Building the Perfect Prairie
(Psst, want to educate yourself on the ins and outs of prairie reconstruction? Check out The Prairie Farm Podcast. You’ll learn SO MUCH about building a perfect prairie there.)
Perfect Prairie? An interesting topic. The best prairie we’ve ever seen, by far, is a little 40 acre prairie by Williamsburg, IA. It was planted by a retired prairie professor, Dr. Russell Kirt (in the cover picture). He spent years cultivating his prairie, and had over 100 thriving species within its bounds and almost no weeds, save a few queen anne’s lace on the edge of the prairie. So let’s take a look at what he did to recreate such a beautiful spot.
From Left to Right: Carroll Hoksbergen, Russell Kirt
From what we understand from interviewing him, he did 3 major things—Diversity, weeding, fire.
1. Diversity. Diversity is a big deal. The plants build off each other. Some need the shade of the taller grasses. Others need the grazers that are attracted by different species. Some need water, but others need tallgrass roots to soak up the water, so they don’t drown. These species evolved over thousands of years to cohabitate our landscape. Putting just a dozen species is better than nothing, but it’s far from what’s needed. Many studies have been done on how the plants interacted with each other directly and indirectly, but all you need to know now is “the more native species, the better”. It’s worth noting, that not only species diversity is needed, but also genetic diversity is very important. Ideally, you would get each species from two or three different sources. If you don’t get genetic diversity, the prairie can start to inbreed-pollinate which can lead to it poisoning itself over many years.
2. Weeding. Russ was a passionate and dedicated man. He spends many, many hours hoeing weeds in his prairie, allowing the natives to fill in the gaps. But after the first few years of this, the job got a lot easier. Now he hardly has to go out there at all to weed anything, because the prairie has been able to fill in fully. If you have too big of an area to weed, there are other methods that we go into more detail in this blog about weeds. But an easy way to shortcut is to mow. If you mow four times the first summer (once in May, June, July, August), then again the next summer in (May, June, and early July), then you’ll do most of the major work for keeping annual weeds at bay.
3. Fire. Russell puts fire to his prairie every other year. Yes, every two years. He sees amazing results. He puts it to fire normally end of April, first of May. On our farm, we find similar success in that burning time. It warms up the ground while quickly returning the nutrients of the old prairie to the soil. Never shy away from fire. We’ve seen people use fire to bring prairies back to life that were once filled with Brome. (Please be safe when burning. Talk to a professional if needed.)
These things will definitely cost money, sweat, and time. It doesn’t come easily. It’s not a quick fix. That’s called flex-tape, and it’s not applicable for land management. The higher the price, the more the value. We hope you’re able to see the value in conservation and midwestern prairie. What we wouldn’t give to have even one picture of the “seas of gold” from the 1850’s.
Building a perfect prairie is absolutely up to interpretation, but no matter your style of prairie, these three things will help beautify, sustain, and invigorate your prairie. It will help the insects, the fauna, and of course our natural ecosystem.
If you’re looking for a diverse prairie mix, check out our backyard pollinator mixes. Or if you are looking for larger fields of prairie, check out our CRP mixes that are a bit more economical.
Wanting more information? Give us a call!
