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Wildflower Planting Question

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IowaDave

PMA Member
I have a question that has nothing to do with food plots, but since there are folks on here with such a wealth of knowledge on all things to do with grasses & plants I thought I'd ask.
I'm going to be planting the roadside ditch at my home to wildflowers. For the most part, it's currently bare dirt & I've sprayed several times thru the spring & summer to control the weeds, which as you can imagine if left unchecked are terrible (wild rose, buffalo burrs, snake weeds, button weeds, milk weeds, etc).
It's kind of a steep ditch (too steep to get any sort of disc on), but I'm going to till it up and drag it smooth as best I can, then plant the wildflowers.
I'm thinking of spraying roundup (or something else someone could recommend), waiting a week or so, till it and plant it immediately after tilling. Am I on the right track? And what should I use to control the weeds until (and even after) the flowers get established?
Any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
 
Most wildflowers require cold wet temps to break dormancy so they can be scatter seeded in the fall or early winter, or stored in the fridge in some damp peat moss then planted out the following spring.

It sounds like the best option for you is to keep something down to control erosion and then scatter seed this fall and let the freezing/thawing work the seeds into the soil by the following spring.

Are you planting perennials or annuals?
 
I'm planting perennials.
When you say 'keep something down for erosion control', what do you recommend? Straw perhaps? That's getting harder & harder to come by around here, so if you have any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
 
Post up a pic of the area you are going to be seeding. The problem with planting perennials is they grow down more the first year than up and do not provide much for erosion control so something would need to be in place to stop the erosion until they get established.
 
Dave, I think your on the right track with your weed control regimen just remember you can never get rid of all the weed seeds so everytime you disturb the soil your replanting. I would spray the roundup wait a few days then work the soil and plant. The roundup shouldn't affect your seed cuz it hasnt germinated and theres basically no caryover. I would talk to Prairie Moon In SE MN these guys know they're stuff tell them your location, soil type, and just basicaly what you want and they will make recomendations and could put together a custom mix for you. Heres a link to Prairie Moon http://www.prairiemoon.com/ Good luck.
 
Use some oats as a cover crop to help slow erosion. They sprout quick and will not compete with your native wildflower mix.
 
Ok, finally got around to taking & posting pics of where I'm going to be doing this.
My fear with planting oats is that between the boulders on the border and the angle of the slope, I really have no way to cut them (or way to cut any other cover crop for that matter).

We'got 300 running feet of ditch to seed and the length of the slope is anywhere from 10-20 feet.

So any other recommendations for a cover crop or general tips would be appreciated!
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If you are really ambitious, you could strap on the weed-eater and keep the oats trimmed down after seeding them for a cover crop.

It looks like something will be needed to hold the soil cause I sure would not till that steep of a bank. Maybe try some winter wheat? Then kill it off next spring with roundup before the wildflower seeds start growing?

If you order from Prairie Moon, they will have some pretty good recommendations on what to do.
 
You will be fine with the oats as a cover crop. They are an annual and do not get real thick vegetation wise, therefore allowing plenty of sun to the ground for the wildflower seed you have planted. Looking at your photos I would say you could get by hand seeding the oats. Usually after one timely rain they will germinate.

It may even help to burn off that dead thatch before doing your wildflower seeding.
 
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