This is a fleshing out of some of the thoughts from a previous post: “Not All Plants Are Created Equal”. giving some specific examples of what I hope to begin. But first, a little background. The genesis for the thesis I will explore here occurred when I originally began trying to purchase seed for the restoration in 2017. I went to the local purveyor, Milborn Seeds in Brookings, South Dakota, 80 miles south of here and started a dialogue with their native seeds specialist, Jason. He was somewhat bemused by some of my questions, but Jason is a good fellow trying to do the right thing by his customers, and patiently waded through my requests. At the end of it all, he told me what species they had, what he might be able to access and that what I was interested in was going to be very expensive. I specifically remember asking about textile onion, a common component of the gravel hilltops in my prairies, and his reply that he had no experience with it and that I should look to other seed sellers. I did, and the result was a big fat zero. There seemed to be no way I could buy any textile onion seed. Similar discussions on other species had similar results; I was asking for seeds for which there obviously wasn’t enough market to induce a business like Milborn’s to grow or have access to them. The answer seemed to be simple: I would gather the seed.

Life is really never that simple, though. In the container in the top picture is perhaps an ounce of textile onion seed, about 10-12,000 seeds. I may be able to get a few more, but I have already hit the best areas, and much of the seed is already shelling out. This year’s picking has provided far more seed than was gathered over the last four years put together. Like many prairie species. textile onion doesn’t always produce a lot of seed. Last year, in a spring drought, I hardly saw one bloom. That is one reason that I am trying so hard to gather a good quantity right now. This is an opportunity I may not get again for several years. While 10-12,000 seeds sounds like a large quantity, this is not all germinable seed. Perhaps 6-8,000 might be considered pure, live seed (PLS). Textile onion doesn’t grow everywhere; it is only competitive on my very worst soils, of which I have about 10 acres in my restoration. That comes out to 600-800/acre, or one seed for every 60-80 square feet. On those soils I should really be seeding at least one seed every square foot if I hope to establish a population. There lies the conundrum. How does one get enough seed to do a good job?

I hadn’t really worried too much about such issues in the first couple years of gathering. There were big crops of many species, and I had many concerns trying to get ground cover on areas of the restoration that had not received sufficient seed during the first seeding by the Conservation District. 2020 and 2021 were both far more difficult years to gather seed than the previous two years, however. Spring and early summer were dry and warm both years, and rains in August were too late to induce cautious prairie plants to flower and produce seed. I was able to get out to prairies owned by a couple friends to supplement what I gathered on mine, but I could see that this was a very significant barrier to scaling up prairie restoration in this neck of the woods. This year has had a good start for seed production, but a hot, dry stretch in June has me wondering whether I will be able to gather significant amounts to spread on the 20 acres that I plan to seed this fall.

Following are pictures of three species that I am interested in. Though I have found two of them in the restoration, populations are very low. The characteristic they all share is scattered small populations across my native remnants, which makes it impossible to gather enough seed to significantly enhance my restored prairies. I hope to gather a little this year, though the larkspur has already responded to the hot, dry June by disappearing in many places. Larkspur will literally kill the top growth to preserve rootstock, something very interesting to see. Obviously the tradeoff of continued photosynthesis versus food going to seed production has been taken into account in evolutionary terms and the plant will simply hunker down and wait for another year’s opportunity to make seed.

Though I hesitate to gather any seed from such a reluctant seed producer I will likely gather a little from the remaining blooms, with the plan to engage in off site increase, which I will come to later.

The pretty little cactus below is another example of a plant that I have never gathered any seed from. Cactus are scattered across most of the xeric hills, on the south and west facing slopes. They inhabit at most four or five acres across 80 acres of remnant prairie, but seem to be slowly increasing in population. They aren’t quite as picky as the larkspur, but would still be considered a sporadic bloomer, with almost no blooms the past two years. This year, induced by the early spring rains, or perhaps by the carbohydrate reserves they had built up over the past two years, they are blooming profusely, allowing me to find a couple small populations that I was unaware of. At one point I was considering separating off a few balls to replant in my restoration, but I think that instead I will try to gather some seed this summer, once again to increase rather than to seed directly in my restoration.

My third example Is one I discussed a bit in a previous post, standing milkvetch, a legume that is scattered through the hills in my prairies. I have gathered bits of seed from my plants in previous years, but have not ever been able to gather enough to add a significant amount to the mixes I have spread, and was very pleasantly surprised to find one in the restoration.

These are just three examples that are on my mind because they are blooming right now. There are probably 20-30 other species that all share some subset of a group of characteristics to make it difficult to add to my restorations centered on the inability to gather enough seed, and the inability to purchase enough seed to supplement what I gather. This now begs the question, “What am I going to do about it?” Or to turn the question around, “How can I magnify the effect of the few seeds that I am able to gather?”

First, as I stated in the earlier post, I have had Dr. Lora Perkins at South Dakota State University (SDSU) grow some seedling plugs for me to transplant. In total, I planted about 350 seedlings of 10-11 species, mostly during the first ten days of June. The month which just ended, was 3-4 degrees above average in temperature, and the driest June since 1988. Included was a three day stretch of 95-100 degree days with 30-40 mph winds to completely dessicate the poor little seedlings. I am afraid very few will live. However, if any at all live it will be a testament to the concept. I am very interested in doing this again next year with a carefully chosen group of species, but will try to get them transplanted earlier when there is less chance of hot, dry weather.

Ultimately, though I am not going to be able to transplant enough seedlings to make up for the lack of seed. The reasonable alternative is to use some of the seed that I have gathered to begin prairie restoration seed fields. Those fields are not going to be established and managed by me; I have my labor all booked in caring for my restorations. Thus, the question is how best to access the resources to augment my initial efforts and produce a significant amount of seed. Possibilities abound, but no resource is cheap. Labor isn’t cheap; land isn’t cheap; facilities and tools aren’t cheap; and even my management and planning isn’t cheap. The money will have to come from somewhere, whether from my pocket, from donated labor and materials or from selling the seed. Do we consider starting a small non-profit corporation to use as a vehicle to apply for grants and to accept donations. I have run a for-profit business for forty years and hesitate to go down that path. I would rather try to find a way to create a business plan to monetize the seed production, including paying for the seed for my own restorations. While I have no illusions that I will make a profit from such a venture I hope to make it pay its way. I already have a C corporation that no longer has a consulting business at its core. Perhaps that’s the vehicle. If I find a partner to share this with it is a very quick and inexpensive process to start an LLC to be the business. I am not the only person or the only entity doing prairie restoration. Others will be interested in such seed. This will be a good winter project. In the meantime I will continue to gather seed and work toward having the conversations that always help clarify raw ideas. Next week I am hosting a small field tour of my restoration with some people who I hope to discuss this with, some staff from the NRCS Plant Materials Center in Bismark. I have also invited Dr. Perkins up form SDSU to join in the tour and discussion. If the conversation occurs and is fruitful I will probably write about it. Fun stuff.

Postscript: One day after I wrote this my prairies received 3.5″ of rain, an unexpected gift from the heavens. There will be a lot of seed to gather in a few weeks.