Cheatgrass eradication methods using native plant allelochemicals
Autumn is the time to do some Waypoint Lab A-01 soil tests and sprinkle some organic fertilizers and mulch on some cheatgrass test plots, and see what soil nutrient levels are needed, for 100% of the cheatgrass to go away in six months, with “Craig’s Lucky-13 Cheatgrass-Back-to 100%-Native-Cover Plan.”
1.) BETWEEN August and October each year, is the time to get your one full quart samples of cheatgrass soil from the top two inches, sifted through a 1/4 inch mesh screen to remove rocks and roots, and send it into the Waypoint Lab in Anaheim for their A-01 and organic matter tests for a total of $48. Tests done as “data only, in a bar graph format”.
The Waypoint form to be filled out and mailed in with your samples and your check, can be downloaded at https://www.ecoseeds.com/soiltest.pdf
2.) LOW nitrogen and/or low phosphorus results from the tests, ADD organic fertilizers to bring those levels back to “Indigenous (pre-cow and pre-sheep) normal levels” and also add one inch of mulch.
3.) SET up these test plots, ideally where a cheatgrass fire occurred the same year, or if a burn site is not locally available, set some cheatgrass on fire to create those conditions.
The fire will wipe out the allelochemicals in the cheatgrass straw, which can interfere with native seedlings sprouting up.
4.) APPLY your fertilizers at different rates, so you can find the “Sweet Spot” for each species of natives, you want to grow back and replace the cheatgrass within six months.
5.) SOW local native seeds if you have them, always as individual species and NEVER in a seed-mix. You want the allelochemical being produced from the sprouting native seedlings, to suppress the cheatgrass seeds in the soil around them, not to have the natives fighting each other.
6.) Adequate ALLELOCHEMICALS? -- The fertilizing, mulching, and native seeds in the soil, all work together to be able to produce allelochemicals at the correct strength and density, to suppress and kill the cheatgrass seeds so they never sprout in the future.
7.) NEVER drill-seed, as that method does not produce the density of the natives, to make adequate cover and strength of the allelochemicals to stop 100% of the cheatgrass seeds from sprouting.
8.) NEVER do any large scale native sowing project in the future, until you have produced successful test plots in the same area, and was able to get zero cheatgrass and 100% native cover in six months.
9.) NEVER add any exotics to any native planting project--no alfalfa for the cows, no radish, no vetch, no exotic clovers, none of those exotics, because they will produce allelochemical which will wipe out the natives wherever they grow.
10.) EACH NATIVE has its own “Soil Nutrient Threshold” so one-size-fits-all in terms of sowing rates and fertilizer applications will be different for each one, to be able to produce 100% native cover in six months.
11.) ANY test plots NOT producing 100% native cover in six months, your test plots have FAILED. Keep working until the allelochemicals of the natives, are able to produce 100% native cover and zero cheatgrass in six months. And then you can do larger plantings like my 100-miles of the Tuscarora gas pipeline in 1993 north of Reno, which you can see at https://www.ecoseeds.com/greatbasin.html
12.) LET us all get the “Great Basin Wildflower and Native Grass Party” started, and convert all of those 100 million acres of flammable cheatgrass, back to fire-safe natives, starting this autumn with some small scale test plots. And then, have some annual celebrations each summer, some “Great Basin Wildflower Festivals” in areas where you have 10 acres or more back to 100% native cover.
You could send out invitations to the local Native Peoples, to join in the celebration of the home-coming of the local native plants.
13.) OUR Tuscarora gas pipeline project plot size, was only 1 x 2 meters for each treatment, so for a few hundreds dollars this fall, you can get started on converting the cheatgrass in your area, and produce some really amazing and remarkable results by next May!
Contact Craig Carlton Dremann- email craig@ecoseeds.com.
Research gate = https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Craig-Dremann
Office = 650-325-7333. Website: https://www.ecoseeds.com/greatbasin.html
YouTube Channel Burn Study videos = https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHl6YA4PvegxYo3TxSGOs9Q