As the summer comes to and end (not that we got much of a summer in Melbourne this year!) it’s time to start looking at sowing our grass seeds. The cool seasons are the perfect time to be growing some of our beautiful grasses such as weeping grass, wallaby grass and spear grasses (except for Black Spear grass).

If you’re wanting a fantastic, low maintenance and drought tolerant lawn, sowing a winter lawn mix is definitely the way to go!

For ONE WEEK ONLY, we are going to give you a copy of our manual, usually valued at $20, completely FREE OF CHARGE!!! - for any purchase of winter lawn mix that is 1kg or more!

As an added bonus, we’re offering you support 100% of the way, through preparing your soil to the final stages of germination.

Every order received of 1kg or more of winter lawn mix will be dispatched on the same day (or next business day if placed on a weekend) and will contain a free copy of our printed manual packed full of information on grasses, their uses and how to sow them. You’ll be a native grass expert in no time!

Order online now or call us on 1300 4 73337. Don’t wait until next year, grow your lawn this season!

Note: Offer ends on Friday, 20th of April and we only have 50 to give away, so get in quick before they’re all gone!

We finally come to the third and final part to this series and we hope you enjoyed part 1 and part 2. To finish with a bang, we’ll be covering infrastructure projects, carbon storage and grasses for preventing laminitis and founder in horses.

Infrastructure projects

The key ingredient in getting a successful result is in weed control. It is our view that the weeds that are now present on most sites, and which would not have been around thousands of years ago (such as Paterson?s Curse, Gorse, Ryegrass and Paspalum) will have a huge bearing on the success or failure of revegetation efforts. Even if the soil is being returned to the site and had no weeds present at the time of removal, there are likely to be many weeds that will emerge on the site simply because the site has been disturbed. Weeds are highly competitive with emerging native grass seedlings and need to be controlled in the early stages of establishment or poor results could occur

A good seeding mix should include some rapid establishing grasses such as Windmill grass (Chloris truncata) and Wheat grass (Elymus scaber) along with slower establishing species such as Kangaroo grass (Themeda triandra) and Wallaby grass (Austrodanthonia spp).

If the site is highly likely to erode, or if a very rapid visual result is required, then a cover crop of a cereal like Ryecorn or Japanese Millet can be sown at 20 kg/ha along with the native grass mix. The cover crop should be mowed when it runs to seed to prevent those plants forming viable seed. These are annual grasses and will die off within a few months, but their root system will have contributed to hold the soil together and to protect the emerging native grass seedlings.

Grasses for carbon storage

Much has been written about the use of vegetation as a means of removing Carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in plant tissue. Most of the concentration of this work has been on the use of trees as carbon sinks as it has been very easy to calculate the amount of carbon stored inside a tree’s shoots, stems and leaves. Sadly, relatively little has been written about the use of grasses as carbon storage sinks. What has been written suggests that the grasses are even more effective at storing carbon than are trees. There are several reasons for this:

• Grasses are very effective at shifting carbon into the soil. Grasses for the most part have an annual root system with most of the smaller roots dying off each year and a new set of roots becoming established from the base of the plant. Thus each year many grasses will shed almost their entire root system into the soil which deposits large amounts of fibre (mostly carbon) into the soil and then the plants go about consuming more carbon as they build a replacement root system.

• Many native grasses form phytoliths (plant stones) that are solid aggregates of carbon within the leaves. These are not just ordinary bundles of carbon but are highly durable globules of bound carbon that are not able to break down for some thousands of years after production. While individually they are quite small, there are many produced and they can tie up large amounts of carbon for very long periods. What is interesting here is the work by scientists at Southern Cross University, NSW has shown that not all species produce phytoliths, but that the natives seem particularly adept and that trees are very poor at doing it.

• When trees break down, either rapidly in a fire or slowly through death and decay, the carbon that was in their foliage is returned to the atmosphere. Thus tree carbon is only a relatively temporary solution to  carbon sequestration.

• When grasses die, the leaves decompose and release carbon back to the atmosphere. So the selection of long-lived grasses is important if your aim is to provide a long-term carbon sink. Clearly native grasses are highly persistent in their natural environment and are a natural choice for this purpose.

• When monitoring equipment is finally able to reliably and cheaply evaluate soil carbon levels it is likely to show that soil carbon under a well maintained native grass stand will be much higher than those under forests, that the levels continue to accumulate if grazing is managed well and that it is mostly held as long-term storage. All of which are likely to show that native grass pastures are an efficient and clever means of storing carbon.

Grasses for horse pasture

As a product of photosynthesis, introduced C3 (cool season) and C4 (warm season) grasses produce cellulose. When they are thriving, excess carbohydrates are stored. C4 grasses store these excess carbohydrates as starch but C3 grasses store these as fructan (a non-structural carbohydrate) which causes founder and laminitis in horses.

In our native Australian grasses, both C3 and C4, the excess carbohydrates are stored as starch, which is a more complex sugar and much less harmful to horses. These grasses are also rather high in protein.

• Weeping grass
• Wallaby grass
• Kangaroo grass
• Wheat grass
• Redgrass

The two grasses examined in the most detail are Wallaby grass (Austrodanthonia geniculata) and Weeping grass (Microlaena stipoides). The data for these grasses are interesting. When compared to the generally recognised threshold levels of concern for horses for NSC sugars such as Fructose and Glucose and total sugars these two native grasses come out very well.

The recommended thresholds are to keep NSC’s below 10 g/100g of the fodder which these two grasses easily fall under having contents for Fructose of less than 0.2, Glucose of less than 0.2 and total sugars of less than 1.0 g/100g. Thus these grasses are very well suited to horse consumption with next to no risk of serious conditions such as laminitis.

Conclusion

We really hope you have found the information collaborated in our 3 part article series very useful and informative. More detailed information can be found on our website. You can purchase seed for any of these fantastic native grasses from our online store.

Have a question for us? Feel free to leave a comment below if you have a question or feedback about this article. Or ask a question about grasses or how to grow them. Alternatively, you can always call us on 1300 4 73337.

Look forward to future articles by NativeSeeds!

In part 1 of our 3 part article “Grasses for different applications explained” we covered which native Australian grasses were best for landscaping, lawns, pasture and minesite rehabilitation. In part 2 we will be looking at land rehab, vineyards, golf courses and erosion control, so let’s get started!

Land rehabilitation

Land that has been degraded by many, often external, factors such as salinity, overgrazing, drought and fire will need rehabilitation to return it to a more productive condition. Whether that final condition relates to greater biodiversity, or high perenniality, or more grazing animals per unit area is not the issue here, it is about restoring an environment to something like its original balanced and resilient condition.

So how do you choose what species to sow? Often the first step is to find out what grows naturally in the area. To do this it is often a simple matter of finding a local species list which is usually available from your local Natural Resources Management Board or Group. If not from there then ask an informed local nurseryman who has a broad view of the world (not just limited to what they have in stock at the time). Once you have the list of grass species then call Native Seeds and we can advise you which of those species are firstly, available and secondly, likely to succeed in the task of providing a ground cover.

Vineyards and inter-row planting

Inter-row management for many horticultural crops represents a significant cost item, both through obvious costs such as mowing, and through less obvious costs such as competition with the growing crop for water and nutrients. For this reason many growers have opted to either sow short-term crops in the inter-row or alternatively to leave it bare. These treatments have management problems with the cost of sowing the short-term crop on the one hand and the erosion and heat-related losses on the other.

Sowing a native grass inter-row could solve a number of these issues at one time. If correctly chosen for the location it is possible to find a perennial grass cover that is:

• Non-competitive with the vine or tree crop at the time when it is using water;
• Not so tall as to require constant mowing;
• Highly persistent despite the shading and competition from the crop; and
• Tolerant of moderate traffic during the harvest period.

So which grasses are best?

• Weeping grass - particularly Griffin
• Wallaby grass
• Red grass

Why these grasses?

These grasses are highly drought tolerant, shade tolerant and require infrequent mowing, reducing costs significantly and requiring less time spent on maintenance. Once established, these grasses are also able to withstand a reasonable amount of traffic and have no problem handling the occasional farm vehicle.

Golf courses

Native grasses can be used in a variety of different circumstances on a golf course. They can be used in the long rough, in the carry zone, for fairway delineation and as features in landscaping around bunkers. There are some suggestions that they can occur naturally on fairways as well, although we would not be recommending them for high traffic areas.

So which grasses?

For the long rough

• Kangaroo grass
• Tussock grass
• Black spear grass
• Barbed wire grass

Fairway transition to light rough

• Weeping grass
• Wallaby grass
• Red grass
• Queensland blue grass

Feature grasses around bunkers and landscapes

• Kangaroo grass
• Tall oat grass
• Lemon scented grass
• Tussock grass (large)

Erosion control

The control of soil losses following disruption is vital in preserving soil volume. Once lost to a property, soil is not replaced as the weathering processes required to break down stones and rocks is far too slow to quickly and adequately return soil to eroded landscapes. While it may be possible to build the organic content of soil and to capture some soil particles as they move across the soil, these additions do not, of their own, create new soil. Thus it is vital to not lose soil off a property.

Having a perennial grass cover that is adapted to the environment is an ideal method of reducing erosion as long as it is accompanied by appropriate grazing management to help to retain a full cover at all times.

So which grasses?

We often suggest sowing with a cover crop of a cereal which will establish quickly and provide a fibrous root system that will hold the soil in place.

• Ryecorn
• Japanese millet
• Barley
• Wheat

Once the cereal crop has been mowed off and has died at the end of the first year, there should be numerous small plants of native grasses now able to access light, water and nutrients.

• Weeping grass
• Wallaby grass
• Kangaroo grass
• Barbed wire grass

We hope you find the information in this article valuable. For any questions feel free to call us on 1300 4 73337 (free call) or browse the vast amount of detailed information on our website. You can purchase most of these grasses from our online store or call us to discuss your seed requirements.

Look forward to our 3rd and final part of this series, in which we will be covering infrastructure projects, grasses for carbon storage and looking a little more in-depth on grasses for horse pasture and prevention of laminitis.

Grass is everywhere. Well, almost everywhere. There are countless varieties of grass and countless applications for grass too. In this article we aim to list a couple of the best Australian native grasses for multiple different applications, keeping it as simple as possible.

Lawns

Native grasses can be used for lawns. There are several advantages for this in that once established, the maintenance of native lawns is much less than for most exotic type lawns. Some native lawns may only need mowing three to four times per year. Little fertiliser is required and water use is reduced.

• Weeping grass
• Wallaby grass
• Red grass

Landscaping

There are considerable benefits to be gained from the use of native grasses in landscaping. There are many grasses to choose from in a variety of shapes and sizes. After all there are more than 1000 species of exclusively Australian native species of grass that can be set to match the other plants in landscaping. Tall grasses provide accents, short types can provide ground cover and colour, and at the same time seedheads varying from white to purple and many shades in between can add colour and texture to gardens and commercial landscaping.

• Kangaroo grass
• Weeping grass
• Wallaby grass
• Spear grass
• Tussock grass

Pasture

For those that do not have a significant percentage of native grasses already present in their pastures, it is likely that they will have to sow at least one native grass in order to provide a backbone around which the other species will develop. It is our view that the choice of the backbone species should be based on knowledge of the grasses that are most prevalent locally, the availability of high quality seed and, very importantly, the weeds that are likely to be a concern.

• Wallaby grass
• Kangaroo grass
• Weeping grass
• Spear grass - Great for horse pasture!
• Windmill grass

Mine site rehabilitation / restoration

Following mining, or other disruptive earthworks, there is always a need to revegetate the site with a suitable mix of plant species. Frequently revegetation efforts are aimed at establishing the climax species of plants i.e. those that would have been the dominant species when the site was originally discovered. For those sites in forests and open woodlands it could be the largest and most dominant tree while in grasslands it might be the most dominant species of grass. It seems that many people when determining the species to establish simply aim for the final vegetation community rather than considering the ecological processes and progressions that occur in site colonisation. All too often people forget that a forest does not simply become a forest, as if by magic, but reaches that condition through a number of developmental stages.

• The type of grass for mine site restoration really depends on which grasses were present initially. If you are looking for advice on quantities needed to restore a mine site, please give us a call on 1300 4 73337 (free call), we are more than happy to discuss your seed requirements!

We hope you enjoyed reading part 1 of our “Grasses for different applications explained!” 3-part article series. Stay tuned as our next part will be released soon, covering land rehab, vineyards, golf courses and erosion control!

Weeping grass, particularly Griffin weeping grass, makes for a beautiful, drought-tolerant, native grass lawn. But did you know that the Weeping grass (Microlaena stipoides) seed is also a protein-rich, great tasting grain which is perfect for human consumption?

Alpine rice (Weeping grass seed) is a distant relative of domesticated rice (Oryza sativa). Weeping grass is well suited to pasture, makes fantastic low maintenance and drought tolerant lawns and is also well suited for grain production.

This is something we would love to see on supermarket shelves in the future, but how long in the future is currently unknown as production time and costs are quite hefty. For now we can enjoy Weeping grass as the Aussie true-blue but also ‘green’ choice for our drought tolerant, luscious home lawns and pastures.

Click here for more information on Weeping grass or,

Click here to get seed for your new lawn today!

For any enquiries or a free no-obligation quote, email us at enquiries@nativeseeds.com.au or call on 1300 4 73337, we’re always happy to chat!

Fact: Native Australian grasses are “built-to-last”. They are resistant to some of the toughest weather conditions. Examples include drought-tolerance, frost-tolerance and shade tolerance to name only a few.

Fact: Native Australian grasses are often easily manageable, requiring little maintenance.

Fact: Native Australian grasses come in a variety of shapes, colours and style making them a great choice for landscaping.

Fact: Many Native Australian grasses make great pasture and horse pasture, containing low sugar and high protein content.

Fact: Our Native Australian grasses are selectively bred to get the best out of every seed. This results in tougher, more vigorous grasses that have a very high germination rate – meaning more grass for you!

We hope you liked this article. Feel free to browse our website for more information, or browse our online shop to buy seed today!

A lot of our customers call up with questions about shade tolerant grasses. It may be that there’s a lot of tree cover blocking sunlight from reaching the grasses, or perhaps the architecture blocks the sun from their lawn for the majority of the day. Grasses rely on photosynthesis¹ -obtaining energy from the sun- to survive and most grasses will die off easily in shade.

There is hope though! Weeping grass, especially Griffin Weeping grass, is highly shade tolerant and will grow with almost no sunlight. To top it off, it is also drought-tolerant, frost-tolerant and salt-tolerant! And if that’s not enough, it’s also a beautiful, soft grass and makes a perfect Australian grass lawn! But if you don’t take my word for it, just ask Nelson:

Nelson approves of Griffin Weeping grass lawn!

Aww, good boy Nelson

For more information on Griffin Weeping grass you can head to our website, or online store to buy seed now for your own lawn!

¹ “The process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water.”

One of the biggest issues with sowing grass seeds is the need for constant watering, particularly in the early stages of sowing. To make finding the right drought tolerant / drought resistant grass a little easier for you, we will compile a list here with links to their relevant information pages.

Barbed Wire grass (info) (buy seed)

Black Spear grass (info) (buy seed)

Cotton Panic grass (info) (buy seed)

Curly Mitchell grass (info) (buy seed)

Curly Windmill grass (info) (buy seed)

Kangaroo grass (info) (buy seed)

Queensland Blue grass (info) (buy seed)

Redgrass (info) (buy seed) - Great for lawns!

Wallaby grass (info) (buy seed) – Great for lawns!

Weeping grass (info) (buy seed) – Great for lawns!

There are other drought tolerant / drought resistant grasses, but the grasses in this list are fantastic not only for drought tolerance but for many other factors too, including shade or heat tolerance and some make fantastic pasture and horse pasture grasses too!

What makes the best grass seed?

Grass seed germination rates

The first thing you will want from your grass seed is a high germination rate, meaning more of your seeds successfully turn into grass! Thinking back to a previous post, you may remember that not all grass seeds are equal. Due to selective breeding we are able to, after many years, select the grass seeds with the highest germination rate. Some Weeping grass seeds, for example, may only have a germination rate of around 50% – but through selective breeding we were able to get a germination rate – on our Griffin Weeping grass – of 97%!

Low maintenance grass

Another appealing factor of the best grass seeds is to produce a low maintenance grass. This means a grass that is slow-growing, self-fertilizing and requires little water to survive (drought tolerant). Many of our grasses tick all of these boxes and you can browse through them on our website for more information.

Attractive finished product

The most obvious thing you will want from your grass seeds is of course grass! Many people look to sowing introduced grasses, overlooking the beauty in many of our Australian natives. Weeping grass is a luscious green lawn grass which is soft to touch. Wallaby grass is a very attractive grass with soft, fluffy white seedheads. Redgrass is a vigorous grass the flourishes in summer. Put these 3 together and you get our summer lawn mix, which gives a jaw-droppingly beautiful lawn that stays green all year!

Conclusion

There are many benefits of choosing Australian native grasses over introduced grasses. These are just our top 3, but if you browse our website you can read about each individual grass, what it’s used for and what benefits that grass offers.

We hope you enjoyed this article. Keep Australia green!

We have a visual representation to further backup our previous post, we hope you find it interesting!