Ekalaka Bur Oak
The Plant Materials Program is looking for places throughout Montana to test new selections of grasses, forbs, woody plants, technology for their cultivation, and benefit to resource concerns. Landowner participation is essential to the success of the field testing, along with working closely with local conservation districts and cooperators. The Program wants to field test the following in Montana:
copperhead germplasm slender wheatgrass
Grasses
-
Copperhead Germplasm slender wheatgrass (Elymus trachycaulus)
- Opportunity Germplasm Nevada bluegrass (Poa secunda)
- High Plains Sandberg bluegrass Poa secunda
- Continental basin wildrye (Leymus cinereus)
meriweather germplasm blanketflower
Forbs
- Stillwater Germplasm prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera
- Meriwether Germplasm blanketflower (Gaillardia aristat)
- 9081632 Silverleaf phacelia (Phacelia hastata) – critical area practices preferred.
Woody Plants
- Ekalaka Germplasm bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa). See photo above.
The Program is looking for sites to test alternate row technology using either native or tame species to compare seeding grass and forb species in different and alternate drill rows to the species seeded in the same rows and as monocultures. Evaluations will include establishment densities and forage production. Applications for pollinator and wildlife plantings are preferred.
The Program is also looking for one more site for a forage kochia/winterfat planting with four seedbed preparation treatments and three replications. Evaluation of this planting will also include density counts and forage production. A plot plan for this planting is available. Anyone interested in participating in this trial should contact Trisha Cracroft (406-842-5741 x 100). Seedlings are available for purchase from the Montana DNRC Conservation Nursery in Missoula.