PELLET SEEDING ON WESTERN RANGELANDS ] J 



1961 there were no plants from the pellet seeding whereas the drilled 

 area had an excellent stand of crested wheatgrass. 



Manti-LaSal National Forest, Utah 



Seeding on the Manti-LaSal National Forest in southeastern Utah 

 was in four types of vegetation (Bleak and Phillips, 1950). These 

 types ascended in elevation from the juniper-piny on type at about 

 6,500 feet through the mountain brush and ponderosa pine to the 

 aspen type at the upper limits at about 8,400 feet. Annual precipi- 

 tation varies from about 15 inches in the juniper-pinyon woodland 

 to 28 inches in the aspen. Soils are mainly sandy loam. 



The juniper-pinyon woodland has a spare brush and herbaceous 

 understory. The mountain brush consists mainly of dense stands of 

 big sagebrush and frequent thickets of serviceberry and gambel oak. 

 The ponderosa pine type is an open stand of timber with a sparse 

 brush and herbaceous understory. The aspen type consists of dense 

 stands of quaking aspen with brushy and weedy openings. Seedings 

 by conventional methods have given good stands and show that all 

 types are favorable for seeding. 



Procedures 



Large-scale seeding. — Compressed earthen pellets were broad- 

 cast by airplane in September 1948, on 6,443 acres of unprepared 

 seedbed and nonpelleted seed on 1,284 acres. Species used were 

 bulbous bluegrass, yellow sweetclover, crested wheatgrass, smooth 

 brome, tall oatgrass, orchardgrass, and timothy. The different species 

 were used according to their adaptability for each of the four types of 

 vegetation. Seeding rates for pellets were either one or two pellets per 

 square foot (1.2 or 2.4 pounds of seed per acre). Nonpelleted seed 

 was broadcast at 10 pounds per acre. 



The total seeding cost was $2.40 per acre for one pellet per square 

 foot, $4.80 per acre for two pellets, and $3.57 per acre for nonpelleted 

 seed. 



Experimental field seeding. — Seventy-three acres in three o( 

 the vegetation types — pinyon-juniper, mountain brush, and ponderosa 

 pine — were divided into 48 plots to which 24 treatments were applied. 

 These treatments included hand and airplane broadcast sowing on 

 seedbeds prepared by (1) plowing, (2) pipe harrowing, (3) dragging, 

 (4) burning, and (5) no treatment. Seeding was done at the same 

 time and at the same seeding rates as on the large acreage. 



Results 



Large-scale seeding. — Plant counts and yields in 1955 showed 



that stands from airplane broadcast pellets yielded from 0.1 pound 



