(4) Postplanting. Planting survival of less than 10 percent will require replanting; even 

 a successful planting has local areas of poor or no survival which also must be replanted. 

 A planting with 20 percent or greater survival, if reasonably uniform, should not require 

 replanting other than local patching. Sea oats survival may be determined 2 or 3 months 

 after planting regardless of season. Bitter panicum survival cannot be determined accurately 

 until April or May for winter plantings, but for late spring to summer plantings, after 1 or 2 

 months. Ideally, a winter planting with poor survival should be replanted or patched as soon 

 as possible— late spring or summer if soil conditions permit, or no later than the following 

 winter. 



The planting should be fertilized when active growth begins, and the best time is late 

 spring through summer. For mixed plantings any complete fertilizer with a total 120 to 180 

 pounds per acre of nitrogen split in two to three equal applications should result in dense 

 and uniform cover by the first autumn. Subsequent fertilization, after the initial 

 postplanting, is not recommended except for local weak areas which are not effectively 

 trapping sand. 



If cattle are present or human use of the area is high, the planting should be protected 

 for at least 1 year with a two or three-strand wire fence. About 4 or 5 years after the initial 

 planting, another 50-foot-wide strip should be planted immediately shoreward to allow 

 a resultant dune width of greater than 100 feet. The area should be graded before planting 

 to remove small barren dunes. Established or colonizing small clumps of sea oats and 

 bitter panicum should be left intact, but low sea purslane dunes should be removed (Sec. V, 

 3a, 5, 6a). 



b. Hurricane Waslwver Channels. These channels, of lower elevation and much higher 

 salinity than the barren backshore, require a special technique. Parallel rows of 2-foot-high 

 picket snow fencing, spaced 8 to 12 feet apart to a 50-foot width, must be constructed 

 across the channel 1 year before planting. After the fences have filled with sand to a nearly 

 level surface, it should be planted. Earlier planting will result in burial and death of many 

 transplants. Mulch-netting is not required. If the surface sand is dry, irrigate the substrate 

 before planting. Subsequent irrigation (postplanting) is useful only during droughts. The 

 surface may be planted by machine or by hand. Hand planting is preferred since plants can 

 be placed 12 inches deep to minimize blowouts, and since the transplanter is not completely 

 effective on the somewhat undulating surface. Planting season and fertilization rates are the 

 same as for backshore plantings. The initial fence system and planting should be recessed 

 400 to 500 feet from the shoreline to allow a 50-foot-wide shoreward extension planting 

 after 5 years to broaden the foredune width (Sec. V, 4d, 4f, 4k, 5a, 5b, 6d). 



c. Fence-Built Dunes. Barren dunes constructed with one or several tiers of sand fencing 

 can be vegetated and stabilized with sea oats and bitter panicum, but the effort and cost arc 

 greater than beach plantings of comparable size. It is essential to delay planting until the 

 fences have filled to capacity with sand, which may be a year or more after erection of the 



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