Plants for a sandy ditch

19 years ago

Hi All,

We have recently moved to NC from IL so I am just getting up to speed on the local natives and growing conditions.

My current dilemma... what to plant in our ditch. Right now it is just whatever has happened to take root. A lot of grasses and other weeds.

The ditch will get a lot of water flow at times as we get about 80" of rain a year here, and is almost pure sand but is only a few feet deep. It is in full sun. They do salt here in the winter but we are out in the sticks, so it won't be often or heavy and will likely be washed away from all the precipitation. Our soil is also acid, with rhodies, blueberries and holly growing wild.

Would love to hear any suggestions... I've been trying to do some research, but mostly what I am finding are woodland plants native to our area.

My ultimate goal is not to have to use our weedwacker to clean the area up and to provide something for our abundant wildlife.

Thanks!!

Jeanne

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Comments (6)

janet_e
19 years ago
There's lots of interesting native plants that thrive in moist, acid sand. Do you want shrubs? Perennials? A combination?
jcsgreenthumb
Original Author
19 years ago
Hi,

They will have to be low growing, maybe to 3' unless they can take occasional shearing. I don't care if they are shrubs or perennials. The county comes through at least once a year and shears everything off near the ditches. They already did it this spring, so not much was up when they came through, but I don't know if they do it in the fall as well.

Thanks for any suggestions you have!

Jeanne
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My first question is, who owns the ditch? You may have to get the approval of your local government or utility to do any work in this ditch. If you own it then plug away! As others have said, killing the existing vegetation is the first step. Since this is a ditch then I would say erosion is a concern. Therefore tilling is not a good option (though it works well with repeated disking in less erosion prone sites). Also, as others have said, smothering for small areas, herbicide for large areas. I would use an aquatic approved form of Glyphosate, such as Rodeo, Aqua-Neat or Aqua-Master. You will need at least 2 treatments, one to kill the currently living weeds and a second to kill those that emerge after the first ones die. A third treatment may even be necessary. Give it a month between treatments and watch the weather carefully so you don't apply the herbicided when rain is imminent. Sounds like you could put some wet prairie species in the bottom of your ditch and mesic prairie species along the sides. Rake off all the duff that has accumulated from the dead plants. Rake the soil throughly with a garden rake or dethatcher to prepare the soil as a seed bed. Then carefully distribute your seed, being sure not to spread it too thick in some areas and then run out in others! Once on the ground stomp on the or roll over them with something in such a way that will give you good seed to soil contact. This will be more effective if the ground is moist. For erosion prone areas such as a ditch I recommend putting down erosion control matting material after you throw down your seed. If you are only slightly worried about erosion (little overland flow and little to no water flow in the ditch) a S75 material should be fine (That's Straw with a thickness/density rating of 75). If there is a fair amount of surface water run-off or if there is occational flowing water in the ditch, then use SC150 (Straw and Coir (coconut fiber) materials, and thicker). You will need to use landscaping staples to hold this in place, use as directed by your retailer. Once all this is down, you can plant plugs right through the matting if you wish. Cut a hole in the mating with a razor knife, di stick the plugs in. You will need to add a few staples around each hole you cut in the matting to keep it matted down well on the ground. Mixing plugs into a seeded planting is a great way to get some good progress early on (you will probably get at least some flowers in the very first year) with enough native plant material present to create a solid matrix this will cover bare earth and help fend of the influx of new weeds. Good luck.
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janet_e
19 years ago
Here's some suggestions. Most of them are inspired by what grows in wet areas of New Jersey's pine barrens -- another habitat of acid sand.

Perennials, etc:
cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon)
meadow beauty (Rhexia virginica or mariana)
tussock sedge (Carex stricta)
palm sedge (Carex muskingumensis)
bushy bluestem grass (Andropogon glomeratus)
swamp candles (Lysimachia terrestris)
pink coreopsis (Coreopsis rosea)
slender blue iris (Iris prismatica)
blue flag (Iris versicolor)

shrubs (these all grow fairly low and will survive being cut back to 3'):
shrubby St. John's wort (Hypericum densiflorum)
leadbush (Amorpha fruticosa)
Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica)
sheep laurel (Kalmia angustifolia)
staggerbush (Lyonia mariana)
maleberry (Lyonia ligustrina)
zenobia (Zenobia pulverulenta)
inkberry holly (Ilex glabra)
leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata)
bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica)

If you haven't already done so, let me urge you to try to identify the plants growing in the ditch right now. Wet places with acid, sandy soil often have great native plants growing in them (damp roadside ditches are a good place to hunt for native orchids, for example). Also, the acid, sandy habitat is a very specialized one, so relatively few non-native plants tend to grow there.
jcsgreenthumb
Original Author
19 years ago
Hi Janet,

Thanks so much for the list. It gives me a great starting point. Some of these will likely work near our streams as well, as one is in full sun in an easement, which also occasionally gets cut.

I will look carefully before I kill anything, but so far it seems to be mainly grasses or sedges, which of course, could be native, but we have a lot of fields in our area, so my guess is most will be weeds.

Are there any good websites or books for identifying grasses and sedges? I have many on our property away from the ditch.

Jeanne
janet_e
19 years ago
Grasses and sedges aren't easy. Do you have a native plant society or botanical society in your area? If you do, you could try taking samples to a gathering -- botanical groups usually have someone who enjoys the challenge of identifying grasses and sedges. I know of one web site (linked below), which I haven't tried using myself so I don't know how helpful it is.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: interactive plant identification keys
dragonfly_dance
19 years ago
Remember this poem:

Sedges have edges
Rushes are round
Grasses have nodes that go up or down.

If that doesnt help try you county extension office. They should be able to tell you.

Raven

Plants for a sandy ditch

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Plants for a sandy ditch

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