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Blue Grama Native Grass Seed
About...
Blue grama is a warm season grass seed that demonstrates good drought, fair salinity, and moderate alkalinity tolerances and works great when used for low maintenance lawns and pastures. It grows best in midwestern states in low rainfall areas between 15 - 30 inches annually for full sun applications.
MORE NATIVE GRASS OPTIONS
Bad River blue grama demonstrates good drought, fair salinity, and moderate alkalinity tolerances. In its dormant state, it will also tolerate burning. Blue grama will not tolerate dense shade, flooding, a high water table, or acid soils. This native grass is a densely tufted, perennial, warm-season, native short grass distributed throughout the Great Plains and Southwest. It is found on open plains and rocky slopes. It is best adapted to medium and fine textured, relatively deep soils of rolling uplands.
Blue grama is suitable for mixtures of grasses used in erosion control, low maintenance turf plantings, and surface mine revegetation. Establishment, as with all native grasses, proper ground preparation is one of the most important considerations. The seedbed should be firm but not solid; cultivation to kill the roots of cool-season grasses is essential. Planting may be done by either drilling or broadcasting, with the seed being sown no more than 1/4 inch.
Blue Grama may be confused with buffalograss, with which it grows, but blue grama lacks the creeping stolons of buffalograss. In short grass sod, it frequently is the primary dominant. Reproduction of blue grama is primarily by seed and short rhizomes. It spreads outward slowly from parent plants by tillering, frequently creating a sod appearance. Bad River ecotype does not differ significantly from the general taxonomic description of blue grama. Its leaf blades are 1 to 6 inches long, light to medium green, curled, with prominent veins (above and below) and rolled at emergence. Most of the curly leaves are at the base of the plant. The inflorescence is a panicle with 1 to 3 spicate primary branches. This is a very popular native grass used in both lawns and pastures.
Characteristics
- Very tolerant of drought, heat, cold, and most soils including sandy and finer soils
- Requires very little maintenance.
- Moderate durability
- Mixes well with Buffalo grass
- Survives wide temperature fluctuations
Seeding Rate & Time
- 8 - 12 PLS lbs per acre or 1/2 - 1 PLS lb per 1000 square feet for lawns or ornamental plantings.
- Seeding date: When sustained soil temperature reaches 60 degrees and minimum of 8 - 12 weeks before frost
PLS pounds: Pure Live Seed, or PLS, is the percentage of viable seed in a given lot. It is calculated by multiplying the purity percentage by the total germination percentage. Multiply the purity percentage by the germination percentage. For example, 95% purity multiplied by 85% total germination equals a 80.75% PLS. This means that out of every bulk pound of that bag of native grass seed that you plant, 80.75% of it is actually seed of that tagged variety and has the potential to germinate. Weights listed are bulk pounds.
Planting Directions
TEMPERATURE
Minimum soil temp 50F
DEPTH
1/4 inch
SOWING RATE
8 - 12 PLS lbs per acre or 1/2 - 1 PLS lb per 1000 square feet for orn...more 8 - 12 PLS lbs per acre or 1/2 - 1 PLS lb per 1000 square feet for ornamental plantings...less
MOISTURE
Keep moist until germination occurs
Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans) - Start Indian Grass seed for this versatile, perennial, prairie grass. Indiangrass is a beautiful, clumping, native grass of medium color, turning to a showy yellow to bronze color in the fall. It will normally retain some color throughout the winter. At one time Indian Grass grew throughout the prairies of central and eastern United States. It grows best in deep, well-drained floodplain soils but is highly tolerant of poorly to excessively well-drained soils, acid to alkaline conditions, and textures ranging from sand to clay. In good soils this native grass can get up to 6 - 7 feet tall, but 3 - 5 feet tall is more normal.
Indian Grass has many uses. It is very palatable for livestock in its active growing season and provides an excellent wild life habitat. Since it is very tolerant of poor soils, it can be used for erosion control in many areas where other plants won't thrive. Native prairie grasses are often used for landscaping as an ornamental grass, a border plant, or used alone or combined with other native grasses, such as the bluestem grasses, to create a meadow look or even combined with wildflowers.
How To Grow Indian Grass Seed: Fresh native grass seed may be sown in the fall and expected to sprout when the soil warms up in the spring, or firmly planted 0.25 in deep in early spring. It should not be mowed or grazed at all the first year.
Seeding Rate
8 - 12 PLS lbs per acre or 1/2 - 1 PLS lb per 1000 square feet for ornamental plantings.
PLS pounds - Pure Live Seed, or PLS, is the percentage of viable seed in a given lot. It is calculated by multiplying the purity percentage by the total germination percentage. For example, 95% purity multiplied by 85% total germination equals a 80.75% PLS. This means that out of every bulk pound of that bag of native grass seed that you plant, 80.75% of it is actually seed of that tagged variety and has the potential to germinate. Weights listed are bulk pounds.
This drought tolerant native grass seed mixture of warm and cool-season grasses grows to a height of 12 to 36 inches. It may be planted alone or with a mixture of wildflowers. Great to use for xeriscape landscaping where water conservation is desired.
This mixture contains:
- Sideoats Grama
- Indian Ricegrass
- Blue Grama
- Alkali Sacaton
- Sand Dropseed
Seeding Rate
- 1/2 lbs/1,000 square feet
- 4 lbs./acre when planting with wildflowers
- 8 lbs./acre grass mix only
Planting
Planting times: the best time to plant grass mix is late spring to mid-summer. Plant in late spring or early summer if seeding with wildflowers.
Planting range: southern ¼ of California, Arizona, New Mexico (except extreme eastern edge) and the western tip of Texas.
