!:way:

Tim
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Hey Tim, I converted a cool season crp field last year to nwsg. The nrcs office was more than willing to work with me and had no problem changing the seed plan. The only draw back to it was that they would only do cost share that was equal to the cost of the coolseason mix. I planted a mix that was $110/acre and I believe I received close to $55/acre in cost share. I planted 65 acres so it seemed a little pricey at the time but if you divide it out over the 15 year contract it is well worth it to have the nwsg mix.
 
Thanks for all the help so far guys!! One more day and we close on the property, can't wait! We are going to go out on sunday and tredge around to admire and perhaps start to plan on all the work that needs to be done this year. Property hasnt been hunted in over 10 years so it's got alot of work to be done, but alot of potential as well. I'll take lots of pictures and post some after the weekend to try and give you guys a better idea of what we are dealing with!

thanks again,
Tim
 
SWBUCKHNTR said:
Has anyone ever frost seeded into corn stalks? I had a buddy asking me about it and I have never done it
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I think the key there would be how much "trash" is present on the ground in the form of corn leaves, etc. If it was a field where they chopped the corn for silage I would think that would be ideal, just about like a bean field. If though there was a heavy corn leaf residue like there would be with a normal harvest then I think an awful lot of your seed would end up not meeting up with the ground and you would have poor germination.

If you have a lot of trash...maybe you could mow the stalks now and thereby mulch up the leaves some at the same time. Although I have never done that, I could see where if you did it that it would work well. A lot of the trash, once mulched up, would blow away too.
 
will the NRCS plant for you are will they hire another outfit? I only ask because I would rather have someone do ours who has experience with warm season grasses and get it done right
 
Hey everyone, I planted a liittle less than an acre of a short wsg mix this past spring and was really happy with my results. I used plateau and pulled out most of the weeds that came later in the season. My question to you guys is should I burn this patch off soon or not burn this year at all. I have partridge pea, coneflowers and some other plateau tolerant forbs as well, so my second question is this, do I spray this area again with plateau this spring to keep the weeds at bay? Any help is appreciated.
 
Homer1974 said:
Hey everyone, I planted a liittle less than an acre of a short wsg mix this past spring and was really happy with my results. I used plateau and pulled out most of the weeds that came later in the season. My question to you guys is should I burn this patch off soon or not burn this year at all. I have partridge pea, coneflowers and some other plateau tolerant forbs as well, so my second question is this, do I spray this area again with plateau this spring to keep the weeds at bay? Any help is appreciated.
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Don't burn until the third year and using herbicide this year is options and usually not necessary ;)
 
Thanks for the info dbltree. I have enjoyed watching my grass and forbes grow and have alot more birds and wildlife showing up. The biggest weed problem I have is pig weed. I wasn't sure what it was until I spotted it in one of your posts. Thanks
 
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