Designing Seed Mixes for Native Habitat
By:
Justin Meissen, Tallgrass Prairie Center Research and Restoration Program.A well-designed seed mix is an essential component of any native habitat restoration project. The seeds we use in each mix ultimately define the character of restored vegetation, and determine how well a restoration project can meet its goals. In this webinar, we’ll cover the basic principles of seed mix design, review some of the tools currently available for designing seed mixes, and walk through several design examples using the Tallgrass Prairie Center’s Iowa Prairie Seed Calculator. The Iowa Prairie Seed Calculator (http://www.jamess.com/IowaPrairieSeedCalculator-D2/) incorporates the core concepts of seed mix design with a user-friendly interface, taking seeding method, planting time, and planting site conditions into account to produce an ecologically appropriate seed mix ready to send to commercial seed producers.