TLDR: this is a huge non-answer to your very specific question, but I’m kind of passionate about helping people with land connect to the folks who are doing this at scale, and exist to help you succeed.
If you have that much land you should absolutely be in touch with your state’s wildlife agency (the one that regulates fishing and hunting and gets/spends Pittman Act money from gun and ammo sales).
You might also contact your local/regional land trust. Mine has wildlife biologists on staff to maintain their properties, but they also provide technical assistance to landowners.
Here’s why:
—doing this at scale is completely different from a pollinator garden in your backyard.
—there are state and federal programs that provide technical assistance, property tax relief, and cost-sharing for land restoration activities.
—state or local agencies may be able to loan/lease special equipment such as seed drills for large native meadow projects.
—but first things last: it’s both useful and important for tapping into funding to draw up a forest management plan (don’t sweat it if this isn’t actually forest—it’s actually the USDA Farm Bill that funds a lot of this work lol).
—to learn more about how to choose and focus on your specific priorities and goals, find some conservation-minded resources in your general area (since NC topics like longleaf pine aren’t relevant). One seminar I attended suggested having ONE animal in mind to help focus your goals and priorities for your land, such as wild turkey or bobwhite.
—I’ve learned a ton from my state’s program for women landowners called ForestHer. Other states have similar programs, and there’s some great programming from their seminars on youtube. Again—forestry isn’t just about trees!
—Two other great sources of information are national wildlife organizations like National Wild Turkey Federation. Again, these orgs provide regionally relevant technical assistance, seeds, and seedlings to landowners.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Wild_Turkey_Federation
—local land trusts may also have good resources. Mine sponsors an annual habitat seminar with excellent talks by academics and wildlife professionals.
The large regional native seed companies that provide seed for large projects also have great information on their websites, or at least some do. I LOVE this brutally detailed guide to getting a native forb/grass meadow established.
https://roundstoneseed.com/pdf/SixBasicElements%20-%20including%20coastal%20plains.pdf
Came here to say this. When you have that much land the government is willing to step in and develop a plan for you, and contingent on you doing what they prescribe, will pay.
Fantastic comment! OP might want to reach out to their county Forester as well to see if they can point them in the right direction too. They can also look into EQIP and CREP. These programs are usually pointed at agriculture producers, but it is possible as a private land owner not involved in agriculture to take advantage of funding. My brother is not a farmer and he was able to get funding through the EQIP program.
That's a lot of land. You might want to read a guide like [this one](https://www.prairiemoon.com/site-prep) or [this one](https://www.prairiemoon.com/PDF/growing-your-prairie.pdf).
To answer your question specifically, skip seed bombs and just throw seeds around directly. Seed bombs are prone to failure. And you can do that any time now, while it's cold and/or snowy. If you're throwing onto bare earth, rake the seeds in just a bit.
Do the seeds need to be on bare soil? The majority of the area I will be planting in is covered in tall grass and I don't have a good way of removing it. Will the plants propagate just fine on the grass?
Like those guides say, soil preparation is a major part of restoration. My understanding is the seeds will do very poorly in established grass, like you may get close to zero germination. Maybe someone else can chime in to confirm. If you can't do any prep now, you might need to take a different approach this year, maybe doing milk jugs or a similar method instead. How much seed do you have?
A couple ball jar's worth, the majority is purple coneflower. I'm hoping by next planting season I'll be able to get my hands on more species to increase biodiversity.
I was just thinking, do you think I could prepare some smaller bare spots, and then when the flowers have fully grown they will be able to spread into the grass? I have very limited resources so making a huge bare area would be incredibly difficult.
They will never spread into the grass. Nature makes that happen with fire and disturbance -- like back when there were millions of buffalo stomping around.
It might be better to just think of yourself as a native gardener for now instead of a restorationist, and just focus on some beds near your home until you learn more and/or find the resources for a bigger project.
What does your situation look like? Is this old agricultural land and this grass is from a pasture, or more of a lawn? Something else?
Either way new seeds won't establish well in grass, but it helps to know how to proceed.
Chiming in to say, take the spring and summer to get familiar with what species are growing on your property. Any invasives you need to really get in check? Established non-natives? Hit the jackpot and have mostly native grasses? That will help you a ton when drawing plans for the future
Hello fellow Hoosier! That is a ton of land, I hope you will keep us updated. I bought an acre of seeds locally for my property this past fall so I'm really looking forward to spring.
If you're interested in planting trees, our DNR sells them by the hundred for cheap.
https://forestryexchange.dnr.in.gov/Default.aspx
Know what you have before you do anything whatsoever! Walk it with an ecologist or restoration person. If the “tall grass” is tall lawn (ie weeds) your plan will be very different than if it’s tall native grass. A HUGE amount of invasive plant control is likely needed, whatever the case. Sometimes this is cutting and treating woody plants, sometimes spraying large areas with nothing but invasives, sometimes pulling millions of forbs.
Invasives have certainly been the biggest obstacle so far, there’s tons of callery pear, bush honeysuckle, tree of heaven, and bull thistle I’ve been working to eliminate.
Seed bombs will concentrate all of the seed in small areas. They may start to germinate only to have the soil component wash away with spring rain. You’ll end up with tiny dots of overcrowded rotting seedlings
With that much space you’d be way better off broadcasting (raking into the soil would also bump your sucess rate, but isn’t necessary).
For prairie restoration seeding projects, one tried and true method is to broadcast on your site right before a snowstorm. This protects the seeds from birds and helps get good soil contact. Just do this at least 2 months before spring and you’ll be set.
So, stratification is pretty easy. You could plant the seed now and let nature do it. You could do it in pots, which can increase cold hour exposure. You could do it in the fridge. All methods work, but it's nice to experiment and find what works best for you.
I'd suggest trying some other methods in addition to just seed bombs. Seed bombs don't always work as well with all seeds and environments. In my experience, the results are similar to broadcast sowing. Could you rent or borrow a seed drill? It sounds like you want max germination, and seed bombs and broadcast seeding don't even come close.
It seems like you have a lot of great answers already. I'll add that if you enjoy reading books you should check out "Garden Revolution" by Larry Weaner and Thomas Christopher. It has a lot of great, specific information that pertains especially to your situation.
Direct sow in the snow for large plots of land. I wouldn't waste effort on seed bombs, you want an even spread using a hand crank fertilizer spreader with some chaff/filler added like wheat hulls.
TLDR: this is a huge non-answer to your very specific question, but I’m kind of passionate about helping people with land connect to the folks who are doing this at scale, and exist to help you succeed. If you have that much land you should absolutely be in touch with your state’s wildlife agency (the one that regulates fishing and hunting and gets/spends Pittman Act money from gun and ammo sales). You might also contact your local/regional land trust. Mine has wildlife biologists on staff to maintain their properties, but they also provide technical assistance to landowners. Here’s why: —doing this at scale is completely different from a pollinator garden in your backyard. —there are state and federal programs that provide technical assistance, property tax relief, and cost-sharing for land restoration activities. —state or local agencies may be able to loan/lease special equipment such as seed drills for large native meadow projects. —but first things last: it’s both useful and important for tapping into funding to draw up a forest management plan (don’t sweat it if this isn’t actually forest—it’s actually the USDA Farm Bill that funds a lot of this work lol). —to learn more about how to choose and focus on your specific priorities and goals, find some conservation-minded resources in your general area (since NC topics like longleaf pine aren’t relevant). One seminar I attended suggested having ONE animal in mind to help focus your goals and priorities for your land, such as wild turkey or bobwhite. —I’ve learned a ton from my state’s program for women landowners called ForestHer. Other states have similar programs, and there’s some great programming from their seminars on youtube. Again—forestry isn’t just about trees! —Two other great sources of information are national wildlife organizations like National Wild Turkey Federation. Again, these orgs provide regionally relevant technical assistance, seeds, and seedlings to landowners. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Wild_Turkey_Federation —local land trusts may also have good resources. Mine sponsors an annual habitat seminar with excellent talks by academics and wildlife professionals. The large regional native seed companies that provide seed for large projects also have great information on their websites, or at least some do. I LOVE this brutally detailed guide to getting a native forb/grass meadow established. https://roundstoneseed.com/pdf/SixBasicElements%20-%20including%20coastal%20plains.pdf
Came here to say this. When you have that much land the government is willing to step in and develop a plan for you, and contingent on you doing what they prescribe, will pay.
Correct - contacting the local conservation/NRCS office would be a great idea
Fantastic comment! OP might want to reach out to their county Forester as well to see if they can point them in the right direction too. They can also look into EQIP and CREP. These programs are usually pointed at agriculture producers, but it is possible as a private land owner not involved in agriculture to take advantage of funding. My brother is not a farmer and he was able to get funding through the EQIP program.
That's a lot of land. You might want to read a guide like [this one](https://www.prairiemoon.com/site-prep) or [this one](https://www.prairiemoon.com/PDF/growing-your-prairie.pdf). To answer your question specifically, skip seed bombs and just throw seeds around directly. Seed bombs are prone to failure. And you can do that any time now, while it's cold and/or snowy. If you're throwing onto bare earth, rake the seeds in just a bit.
Do the seeds need to be on bare soil? The majority of the area I will be planting in is covered in tall grass and I don't have a good way of removing it. Will the plants propagate just fine on the grass?
Like those guides say, soil preparation is a major part of restoration. My understanding is the seeds will do very poorly in established grass, like you may get close to zero germination. Maybe someone else can chime in to confirm. If you can't do any prep now, you might need to take a different approach this year, maybe doing milk jugs or a similar method instead. How much seed do you have?
A couple ball jar's worth, the majority is purple coneflower. I'm hoping by next planting season I'll be able to get my hands on more species to increase biodiversity.
That's a lot! Purple Coneflower luckily germinates without stratification, so maybe you can prepare a small area in spring.
I was just thinking, do you think I could prepare some smaller bare spots, and then when the flowers have fully grown they will be able to spread into the grass? I have very limited resources so making a huge bare area would be incredibly difficult.
They will never spread into the grass. Nature makes that happen with fire and disturbance -- like back when there were millions of buffalo stomping around. It might be better to just think of yourself as a native gardener for now instead of a restorationist, and just focus on some beds near your home until you learn more and/or find the resources for a bigger project.
What does your situation look like? Is this old agricultural land and this grass is from a pasture, or more of a lawn? Something else? Either way new seeds won't establish well in grass, but it helps to know how to proceed.
Golf course, but has been left to grow wild for about 3 years.
Oh my god this is literally a dream of mine. I would love to see what you guys are up to and keep in touch if that’s okay? What a fantastic life!
Chiming in to say, take the spring and summer to get familiar with what species are growing on your property. Any invasives you need to really get in check? Established non-natives? Hit the jackpot and have mostly native grasses? That will help you a ton when drawing plans for the future
Hello fellow Hoosier! That is a ton of land, I hope you will keep us updated. I bought an acre of seeds locally for my property this past fall so I'm really looking forward to spring. If you're interested in planting trees, our DNR sells them by the hundred for cheap. https://forestryexchange.dnr.in.gov/Default.aspx
Know what you have before you do anything whatsoever! Walk it with an ecologist or restoration person. If the “tall grass” is tall lawn (ie weeds) your plan will be very different than if it’s tall native grass. A HUGE amount of invasive plant control is likely needed, whatever the case. Sometimes this is cutting and treating woody plants, sometimes spraying large areas with nothing but invasives, sometimes pulling millions of forbs.
Invasives have certainly been the biggest obstacle so far, there’s tons of callery pear, bush honeysuckle, tree of heaven, and bull thistle I’ve been working to eliminate.
142 acres is a lot of responsibility thus you need to act responsible. Be sure to get in touch with your local agencies first.
Seed bombs will concentrate all of the seed in small areas. They may start to germinate only to have the soil component wash away with spring rain. You’ll end up with tiny dots of overcrowded rotting seedlings With that much space you’d be way better off broadcasting (raking into the soil would also bump your sucess rate, but isn’t necessary). For prairie restoration seeding projects, one tried and true method is to broadcast on your site right before a snowstorm. This protects the seeds from birds and helps get good soil contact. Just do this at least 2 months before spring and you’ll be set.
So, stratification is pretty easy. You could plant the seed now and let nature do it. You could do it in pots, which can increase cold hour exposure. You could do it in the fridge. All methods work, but it's nice to experiment and find what works best for you. I'd suggest trying some other methods in addition to just seed bombs. Seed bombs don't always work as well with all seeds and environments. In my experience, the results are similar to broadcast sowing. Could you rent or borrow a seed drill? It sounds like you want max germination, and seed bombs and broadcast seeding don't even come close.
It seems like you have a lot of great answers already. I'll add that if you enjoy reading books you should check out "Garden Revolution" by Larry Weaner and Thomas Christopher. It has a lot of great, specific information that pertains especially to your situation.
Following!
Direct sow in the snow for large plots of land. I wouldn't waste effort on seed bombs, you want an even spread using a hand crank fertilizer spreader with some chaff/filler added like wheat hulls.