Establishing prairie on nutrient rich soils

Catherine Simonsen [1], Evelyn Howell [2], Joshua Posner [3], Martha Rosemeyer [4]

Primary Audience: Extension Agents, NRCS, private landowners, restoration ecologists.

Project Summary

With this project we plan to establish native Wisconsin prairie plant species on the nutrient rich agricultural soils of the WICST plots. We will investigate how different planting mixes respond to intense weed competition, and whether this affects long-term success and/or ecological functioning. The WICST plots offer a unique opportunity to incorporate some of the ecosystem parameters from the cropping diversity to the native species diversity.

We will use two planting mixes of native WI prairie species; high diversity (6 grasses, 23 forbs, 7 functional groups), and low diversity (3 grasses, 3 forbs, 3 functional groups). Continuous corn will be planted and used as a link to the WICST trials. Some questions this project will attempt to examine include:

1. Does initial planting diversity/guild composition affect prairie seedling survival in the first years of establishment?
2. Does initial planting diversity/guild composition affect weedy competitors?
3. Is there a significant difference in community composition between the diversity treatments?
4. Is there a significant difference between the diversity treatments regarding ecological parameters? (C-sequestration, POM, macro fauna, etc.)?
5. Is there a significant difference between prairie and cropping system control regarding these parameters?

Materials and Methods

The experimental design is a randomized complete block with 3 replicates. Three treatments consist of continuous corn, Give us a table with the list of species (common and botanical name) and seeding rates.

Preliminary Results

1999: In the spring and summer of 1999, the corn and the two prairie treatments were planted at Arlington Research Station. Corn was planted on April 30 and managed according to CS1 protocol. The prairie treatments were planted June 4, 1999. After soil preparation with a culti-packer, the prairie plots (2132 m²) were hand-broadcast seeded. Four permanent 1-m² quadrats were also established in each treatment and three soil samples were taken at each for weed seedbank, fertility, and nitrate measurements. These quadrats were excluded from the hand broadcast planting by a plastic cover and later hand planted with the precise number of seeds counted and representing the rates on the field. Due to heavy rains in the spring at Lakeland (over 5 inches in May), planting was postponed to spring 2000.

As expected, the prairie plots at Arlington were quickly overcome by weed invasion, most notably lamb’s quarter, pigweed, and crabgrass. By July the pigweed and lamb’s quarters were nearing 4 feet tall and out of concern for the emerging native seedlings the plots were mowed with a brush hog to a height of about 8 inches. However, there were several species emerging such as, black-eyed susan, saw-toothed sunflower, butterfly weed and big bluestem, but the numbers were alarmingly low. Also initiated in 1999 was research on weed seed banks and seed germination trials.

2000: Heavy spring rains again delayed planting at the more poorly drained Lakeland site and seeding was postponed to the fall. May and June rainfall at Lakeland was over 200% of the long-term average. Unfortunately, seeding did not take place in the fall at Lakeland.

At Arlington, many of the native species have germinated by the second year (Table 1) and we are currently monitoring the plots by way of the four permanent m² quadrats in each replicate as well as 20 stratified random ¼ m² quadrats in each replicate.

Start Date: Spring 1999
End Date: Spring 2001

Table 1. Established prairie species at the Arlington Agriculture Research Station, 2000.

[1] Graduate student in the departments of Agronomy and Landscape Architecture, UW-Madison. cesimosen@facstaff.wisc.edu

[2] Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture, UW- Madison. eahowell@facstaff.wisc.edu

[3] Professor in the Department of Agronomy, UW – Madison. jlposner@facstaff.wisc.edu

[4] Visiting Assistant Professor in the department of Agronomy, UW- Madison.

Home | Who we are | Research | Publications | Links | Site map | Contact us

University of Wisconsin-Madison
College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
If you have any difficulty accessing this page, please contact our web master.

Site hosted by UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems