Muck Plantings Specifications

(Applicable to Indiana Standards 327, 342, 386, 390, 393, & 645)

 

1.      Seeding Specifications for:

a.      Muck without artificial drainage planted into existing row crops

                                                   i.      Seed the following during the Dormant Season (12/1 – 4/1):

1.      Big Bluestem (Great Lakes Genotype) = 2 PLS pound/acre

2.      Switchgrass (Great Lakes Genotype) = 4 PLS pound/acre

3.      Virginia Wildrye (Great Lakes Genotype) = 5 PLS pound/acre

4.      Riverbank Wildrye (Great Lakes Genotype) = 2 PLS pound/acre

5.      Fox Sedge (Carex vulpinoidea) = 0.1 PLS pound/acre (see Table 2 for alternatives)

+

6.      Nurse Crop = Oat (@ 30 PLS lb/ac) or Annual Ryegrass (@ 10 PLS lb/ac)

 

b.      Muck with artificial drainage planted into existing row crops

                                                   i.      Treat (herbicide) existing weeds and undesirable vegetation in fall

                                                 ii.      Seed a mix with the species from Table 1 below at a relatively high rate from the Indiana Seeding Calculator or FOTG seeding table (cover/nurse crops recommended)

 

c.      Muck with or without artificial drainage planted into existing un-suitable cover1

                                                   i.      Treat (herbicide) existing vegetation in spring (mow re-growth in summer)

                                                 ii.      Treat (herbicide) existing vegetation in fall

                                                iii.      Seed the mix above in Section 1-a during the Dormant Season (12/1 – 4/1):

 

Table 1 - Plant species suited to muck soils with artificial drainage

Grasses

Legumes

Cover/Nurse Crops

Bluegrass, Kentucky

Clover, (Ladino type) White

Wildrye, Canada

Bluestem, Big (Great Lakes Genotype)

Clover, (white dutch)

Wildrye, Riverbank

Bromegrass, Smooth

Clover, Alsike

Wildrye, Virginia

Fescue, Tall

Senna, Wild

Barley

Orchardgrass

 

Buckwheat

Redtop

 

Oats

Ryegrass, Perennial

 

Rye, Winter Cereal

Switchgrass (Great Lakes Genotype)

 

Ryegrass, Annual

Timothy

 

Triticale

Wildrye, Canada

 

 

Wildrye, Riverbank

 

 

Wildrye, Virginia

 

 

 

Table 2 - Alternatives to Carex vulpinoidea (at the same seeding rate)

Common Name

Scientific  Name

Common Name

Scientific Name

Sedge, Awl-fruited Oval

Carex tribuloides

Bulrush, Dark-green

Scirpus atrovirens

Sedge, Yellow Fox

Carex annectans (xanthocarpa)

Bulrush, Reddish

Scirpus pendulus

Rush, Common

Juncus effusus

Woolgrass

Scirpus cyperinus

 

 

1Sites dominated by Reed Canarygrass and/or noxious weeds.