RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Revegetating Slag Refuse Areas with Native Warm Season Grasses
JF Native Plants Journal
JO NATIVE PLANTS JOURNAL
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 77
OP 81
DO 10.3368/npj.1.2.77
VO 1
IS 2
A1 Bush, Tony
A1 Koch, Phil
YR 2000
UL http://npj.uwpress.org/content/1/2/77.abstract
AB Our study was designed to determine how topsoil and fertilizer supplements affect the establishment of native warm season grasses on a northwestern Indiana slag refuse site. We seeded a mix of 5 locally collected warm season grass species (big bluestem, Andropogon gerardii Vitman; little bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium (Michx.) Nash; indiangrass, Sorghastrum nutans (L.) Nash; prairie sandreed, Calamovilfa longifolia (Hook.) Scribn.; switchgrass, Panicum virgatum L.) to plots with and without topsoil additions; split plots were either treated with a balanced fertilizer at 1120 kg/ha (1000 lb/ac) or left unfertilized. Adding topsoil to slag significantly (P < 0.05) increased the percent foliar cover, number of warm season grass plants, percentage of warm season grasses, and relative effectiveness rating for improving wildlife habitat and aesthetic value compared to non-amended slag. No significant differences (P > 0.05) were found between fertilized and non-fertilized plots. Based on comparisons between individual seeded warm season grasses, little bluestem had the highest plant counts relative to its proportion in the mix and exceeded expectation (P = 0.1) across all seeded treatments.