Greetings again from Cedarville!

Over the past few weeks me and my co-intern as well as the interns from “over the hill” have had the opportunity to see the Seed of Success program in action. We got to visit the Lutz’s farm, where they grow native seeds to be used by the BLM for reseeding projects. On their farm they have Needle and Thread (Hesperostipa comata), Thurber’s Needlegrass (Achnatherum thurberianum), Bluebunch Wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata), Basin Wildrye (Leymus cinereus), and a type of sage growing. The Basin Wildrye was started from seeds that were collected by CBG interns in 2010!

The first week that we were there we got to help in some of the routine maintenance that is required to keep the farm going. The Lutz irrigate and fertilize their plants, which helps them gain optimal yield. But before irrigation can happen the plots need to be rogued, which entails removing the unwanted plants with either a hoe or a hand hoe. They do not want unwanted plants taking away nutrients from the desired species. After we were finished with that we got to watch them irrigate. Water is pumped from a well using solar power and stored in a reservoir. When it is time to irrigate the water is pumped through pipes using a gas pump to the desired plot. The plot is flooded and the water is slowly absorbed by the plants and the soil.

The next week that we were there we got a chance to help transplant some Thurber’s Needlegrass seedlings that they were grown in a greenhouse. The first thing we did was get the plot all set up for the seedlings, it had been irrigated a few days before we got there to ensure that the soil contained enough water. The seedlings are planted 18 inches from one another in rows that are 4 feet apart. We could get about 20-25 seedlings per row and there were 5 rows per plot. We had pieces of wood to help us make sure that our spacing was right and the seedlings would be uniform. We planted the seedlings in holes with a slight berm around it . We also put a rabbit cage around the seedlings and then added some more water. We returned the next week and almost all of the seedlings in the 2 plots we planted survived the transplant and were growing!

The last week that we were there we were able to help with some collecting of their Basin Wildrye and Bluebunch Wheatgrass. Since most of the Basin Wildrye was ready we were able to cut the seed stalks off with scissors and put them in garbage cans. The Bluebunch Wheatgrass we collected in the more traditional way of removing the seeds from the seed stalks by hand. We were only able to collect half of the Basin Wildrye before we ran out of time, but even that produced a lot of seeds. Last year they collected about 45 pounds of seeds from their plots.

Overall, I had a great time at the Lutz. It was really awesome to see how seeds collected by interns 5 years ago have been taken and grown. It was also really interesting to see the whole process of native plant growing from beginning to end. We are hoping to be able to go back in the future when they are going their soil sampling to learn about what that entails and the test that need to be done.