1. Shannon Filbey - NRCS Plant Materials Center
Revegetation Seeding
Shannon Filbey - NRCS Plant Materials Center
Planning and executing a revegetation seeding from start to finish

2. Planning Seeding Considerations - Natural Recruitment
50% failure rate - intermountain west
Conservation/restoration goals - Criteria for success?
Best approach given site conditions? Inventory!
Vegetation
Soil
Climate
Equipment limitations - seeding technique
Seed drill (correct seeding depth), broadcast seeding, hydro-mulching
Stakeholder may consider revegetation if recruitment of desired species would not occur under current conditions. This is likely the case if desired species represent < ¼ of existing on-site plants.
Multitude of specific reasons to consider reveg - discuss later
Must be strategic in the planning process - 50% failure rate
non-irrigated plantings on range
Less than 12” of precip
High weed density/seed bank
Develop a clear conservation goal for the project - informs decision making process
Take vegetation inventory to understand competition pressure
Soil characteristics (pH, depth, heavy-metal content, salinity, soil texture, water-holding capacity, nutrient balance, drainage)
climate (high/low temp, growing season, precipitation regime)
This data will inform the plant selection process
Site determines equipment limitations

3. Plant Selection and Seeding Mixtures
Resource Concern
Site Conditions
Availability/Costs
Plant Selection
Plant Selection and Seeding Mixtures
Identify Resource Concerns
Erosion/water quality
Pollinator habitat
Wildlife forage/habitat
Forage production
Weed control
Ecological restoration
The task now becomes identifying plants that will establish, persist, and meet the project’s objectives given the resource constraints of the site.
Reference site inventory, NRCS’s web soil survey, and Ecological Site Descriptions (note relative composition) will aid in identify adapted species. Be mindful of compatibility and seeding depths of each species.
Identify plant attributes that address the resource concerns - do your research
Erosion/water quality (ease of establishment, rhizomatous/good root structure),
Pollinator habitat (nectar production, flowering period/temporal coverage, nesting habitat, drought tolerance, diverse, native)
Wildlife habitat (good forage production, thermal cover, structure/predator/prey cover, diverse in species and phenology, native),
Forage production (palatable, biomass production, protein content, grazing/trample tolerance, long-lived, disease resistance, don’t mix palatable and non-palatable species)
Weed control (ease of establishment, ground cover, competitive, fast growing, diverse),
Ecological restoration (composition based on ESD or other historical description with consideration of succession, diverse with forbs and shrubs, different functional groups, native and local ecotypes)

4. Seeding Rate Calculation
Full Stand Seeding Rate: 7 PLS lbs/acre
Calculate % Pure Live Seed (PLS) of seed source
Pure Live Seed % = % Purity x % Germination
96.21 % = ( x 0.97) x 100
Bulk Seed = Total PLS pounds needed/PLS %
(10 acres x 7 PLS lbs/acre)/ = lbs of bulk seed needed
Resource concern: Forage production (non-native forbs)
Site: non-irrigated, 17” precip, 3,700 ft asl, pH 7.8, low slope, silt-loam
Species Selection: Thickspike Wheatgrass (Critana)
Equipment: Conventional Seed Drill at 12” row spacing
Area: 10 acres
Average Seeds/lbs = 152,000
Not all seed sources are equivalent
Purity
Germination/viability/TZ
Noxious weeds in seed? Old seed? Low germ? Certified Seed?
Identify full-stand seeding rate by species (NRCS tech notes) - double rates if broadcast seeding

5. Company A
Company B
Species
Thickspike Wheatgrass
$/LBS $8
$8.25
% Purity
85.20 %
86.30 %
% Total Germination
79 %
84 %
% Pure Live Seed
67.30 %
72.49 %
Price per PLS LBS
$ 11.89
$ 11.38

6. Seedbed Preparation/Installation
Most common cause of conservation seeding failure - poor seedbed preparation
Optimize soil-moisture uptake
Weed suppression and soil amending/conditioning
Seed drill calibration
Convert from PLS/acre to PLS/linear distance respective of row spacing
152,000 seeds/lbs = 335 seeds/gram for thickspike wheatgrass or...
24 Pure Live Seeds per linear foot at 12” row spacing
24 seeds x 1 PLS gram/335.1 seeds = PLS grams/ft
Most common cause of failure- seedbed prep
Options for seedbed preparation - variable-
generally, weed suppression spring/fall for 2 years (herbicide or plow/disc) and fall seedbed prep and planting
Site Prep - Tillage/Ripping, harrowing/culti-packer, mulching, weed control/pre- emergent/herbicide treatment (beware of residuals), cover crop prior to seeding, fire
Seed drill calibration
Soil moisture, free of competing veg, light mulch to prevent erosion, uniformly firm proper seed to soil contact allows germinating seeds to uptake soil moisture for a long enough period of time to survive and establish a stand.
seedbed needs to be firm enough to leave a human footprint less than ½ inch deep
Interseeding tends to lead to failure
no-till works if totally weed free and > 15” of precip
Next, calibrate seeding drill by converting the PLS/acre to PLS/linear distance
adjusting the seed drill setting