This CRP field was treated with glyphosate in May 2002. The herbicide was very effective and by mid-summer the vegetation was all dead and brown. In July (on a very hot day!) we burned the field. After it greened up, it was treated again with glyphosate. In one part of the field, after the first herbicide treatment, a large population of nutsedge (Cyperus spp.) developed. To eliminate this, the second treatment consisted of a mixture of glyphosate and Permit (halosulfuron-methyl; Montsanto), an herbicide effective against this perennial sedge. A third herbicide treatment was carried out in early September.

In addition to herbiciding the field, we also cut all the undesirable shrubs and trees along the roadside. Because the roadcut itself escaped the plow, the roadside was a jumble of invasive woody plants, mixed in with wild parsnip, sweet clover, and other weeds. A few bur oaks that had become established along the roadcut were retained. Removing the woody vegetation permited us to seed the roadbank with dry prairie species.

In November 2002 this field was planted by volunteers with a mixture of over 130 species. Not all species were planted in every part of the field. The field was divided into dry prairie, mesic prairie, and wet prairie areas, and species adapted to each of those habitat types were used.

In 2003 this field, now a fascinating weed patch, was mowed three times. Particular weed problems were wild parsnip, wild carrot (Daucus carota), and mullein. In some areas where good prairie plants were visible, handpulling instead of mowing was used. The roadcut was particular weedy and was mowed with a brush cutter.

In 2004 (second growing season) this field was mowed once in May and after that only hand weeding was done. By mid-summer a lot of very nice prairie plants were visible. Although there were still some major problems, including several areas with large amounts of wild carrot, wild parsnip, and several nonnativeperennial grasses, there was also excellent development of prairie forbs, including several species that thrive in wetter habitats: great blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica), cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), blue vervain (Verbena hastata), boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), and swamp thistle (Cirsium muticum). Other interesting species that flowered in the second growing season were butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), New England aster (Aster novae-angliae), gaura (Gaura biennis), ox-eye sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides), rough and prairie blazing stars (Liatris aspera, L. pycnostachya), prairie cinquefoil (Potentilla arguta), black- and brown-eyed susans (Rudbeckia hirta, R. triloba), stiff goldenrod (Solidago rigida), and golden Alexanders (Zizia aureus).

The butterfly milkweed (photo below) was interesting to us, because this was the first location at Pleasant Valley Conservancy that we were able to establish that species. For some reason it is doing very well in the Valley Prairie, with a few flowering plants in the second growing season (2004). By 2006 it was widespread in this prairie (at least 20 separate locations counted). Also in 2006 we had white wild indigo, Baptisia alba, in flower.

This planted prairie has been fun to work with, and has developed a high species diversity. However, the cool season grasses that we had eliminated by herbicide in 2002 had returned by 2006. We decided to use an early-glyphosate spraying technique that had worked well previously. The principle is to spray the field very early in the spring, after the cool season grasses have developed, but before any warm season plants are visible. Glyphosate is the ideal herbicide for this because it acts only on plants that are above ground (anything green will be killed), and has no soil residual. The prairie was burned in late fall, to eliminate all of the prairie thatch. The cool season grasses that develop early the following spring were thus easily visible and timing of spraying could be accurately monitored. Burning in the fall is important because it is often difficult to find the right set of circumstances for early spring burns.

We had a very successful burn on a nice dry day in mid-November. The field sat fallow all winter, and started to green up once the last snow had disappeared in mid March. By the end of March, we had a brief warm spell and the cool season grasses developed rapidly. On March 27, when the plants were 2-4 inches tall, we had the local farm cooperative spray the field (see photo below). Soon after the spraying, the weather turned cold and it was almost two weeks before the cool season grasses were visibly dead (see second photo below). We did not start seeing many prairie plants until the last part of April, after the weather warmed up.

A survey made on April 29 showed that the procedure had been very effective. Virtually all of the cool season grasses were gone, and good prairie plants, both forbs and grasses, were growing profusely all over the field (see the photos below).