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OPTIONS TO RECOVERING THE PLANT COMMUNITY
The Lost Pine Recovery Team has moved quickly and efficiently to evaluate needs for the recovery and protection of the plant community in Bastrop County in the wake of the Labor Day wildfires and are to be commended. They especially stress the use of only native (or indigenous) species of grasses, wildflowers and trees to be used.
One of their recommendations is the Lost Pines Restoration Mix of eight native grasses and wildflowers, an excellent combination of for long-term restoration. This mix should be planted in the window of Feb. 15 through March 15, as these are warm season plants and contains eight varieties of seed and 3.95 pounds will cover an acre of severely or moderately burned territory.
A more immediate choice that can be planted right now – especially now with the rains we are receiving -- is the Native American Seed Company’s Southeast Recovery Mix. This mixture contains 56 native species of grasses and wildflowers – most harvested from a prairie remnant conservancy 60 miles from Bastrop – and all indigenous to our environment. This mix contains both cold and warm season grasses and wildflowers, so you will get something growing on all year round. You apply five pounds of this mix to the acre, or one pound will cover 8,700 square feet.
Look at this mixture on the company’s Web site, www.seedsource.com or at their local distributor for the mix, Bastrop Gardens, whose Web site is www.bastropgardens.com. Bastrop Gardens is providing the mix at what it costs to get it here, working with Native American Seed to have it readily available and cut shipping costs to the consumer. Bastrop Gardens is also stocking at cost Cereal (Elbon) Rye as a grass cover crop which is mixed five parts rye to one part Southeast Recovery Mix so that the rye can act as a nurse crop to the recovery mix.
Elbon Rye and Beardless Wheat are very necessary components of recovery to prevent erosion. This is the most economical and immediate method, because it is fast growing. With a bit of rain, Elbon Rye, also known as Cereal Rye, and Beardless Wheat will give quick coverage and help prevent erosion, as well has hold down the recovery seed
mixes from washing away. Avoid Winter Rye, except for ornamental lawns, for a couple of reasons. It will return each year, whether you want it to or not, unless you mow it before seed heads can be formed. Another important issue, essential in drought times, is that Winter Rye takes more water from the soil that the Elbon Rye or Beardless Wheat.
Another immediate solution to erosion problems, especially on sloped areas, is an erosion blanket. These come in various forms, but it is recommended to use the wood fiber, net-free erosion control blanket. This new wood fiber product is stitched together by thread as opposed to most straw and excelsior blankets that have plastic netting enclosing the blanket material – and its biodegradable. The advantage in the new design is that it has no netting that can entrap wildlife, such as our endangered Houston Toad, not to mention lizards and snakes. This new type blanket is also carried by Native American Seed and Bastrop Gardens. It comes in an eight-foot by ninety-foot roll (8’X90’=720 square feet). Bastrop Gardens is offering the rolls locally, which saves some shipping delay and costs.
An erosion blanket also provides a light mulch after you sow the seeds, but more importantly, keeps the seed from washing away in the rain. Native American has also discovered that a blanket actually increases germination rates for the seeds planted beneath it that will sprout through it, thus another benefit.
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Last revised Dec. 2, 2011. URL:http://www.bastropgardens.com.