in leaving plants untrimmed when hand planting critical sites because 

 the excess top growth will trap sand and protect the new plant during 

 establishment. 



Planting stock may be carried over in the nursery through the second 

 and sometimes the third growing season with some increase in yield over 

 the first year. However, after the third season, plants become too 

 crowded, quality declines, and rodent infestation may become a problem, 

 making it advisable to destroy the material and make a fresh start. 



Normal harvesting operations leave large numbers of rhizomes behind. 

 Consequently, if the field is left undisturbed, a dense volunteer crop 

 of beachgrass will usually appear the next growing season. Such stands 

 are capable of yielding substantial numbers of plants if fertilized and 

 kept free of weeds. However, harvesting of these broadcast stands is 

 more laborious than for row plantings and weed control is more difficult. 

 As harvesting is usually the most expensive step in the production of 

 planting stock, it is normally more economical to plant a new field each 

 year than to attempt to harvest volunteer plants. 



(2) Sea Oats . Propagation of this plant is different and more 

 difficult than that of American beachgrass. Sea oats will not thrive on 

 sites very far from the dune environment, and even under the best condi- 

 tions, multiplication is slow. The reasons for this are not clear, but 

 it is known that in inland locations this grass falls prey to at least 

 two pests: a "helmethesporiumlike" leaf spot or rust and a stem borer, 

 similar to the Hessian fly, neither of which are serious pests in the 

 dune environment. The leaf disease can be controlled by carefully timed 

 spraying with Daconil or Bravo; the stem borer with a systemic insecti- 

 cide. However, the most satisfactory nurseries have been within a few 

 hundred feet of the sea (e.g.. Padre Island). 



(a) Soil Selection . Sites in back-dune swale and deflation 

 plain areas are preferred for field-scale production of sea oats. Care 

 should be taken to assure protection from sand encroachment and storm- 

 tide damage on such sites. In the absence of such sites, sandy, well- 

 drained soils farther inland may be used, but disease- and insect control 

 will probably be required. 



(b) Soil Preparation . A clean, weed-free area is essential 

 for satisfactory nursery production. Foredune species do not compete well 

 with weeds and the cost of hand weeding of nursery areas soon becomes pro- 

 hibitive. Sea oats are especially vulnerable to competition because of 

 slow initial growth. Since the more productive back-dune and deflation 

 plain planting sites are usually occupied by vegetation, eradication of 

 the growing plants and dormant seeds is the first step. This may be 



done on the clean sites by cultivation, but heavily vegetated areas will 

 require fumigation with methyl bromide. 



(c) Planting . Sea oats nursery areas may be established by 

 transplanting wild plants, direct seeding, or transplanting started seed- 

 lings in peat pots from a greenhouse. The best wild plants are obtained 



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