Photo: Prairie restoration in East Texas. © 2017 Delena Norris-Tull
Prairie Restoration Workshop: East Texas – Indian Grass Preserve, part of the Katy Prairie Conservancy
Summaries by Dr. Delena Norris-Tull, Professor Emerita of Science Education, University of Montana Western,
September 2020.
My great-niece, Amber Leung, invited me to attend a one-day workshop, The 2017 Prairie Restoration Roundup, at the Indian Grass Preserve, near Katy, Texas (just west of Houston). The workshop was held on October 5, 2017, just over a month after Hurricane Harvey devastated much of Houston and surrounding areas.
I was amazed that the Katy Prairie Conservancy was not deterred in providing this valuable workshop, so soon after the hurricane. The workshop, focused on prairie restoration and revegetation projects using native plants, was well attended. It was aimed at landowners, ranchers and farmers, interested in learning the benefits of and processes for adding native plants to their lands.
Summary of presentations:
Aaron Tjemeland, Nature Conservancy of Texas (Reviewed & approved, May 4, 2020)
Work 409-941-9114 Cell 361-522-4060
atjelmeland@TNC.ORG
Here are the main points of his presentation entitled, “Collecting, Drying, and Storing Seeds”:
There are no set methods for collecting, drying, and storing seeds. You have to innovate and figure out what works for your site.
1. Collecting seed: The Nature Conservancy staff typically collects over 20 species of native grasses and forbs. We try to introduce as much native diversity as possible into our restoration plantings. We collect brownseed (Paspalum plicatulum) in May, June, and early July. This species can be collected throughout the year, but produces seed massively in May, June, and early July. [Note: brownseed is a native perennial grass that is a good food source for both wildlife and livestock].
For small-scale sites, you can do hand collection along roadsides, private lands [with permission], parks. [Note: In Texas, while it is not legal to collect plants from the right-of-ways or parks, individuals can collect seed]. There are some small hand-held strippers you can use. In small-scale sites, it’s easy to incorporate diverse plant species.
For mid-scale projects, about 7-8 acres, you should consider using machinery for collection, and supplement with hand collections. Seed-strippers can be pulled by an ATV or mounted onto a tractor front-end loader, and start at around $25,000.
We use machinery for harvesting and planting. In this region, fall planting is preferable but we will often plant in the winter and into spring. Spring plantings can be riskier and can take longer to germinate because the soil dries much quicker during that time of year.
For large-scale projects, you can use older farm equipment, such as combines, that may no longer be in use and thus may be affordable. You may be able to contract with a seed company to do the collection for you on your own land.
2. Processing seed:
3. Storing seed: When storing seeds, you need to avoid humidity and heat. Storage at a combined heat (oF) + humidity (% RH) below 100 is ideal. In the hot, humid climate of Texas, the Nature Conservancy staff are content to store the seed at a combined value between 100-105, but that is not ideal. We use insulated containers with a de-humidifier and an awning to shield the lid from sunlight. It is safe to freeze seed after it has been dried, but freezing is often not feasible for larger amounts of seed and not necessary if only storing for a few years until it is planted. After drying, there is not enough moisture in the seed to destroy the seed when frozen. Also, I have not had any problems with insects consuming too much of the native seed.
4. Testing seed: When you buy seed from a commercial source, it will come with basic testing information. But when you harvest seed yourself, you must send It off for testing, if you wish to know the seed quality and to inform your planting rate. If you do not know your seed quality, it is easy to underplant or overplant your seed. We send our seed out to a company to test germination rates, purity of the seed (percentage of seed versus chaff/trash or % weed seed per volume), and dormancy. If you have a low purity or low germination rate, you will have to plant more seed or denser seed. You should calculate how many pounds of seed per acre that you will need. Alternatively, Pure Live Seed (PLS) per square foot can be used to give a more accurate planting rate. A formula to calculate PLS can be found online.
Links to additional Prairie Restoration projects:
Links to additional Rangeland Restoration practices:
Links to more Innovative Solutions:
Prairie Restoration Workshop: East Texas – Indian Grass Preserve, part of the Katy Prairie Conservancy
Summaries by Dr. Delena Norris-Tull, Professor Emerita of Science Education, University of Montana Western,
September 2020.
My great-niece, Amber Leung, invited me to attend a one-day workshop, The 2017 Prairie Restoration Roundup, at the Indian Grass Preserve, near Katy, Texas (just west of Houston). The workshop was held on October 5, 2017, just over a month after Hurricane Harvey devastated much of Houston and surrounding areas.
I was amazed that the Katy Prairie Conservancy was not deterred in providing this valuable workshop, so soon after the hurricane. The workshop, focused on prairie restoration and revegetation projects using native plants, was well attended. It was aimed at landowners, ranchers and farmers, interested in learning the benefits of and processes for adding native plants to their lands.
Summary of presentations:
Aaron Tjemeland, Nature Conservancy of Texas (Reviewed & approved, May 4, 2020)
Work 409-941-9114 Cell 361-522-4060
atjelmeland@TNC.ORG
Here are the main points of his presentation entitled, “Collecting, Drying, and Storing Seeds”:
There are no set methods for collecting, drying, and storing seeds. You have to innovate and figure out what works for your site.
1. Collecting seed: The Nature Conservancy staff typically collects over 20 species of native grasses and forbs. We try to introduce as much native diversity as possible into our restoration plantings. We collect brownseed (Paspalum plicatulum) in May, June, and early July. This species can be collected throughout the year, but produces seed massively in May, June, and early July. [Note: brownseed is a native perennial grass that is a good food source for both wildlife and livestock].
For small-scale sites, you can do hand collection along roadsides, private lands [with permission], parks. [Note: In Texas, while it is not legal to collect plants from the right-of-ways or parks, individuals can collect seed]. There are some small hand-held strippers you can use. In small-scale sites, it’s easy to incorporate diverse plant species.
For mid-scale projects, about 7-8 acres, you should consider using machinery for collection, and supplement with hand collections. Seed-strippers can be pulled by an ATV or mounted onto a tractor front-end loader, and start at around $25,000.
We use machinery for harvesting and planting. In this region, fall planting is preferable but we will often plant in the winter and into spring. Spring plantings can be riskier and can take longer to germinate because the soil dries much quicker during that time of year.
For large-scale projects, you can use older farm equipment, such as combines, that may no longer be in use and thus may be affordable. You may be able to contract with a seed company to do the collection for you on your own land.
2. Processing seed:
- Drying: If you need to store the seed for a period of time, you will have to dry it. You can use drawers with screens on them to lay out the seed or lay the seed out on a floor. The key is to keep the air moving across the seed with fans. It generally takes about 3-10 days to dry seed to “crispy dry,” and during that drying time, it’s important to turn the seed over at least once a day so mold doesn’t develop at the bottom of the seed.
- Seed cleaning: You may need to do this to remove trash and seed pods. This is not always necessary. It depends on what technique you will use to plant the seed. If you will be using a seed drill to plant seeds, the seed needs to be pretty clean. There are a lot of different seed cleaners you can use. Many times, shaker tables are used which allow screens to separate seed and chaff. The native seed industry often uses a larger version of these shaker tables to clean seed. If necessary, a de-awner can be used to remove awns from seed. Forced air systems can also be used but are generally for small amounts of seed and for research purposes.
- Broadcasting machines: Broadcast one type of seed at a time because different sizes of seed flow out of a broadcasting machine differently. Calibrate the machine for the size of the seed and the distance you wish to broadcast it. If you use a lawn spreader, the seed doesn’t have to be clean [free of debris], but if the seed is trashy, you may need to cut up the trash first. Use a flail-type chipper or hammer mill to break up the trash and cut it into even-sizes for broadcasting. You can also use a seed slinger. We use old lime spreaders as drop spreaders that allow the seed to fall out of a gap at the bottom that you can adjust. In this case, we don’t need to clean the seed. However, the seed must be able to flow through the gap so we chip the seed up using the hammer mill or similar machine. Some chippers with blades will not chip up the seed so it’s important to use the correct type of chipper.
3. Storing seed: When storing seeds, you need to avoid humidity and heat. Storage at a combined heat (oF) + humidity (% RH) below 100 is ideal. In the hot, humid climate of Texas, the Nature Conservancy staff are content to store the seed at a combined value between 100-105, but that is not ideal. We use insulated containers with a de-humidifier and an awning to shield the lid from sunlight. It is safe to freeze seed after it has been dried, but freezing is often not feasible for larger amounts of seed and not necessary if only storing for a few years until it is planted. After drying, there is not enough moisture in the seed to destroy the seed when frozen. Also, I have not had any problems with insects consuming too much of the native seed.
4. Testing seed: When you buy seed from a commercial source, it will come with basic testing information. But when you harvest seed yourself, you must send It off for testing, if you wish to know the seed quality and to inform your planting rate. If you do not know your seed quality, it is easy to underplant or overplant your seed. We send our seed out to a company to test germination rates, purity of the seed (percentage of seed versus chaff/trash or % weed seed per volume), and dormancy. If you have a low purity or low germination rate, you will have to plant more seed or denser seed. You should calculate how many pounds of seed per acre that you will need. Alternatively, Pure Live Seed (PLS) per square foot can be used to give a more accurate planting rate. A formula to calculate PLS can be found online.
Links to additional Prairie Restoration projects:
Links to additional Rangeland Restoration practices:
- Federal Goals for Rangelands
- Novel Ecosystems
- Sagebrush Steppe Restoration
- Revegetation with Native Plants
- Dogs as detectors of noxious weeds
Links to more Innovative Solutions: