Site Preparation and Seeding 



Plowing is the best method of eliminating undesirable meadow plants that are not suscep- 

 tible to chemical control. Plowing should be done as early in the season as the meadow is work- 

 able. A plowing depth of 6 inches is necessary to kill wyethia (Mueggler and Blaisdell 1951). 

 Tough sods are hard to break and difficult to turn with a moldboard plow (fig. 10). Many plowed 

 meadows must be disked several times in order to prevent air pockets beneath the surface. 

 Sometimes it has been found desirable to plow a meadow and let it lie fallow and settle for a 

 year and then replow or disk. Good seedhed preparation is expensive, but seeding can be 

 profitable because the potential of improved meadows is also high. 



OTHER HIGH-ALTITUDE RANGES 



Above the ponderosa pine and mountain-brush types in the higher mountains are forests of 

 Douglas-fir, aspen, lodgepole pine, other species of fir, and spruce. The more open forests 

 and parklike openings are the principal summer ranges for cattle and sheep in Idaho. Seeding 

 opportunities are limited by steep topography, rockiness, presence of trees, or short growing 

 season. However, grazing values of thousands of acres of burned timber, depleted aspen, and 

 weedy openings could be greatly increased by seeding. 



Timber Burns 



Forest fires leave the ground exposed to elements that cause erosion. Seeding a herba- 

 ceous cover helps to control erosion and provides forage while the timber stand reestablishes 

 itself (fig. 11). 



Seed should be broadcast on the loose ashes before they settle and become packed by 

 rains, otherwise, the seed will not have enough cover and anchorage. 



Any mixture for seeding the varied sites on burns should include short-lived perennials 

 for quick cover and slow-maturing, long-lived species. A good mixture includes timothy, tall 

 oatgrass, meadow foxtail, smooth and mountain bromes, and Chewings fescue. 



re 10. --The tough sod 



of a meadow is difficult 

 to break. Sometimes 

 the sod -ribbon slides 

 off the moldboard into 

 the adjacent furrow 

 without turning. Valley 

 County. 



