Another seed blend has been developed in response to erosion control professionals’ frustrations with existing blends. Platinum EC blend seed, from IKEX in Middlesex, NC, had been in development since November 2001 and became available earlier this year. “So many contractors have been using 80% to 50% fescue and 50% annual rye mix for their applications, and that doesn’t work as well,” observes Jerry Kallam, IKEX geotextile manager. “We have three different blends, combining native and erosion control grasses, and seven to 10 varieties of permanent grass seed mix. Even if a contractor’s planted “temporary’ – even for just two years – Platinum EC will help hold and control erosion.” A 40-lb. bag of Platinum EC sows a half-acre, and the mix might be slightly different, depending on where it’s being used. “Our goal for Platinum EC is to make a blend that will grow well just about anyplace in the [United States],” Kallam continues. “However, we’re adding some native grasses to our Maryland formulation – crown vetch, big bluestem, switchgrass. We’re also working on a Rocky Mountain mix, which will include Prairie June grass, but as it’s expensive, we won’t be able to use a lot of it, just enough to offer erosion control and coverage. The mix includes a Barcole variety bunch grass with a deep root system; the Rocky Mountain area especially needs mixes that will outlive droughts. We “overdesigned’ the mix – even if a contractor goes light on his sowing, it should work. Of course, we’d rather have everyone do it right the first time.”To help seeds germinate, water-absorbing polymers are available that retain moisture in the soil. Watersorb of Hot Springs, AR, distributes polymers, similar to those used in baby diapers, in several forms. The super-absorbent polymer, a cross-linked polyacrylamide (that, when watered, looks like gelatin), holds up to 400 times its density in water, then slowly releases the water – along with any added fertilizers/nutrients – to the plant roots. In some regions, the polymers can save up to 50% on irrigation. The super-absorbent will work in the soil for five to 10 years, at which time it then slowly breaks down into its component parts of ammonia, carbon dioxide, and water, with no residual toxicity. Watersorb uses potassium polymers, which are better for plants than polymers containing sodium.Tom Hunt, of Allgreen Environmental Inc., a hydromulching company located in Carbondale, CO, has been using Watersorb polymers for a little over a year. “We’ve used PAM [linear-linked polyacrylamide] and Watersorb’s super-absorbent,” Hunt reports. “The granular PAM works better in our machinery; when watered, it’s the consistency of a thick soup. We’ve also used liquid PAM. We can put wood mulch, PAM, and soil amendments into the mix for easy spray-on application. PAM really helps get our added nutrients into the soil and keeps them there.”Watersorb’s PAM also allows Hunt to meet job deadlines. “Most of the time, for things to work into our program, we have to produce results in 30 days – and with PAM, we have been able to show results. It’s remarkable – for about $10 an acre you can retain nutrients in the root zone for six weeks, depending on the soil, of course. The slurry PAM creates actually aids in our pumping too. Of course, you need to meter the dosage.”Allgreen discovered Watersorb when investigating ways to improve large-scale remediation projects. “Some of our work is remediation processes for larger fires – last year’s Hayman fire [in Colorado], for example,” Hunt explains. “In traditional remediation work, you stabilize the hillside and put out fertilizer and more seed than usual. Results are often mixed. We wanted to come up with a thicker slurry, something that aided the ground, to allow better germination. We do soil testing to discover what will actively help the soil, then we add mycorrhizal inoculant, bacteria, and fertilizer. For best results, you have to add bacteria. It takes two years of drought to knock bacteria soil levels to the 10% mark, and we’ve been finding only 4% bacteria where we have tested.”Something Old: Native SeedsIn 1999, in an effort to check the spread of invasive plant species, President Clinton signed legislation that, among other things, decreed that all public lands (federal land as well as certain cemeteries and historical sites) needing replanting after fires, drought-caused die-outs, and so on should be sown with native species. However, the legislation did not offer a decisive definition for the term “native” and thus left it open to a wide interpretation. Does native mean only North American, not South or Central American, species? Does the designation differ from region to region and US Department of Agriculture zone to zone? Would native species be those growing on these soils before 1620, before 1492, or before nomadic Asians crossed the Bering Strait some 10,000 years ago? No matter what date might be selected, did anyone perform a plant-species inventory at the time?“There’s a movement today among different groups – government and environmental groups – to reseed the West with native seeds, to put the land back to the way it was before white men got here,” points out Don Hijar, president of Pawnee Buttes Seed in Greeley, CO. “Unfortunately this is not the same soil it was at that time. In essence we made a big mistake plowing up this land. We fractured ecosystems and grasslands, destroying an extreme diversity of plants that also helped animal life.”The 1999 legislation definitely caused change. “Different states started making lists of species that they considered invasive, and some plants that ended up on those lists – orchard grass, timothy grass, perennial rye, Kentucky blue – are what we have used for years for reclamation,” Hijar continues. “Indeed, a lot of money has been put into improving these different species. There are good reasons to use native but, it seems, bad interpretations on when to use them. People have gotten on this “emotional ship,’ if you will – “If it’s not native to this area, we don’t want to use it anywhere.’ If you use a strict interpretation of what’s not native, you quickly run into introduced species we couldn’t do without – wheat, for example!”Do these guidelines inhibit consumer choice? “If someone asks to plant timothy – he’s the customer, I want to sell it to him,” Hijar explains. “I haven’t done anything illegal, immoral, or unethical. But some would say, “But timothy has spread over the mountains – taken over!'”Hijar, who has been in the native grass industry since 1974, points out that the West isn’t just one homogeneous environment, and the same plant species might vary within a relatively small region.“One environmental group’s answer is to plant native grasses. That’s fine, but just in this region alone there are varying precipitation levels that would have an impact on how those grasses survive,” he notes. “Kansas, for example, is mostly farm country; the eastern and central thirds of the state get more precipitation than does the western third, which only gets 17 to 22 inches of rain yearly. A thin, 5-mile-wide area of Colorado gets 17 inches a year; most of the state, including the Denver area, gets about 14 to 16 inches. However, certain parts of eastern Colorado only receive 7 to 11 inches, and go over the mountains and it gets really dry.”One Region’s Native – Another’s “Introduced”?Because governments, environmentalists, and ecologists recognize such regional differences, orders often are made for subspecies or ecotypical seeds – which might or might not be available.“Some native grasses – big bluestem, bluestem, and Indian grass – grow throughout the nation,” Hijar states. “However, if a New York customer wants big bluestem, he might not want Kansas seed, but seed from growth 10 miles away from his site – local ecotypes. How important is that? What’s the limit of an ecotype? Some scientists say it has to be harvested within 3,000 feet of the intended planting site. That’s not always possible.”Don Bermant of Granite Seed Company in Lehi, UT, points out two very important words in the legislation: “When practical, one should use natives when seeding on public lands. Of course, there’s no consensus on what “native”‘ is native to what? The city? County? State? Planet? Some insist on not just the species, but the exact genetic makeup. There’s a similar idea when talking about fish populations “genetic pollution” occurs when you move a trout from one area to another. But since seeds are carried by animals and the wind, plant populations travel all over anyway.”Granite Seed services the 13 western states with native seed. “The majority of our stock is native grasses,” Bermant reports. “Some mixes also contain shrubs and forbs, which are used mostly for fire-area reclamation, or right-of-way vegetation, or wherever there’s been drastically disturbed ground. Our biggest order lately was the 5 million pounds of seed sold to reclaim the areas in Arizona decimated by fire in 2001.”
