[APWG] CONVERT cheatgrass to 100% native cover in six months, with $32 soil tests, add organic fertilizers and mulch, when sowing local native ecotype seeds

[rwc-seed at batnet.com]

Dear APWG,

Cheatgrass conversion back to 100% native cover -- 30 years ago, I was hired by BLM  to invent methods to be able to sow native seeds in the Great Basin sagebrush cheatgrass-infested desert at 8-10 inches of annual rainfall, north or Reno to replant 100 miles of the Tuscarora gas pipeline. 

It took two years of small-scale test-plot plantings, but when we found the answer and sowed the native seeds on those 100-miles, with our planting methods producing 100% native cover in only six months.

Soil Tests -- The key was to take soil tests from the top two inches from around the existing native grasses stands, to find their soil nutrient and organic matter thresholds, each species needed for seedling survival.   Each species had a different threshold.  The Poa Squirreltail had the lowest, the Bluebunch wheatgrass the middle, and the Great Basin wild rye the highest needs.

I sifted one quart samples through a 1/4 inch mesh screen to remove rocks and leaves, and sent it to the Waypoint Lab in Anaheim.  The current prices are $32 each and asked for their A-01 "data only in a bar graph format", along with their organic matter test for $16.

At the same time,  test the soil where the cheatgrass is growing.  Then,  in our on-site test plots, add the nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter to match the levels needed by the natives as shown by the A-01 threshold tests, and also sow the natives at different sowing rates.  

And NEVER drill-seed -- because it does not produce the proper native-seedling density,  to be able to produce allelochemicals to suppress the cheatgrass seeds from ever sprouting in the future.

The sowing rates we started with, were the very low pounds-per-acre recommended by the seed companies.  Then we sowed additional plots and increased each plot in 5 pounds per acre increments, until we found the sweet-spot for each native species we were sowing.  

Produce sufficient allelochemicals -- What you want to accomplish, is to have the native seedlings as they sprout to produce sufficient amounts of allelochemicals, to suppress dormant cheatgrass seeds in the soil from ever sprouting in the future. 

And NEVER sow seed mixes -- Why you never sow any native seed mixes--is you do not want the native seedlings fighting each other--they must focus solely on suppressing the dormant cheatgrass seeds in the soil.

Now we all know it can be done, then the goal of converting the 100 million acres in the Great Basin, back to fire-safe and productive native grasslands and wildflower fields could get started, if there was any desire to do so. 

Ten million acres per year, paid by the fossil fuel companies and they get the Carbon Credits in exchange, all could be converted by 2034 if we got started this year.  Photos of the Tuscarora project at https://www.ecoseeds.com/greatbasin.html

"Native grass and Wildflower Party" -- To get started, all you need is the Waypoint Anaheim A-01 and organic matter soil tests, a few pounds of local native ecotype seeds, a few pounds of organic fertilizers and a few pounds of mulch--to get our "Native grass and Wildflower Party" started in the Great Basin this year.   

You do not need to wait for any USDA $2.9 million grant to hire 100 students from four universities, to start our "Native grass and Wildflower Party".

Start with tiny test plots -- Since our pipeline test plots were each only one by two meters for each sowing treatment, then,  that tiny size allowed us to sow 50 different treatments and sowing rates, could be done very cheaply.

The cheatgrass fires could become a far distant memory; and the ranchers could make 10X as much take-home income by restoring the grasses and selling the Carbon Credits; and the poor Sage Grouse have been waiting for decades for the Land Doctors to come and do that conversion, back to the native forbs their baby chicks need for their survival.  

Sincerely, Craig Carlton Dremann, The Reveg Edge, P.O. Box 361, Redwood City, CA 94064
CELL (650) 441-9323 


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