Will it Grow?
Comparison of wildland
planting methods of native
forbs.
Alison Whittaker, Bracken Davis,
Danny Summers, Jason Vernon
What piece of equipment do
we use?
Study Design
 Randomized complete block design
 2 sites
 North Site
 South Site
 2 years – Treated in 2008 and 2009
 2 blocks
 5 treatments





Control
Aerator
Chain
Drill
Pipe Harrow
 Total of 40 plots
Study Sites
Site Layout
Plot size = 150’ x 100’
Methods
Planting Methods




Aerator
Pipe Harrow
Ely Chain
Truax Rangeland Drill
Seed Mix
Species
Munro Globemallow
Blue Flax
Utah Sweetvetch
Silvery Lupine
Palmer Penstemon
Utah Astragalus
Arrowleaf Balsamroot
Firecracker Penstemon
Tapertip Hawksbeard
Total
Rate (lbs/acre)
0.5
1
1
1.5
0.5
0.6
2
0.29
0.16
7.55
Seeds/sq.ft.
4.32
6.04
0.60
0.27
4.86
2.03
2.28
3.18
0.48
24.04
Data Collection
 100 ft. Transect with 5
100 ft cross belts.
 1 m 2 quadrat placed
every 5 feet along the
quadrat
 100 quadrats per plot
 Cover – Modified
Daubenmire cover class
 Density of perennial
species
 June 2009
Results
Density of Seeded Species
1.4
1.2
Density/sq. meter
PEPA8
1
PEEA
LUAR
0.8
LILE
HEBO
0.6
CRAC
CLSE
0.4
BASA
0.2
ASUT
0
Aerator
Chain
Drill
Treatment
Harrow
Density of Seeded Species
0.8
Density/sq. meter
0.7
PEPA8
0.6
PEEA
0.5
LUAR
LILE
0.4
HEBO
CRAC
0.3
CLSE
0.2
BASA
ASUT
0.1
0
Aerator
Chain
Drill
Harrow
Treamtment
*Excluding data from the 5 outlier quadrats where the seed box was repaired
Control
Aerator
Harrow
Drill
Chain
Density of Seeded Species by Site
1.2
PEPA
1
Density/sq. meter
PEEA
LUAR
0.8
LILE
0.6
HEBO
CRAC
0.4
CLSE
BASA
0.2
ASUT
0
North
South
Aerator
North
South
Chain
North
South
Drill
North
South
Harrow
North Site
1.2
Density/sq. meter
1
PEPA8
PEEA
0.8
LUAR
LILE
0.6
HEBO
CRAC
0.4
BASA
ASUT
0.2
0
Aerator
Chain
Drill
Treatment
Harrow
South Site
0.12
0.1
Density/sq. meter
PEEA
LUAR
0.08
LILE
0.06
HEBO
CLSE
0.04
BASA
ASUT
0.02
0
Aerator
Chain
Drill
Treatment
Harrow
Cover of Sagebrush
12
Averate Cover (%)
10
8
6
4
2
0
Aerator
Chain
Control
Treatment
Drill
Harrow
Cover of Annual Species
18
16
Average Cover (%)
14
12
Aerator
10
Chain
Control
8
Drill
6
Harrow
4
2
0
1
2
North
1
2
South
Summary




Consider you overall objectives.
Consider the threat of annual species.
Consider the site conditions.
Continued data collection.
Additional Plant Material
Work
 Great Basin Wildrye
 Tetraploid plants from the Great Basin were
selected for harvest in 2008 and 2009.
 Seed is in production on Benson Farms
Additional Plant Material
Work (cont.)
 Bluebunch Wheatgrass
 In cooperation with USDA – ARS
 Currently working on data analysis to select
the top Great Basin accessions.
Additional Plant Material
Work (cont.)
 Muttongrass
 In Cooperation with the USFS Shrub Sciences
Laboratory.
 Problem: Variability in seed production timing.
 Can we select for timing of seed production?
 3 groups of plants were selected according to
the timing of seed development, early, middle,
and late.
Acknowledgements
Additional funding from the Pittman-Robertson Federal Aid Grant W-82-R