SE Michigan zone 5-6 area
Hi everyone, so I got this new job as a landscape Forman for this construction company that does a lot of ground work roads and even wetland/creek restoration. They have a lot of contracts with various other landscape companies but want to end those contracts and do what I’m doing to be more in-house. I’m the only landscaping person in the company so far and my supervisor likes ideas and that type of jazz. Rn there are just having me go to sites they have finished and break up compacted soil where equipment has ran over and to re seed it and put down straw atm. Where we get our bags of seed is this company called Hanes Geo Components, and I did some digging on what kind of grass seed they sell and I’m not liking what I see. Does anyone know of a company that sells native grass seed for these type of projects situations? The only company I’m aware of that does cause I really like their podcast “the prairie farm podcast” called Hoksey native seeds sells two different kinds of native grasses for lawns and I’ve heard of prairie moon selling something called eco grass. Obviously if something saves the company money and is better for the environment and erosion control I’d be more than happy to push for that in my position.
by Dorky_outdoorkeeper
5 Comments
https://www.michiganwildflowerfarm.com/seed-mixes-and-cover-crop/nativegrassmix/
If you’re dealing with regularly cut open space you’d want the fastest ground cover first for erosion control, such as a normal fescue/rye grass/clover mix. Prairie grasses like buffalo grass establish more slowly but you could add them to the mix as well. Prairie Moon Eco Grass really is just marketing. They’re selling a fescue blend which will perform similarly to any other fescue blend you’d come across.
If you have areas that only need to get cut once to a few times per year then you can focus more on Michigan native grasses, sedges, and wildflowers, since they need time to reach certain minimum heights. This is also where you’d get more control over water flow and infiltration compared to turf grasses.
The area near Flint is ‘8.1 Mixed Woods Plains’ and the area closer to Detroit is ‘8.2 Central USA Plains’ so I would look for a variety of seeds that naturally grow in these locations than just a grass. Down here in the South I got a Deer, Turkey, Quail mix (native grasses and flowers that also double for the pollinators) for my location from a Southern vendor and I recommend finding the equivalent for up there in Michigan. Since having to purchase seed anyways, I would get the good stuff! Even if one has to ‘water it down’ with a less desirable seed for budget purposes, some wildflowers are better than no wildflowers and they will in turn self-seed.
[Ecoregion Finder – Homegrown National Park – Ecoregions](https://homegrownnationalpark.org/ecoregion-finder/)
[Home – Native Plants Finder](https://nativeplantfinder.nwf.org/?_ga=2.198470828.2041556449.1760823678-1236681175.1760042019)
[Prairie Moon Nursery: Custom Seed Mix Design](https://www.prairiemoon.com/custom-mix-design.html)
pureairnatives.com is out of Missouri but I am sure there is probably some overlap, but they also do custom seed mixes. Good germination rate on the seeds I have ordered and they are very friendly. I am sure they would love some more bulk order customers.
You can try possibility place for trees and shrubs and prairie moon, stantec, or Pizzo for seeds and plugs.