Recent calculation of quality based on 2015 species data:
Toby’s Prairie has a Floristic Quality Index = 60, which is a very high number. According to some experts, any FQI number over 50 represents an area of high conservatism.
This was the first prairie planted (year 1998). Its location is shown on the Management Map. At the time of planting, this field had been in the Conservation Reserve Program for ten years and was about to be renewed. By planting to prairie, we received some extra credits for the renewal.
This 3.5 acre field had been cropped for many years, but because of the topgraphy, plowing was suspended on the north and east edge of the field when tractors began to be used. After they were idle, both of these areas turned into prairie remnants. On the north side there was (and still is) a fine population of white wild indigo (Baptisia alba). On the east edge significant populations of round-headed bush clover (Lespedeza capitata), showy goldenrod (Solidago speciosa), and flowering spurge (Euphorbia corollata) were present. These served as seed sources for planting the new prairie and for other parts of the Conservancy.
Procedure for establishing the prairie. In the spring of 1998, the field to be planted was burned. After it greened up, the vegetation, almost all nonnative, was killed by two rounds of herbicide treatment. The first treatment, at the end of May, was a mixture of glyphosate and 2,4-D. At the end of September the field, heavy in weeds, was mowed and the cut matter was removed from the field (to remove many weed seeds). In October the field was treated again, with glyphosphate alone. In early November, the field was burned, which removed some of the dry thatch. At the time of planting, there was little vegetation and much bare ground (see photo). (In retrospect, more glyphosate treatments should have been done before this field was planted.)
Planting was done by hand broadcasting by a group of 10 volunteers. Seeds of over 60 species of prairie grasses and forbs were planted, all hand-collected from other places on the Conservancy or from nearby locations. In addition to this general “seed mix”, two areas of the field were marked as “forbs areas” and given extra amounts of the more showy species.
After planting, a tractor pulled a “Cultipack” unit across the field to rough up the soil and mix the seeds with the top layer of soil. (This procedure had been recommended but was probably not necessary. Since 2002 successful prairies have been planted without this procedure.)
As anticipated, in the summer of 1999 this planted field produced a fine crop of weeds! The weeds were mowed twice with a bush hog set to mow 6 inches high. At that height, the tiny prairie plants were spared, but the weeds were cut and prevented from flowering.
In April 2000 the field was burned and the field allowed to develop. By mid-summer 2000 (2nd growing season) there were still many weeds, but many prairie plants were also seen, including black-eyed susan, wild indigo, spiked lobelia, great blue lobelia, yellow coneflower, rosin weed, showy goldenrod, Kalm’s brome, Indian grass, sky blue aster, evening primrose, New England aster, white vervain, blue vervain, gray goldenrod, and milk vetch. The field was mowed again in mid-August. Despite this mowing, some Indian grass went ahead and set seed. Ox-eye daisy, a nonnative weed, was a large problem on this field, and extensive hand weeding was done. Later in the season, hand weeding of Queen Anne’s Lace was also done.
In 2001 (the third growing season), the prairie (we no longer need to call it a “field”) was developing very well. It was dubbed “Toby’s Prairie” in honor of the then recently departed mascot of the Pleasant Valley Conservancy (see photo at top of this page). Because it had been mowed in late summer 2000, there was insufficient fuel for a controlled burn in 2001 but there was a lot of diversity. By September, the Indian grass had developed extremely well and was used as a source of seed for collecting. Both ox-eye daisy and Queen Anne’s Lace were still a problem and were weeded by hand. Because of the size of the field, this weeding took 4 people about 3 days. Some especially bad areas were mowed with a brush cutter. Despite weeding, there was a good stand of prairie grasses, especially Indian grass, and lots of forbs.
In early April 2002, a very successful burn of this prairie was done. Prairie plants did very well that summer (fourth growing season), and the weed problem was less. Only scattered hand weeding was done. The prairie now served as an excellent source of seeds for planting another large field (Valley Prairie). It was burned again in 2003 and in that year we collected over 50 pounds of Indian grass seed from this prairie. It was burned again in 2004 and again served as a major source of Indian grass seed. Except for one exception, this prairie continues to be burned annually, generally in the spring, although occasionally in the fall.
One year, as an experiment, only one side of Toby’s Prairie was burned. The burned side grew much better than the unburned side. Research has shown that burns stimulate prairie growth primarily because the thick thatch from the previous year is eliminated, thus greatly increasing the light reaching the newly plants. At Toby’s Prairie, the burned side was almost 2 weeks ahead of the unburned side, and the seed set was much better.
The species check list for Toby’s Prairie is given in the table below. Photos of most of these species are given in the complete species checklist,
| Latin name | Common name |
| Achillea millefolium | Yarrow |
| Andropogon gerardii | Big bluestem |
| Anemone cylindrica | Thimbleweed |
| Antennaria neglecta | Field pussytoes |
| Antennaria plantaginifolia | Plantain-leaved pussytoes |
| Arnoglossum atriplicifolia | Pale Indian plantain |
| Asclepias syriaca | Common milkweed |
| Asclepias verticillata | Whorled milkweed |
| Aster laevis | Smooth blue aster |
| Aster lanceolatus | Panciled aster |
| Aster lateriflorus | Calico aster |
| Aster novae-angliae | New England aster |
| Aster oolentangiensis | Sky-blue aster |
| Aster pilosus | Hairy aster |
| Aster prenanthoides | Crooked aster |
| Aster puniceus | Swamp aster |
| Aster sagittifolius | Arrow-leaved aster |
| Baptisia lactea | White wild indigo |
| Bouteloua curtipendula | Side oats grama |
| Bromus kalmii | Prairie brome |
| Carya ovata | Shagbark hickory |
| Cirsium discolor | Pasture thistle |
| Coreopsis palmata | Prairie tickseed |
| Corylus americana | American hazelnut |
| Dalea candida | White prairie clover |
| Dalea purpureum | Purple prairie clover |
| Daucus carota | Queen Anne’s lace |
| Desmodium canadense | Showy tick-trefoil |
| Desmodium illinoense | Illinois tick-trefoil |
| Echinacea pallida | Pale purple coneflower |
| Echinacea purpurea | Broad-leaved purple coneflower |
| Elymus hystrix | Bottlebrush grass |
| Elymus riparius | Riverbank wild rye |
| Erigeron pulchellus | Robin’s plantain |
| Erigeron strigosus | Daisy fleabane |
| Eryngium yuccifolium | Rattlesnake master |
| Eupatorium altissimum | Tall boneset |
| Eupatorium rugosum | White snakeroot |
| Euphorbia corollata | Flowering spurge |
| Euthamia graminifolia | Grass-leaved goldenrod |
| Fragaria virginiana | Wild strawberry |
| Gentiana andrewsii | Bottle gentian |
| Gentianella quinquefolia | Stiff gentian |
| Helianthus divaricatus | Woodland sunflower |
| Helianthus pauciflorus | Prairie sunflower |
| Heliopsis helianthoides | Ox-eye sunflower |
| Hieracium aurantiacum | Orange hawkweed |
| Hieracium kalmii | Canada hawkweed |
| Hypericum punctatum | Dotted St. John’s wort |
| Krigia biflora | False dandelion (Cynthia) |
| Kuhnia eupatorioides | False boneset |
| Lactuca canadensis | Tall lettuce |
| Lespedeza capitata | Round-headed bush clover |
| Leucanthemum vulgare | Ox-eye daisy |
| Liatris aspera | Rough blazing star |
| Liatris cylindracea | Dwarf blazing star |
| Lobelia cardinalis | Cardinal flower |
| Lobelia siphilitica | Great blue lobelia |
| Lobelia spicata | Pale spiked lobelia |
| Lotus corniculata | Birdsfoot trefoil |
| Lupinus perennis | Wild lupine |
| Melilotus alba | White sweet clover |
| Monarda fistulosa | Wild bergamot |
| Oenothera biennis | Common evening-primrose |
| Pastinaca sativa | Wild parsnip |
| Penstemon grandiflorus | Large-flowered beard-tongue |
| Polygala sanguinea | Field milkwort |
| Potentilla arguta | Prairie cinquefoil |
| Potentilla simplex | Old-field cinquefoil |
| Prenanthes alba | Lion’s foot |
| Prunella sp. | Self-heal |
| Pycnanthemum virginianum | Common mountain mint |
| Ratibida pinnata | Yellow coneflower |
| Rosa sp. | Rose |
| Rudbeckia hirta | Black-eyed Susan |
| Rudbeckia triloba | Brown-eyed Susan |
| Rumex crispus | Curly dock |
| Salix humilis | Prairie willow |
| Schizachyrium scoparium | Little bluestem |
| Scutellaria parvula | Small skullcap |
| Silphium integrifolium | Rosinweed |
| Silphium laciniatum | Compass plant |
| Silphium perfoliatum | Cup plant |
| Silphium terebinthinaceum | Prairie dock |
| Sisyrinchium campestre | Blue-eyed grass |
| Solidago canadensis | Common goldenrod |
| Solidago juncea | Early goldenrod |
| Solidago missouriensis | Missouri goldenrod |
| Solidago nemoralis | Gray goldenrod |
| Solidago ptarmicoides | Stiff aster |
| Solidago rigida | Stiff goldenrod |
| Solidago speciosa | Showy goldenrod |
| Sonchus spp | Sow thistle |
| Sorghastrum nutans | Indian grass |
| Tradescantia ohiensis | Common spiderwort |
| Trifolium pratense | Red clover |
| Triosteum perfoliatum | Early horse gentian |
| Verbena stricta | Hoary vervain |
| Zizia aurea | Golden Alexanders |