I don't know if its Fall Panicum (with the red/pink/purple stem), but it seems to be a Panicum for sure.

I'm working on a prairie restoration in the front meadow and it seems the forbes are doing better than the grasses. I'm looking for a little bit larger trades here, like maybe baggies full instead of little packets. I would especially like: Andropogon gerardii - big blue stem Andropogon scoparius - little blue stem Bouteloua curtipendula - sideoats grama Eragrostis spectabilis - Purple Love Grass Hordeum jubatum - Squirrel-tail Grass hystrix patula - Bottlebrush grass Koeleria cristata - June Grass Panicum virgatum - switch grass Sorghastrum nutans - Indiangrass Sporobolus heterolepis - Prairie dropseed I have the following forbs in fairly large amounts. We can talk about amounts if you contact me: Coreopsis tickseed - Coreopsis tinctoria Butterfly weed - scarlet blood flower - asclepias curassvica z8 Cone flower purple - Echinacea purpurea Cone flower pale purple (less) Cone flower yellow - Echinacea paradoxa (less) Cone flower yellow - Ratibida columnifera Helianthus strumosus - pale-leaved woodland sunflower , rough-leaved sunflower(I think) '06 '07 hg C 5 ft yellow multi stem. Not really sure, it kind of looks like pictures I've seen of geliopsis helianthoide also. Ironweed - Vernonia fasciculata Joe Pye - Eupatorium maculatum Milkweed - Asclepias syriaca Rudbeckia triloba - brown eyed susan Gayfeather - Liatris (smaller amounts of rough blazing star) I'm also interested in other natives please see my list at http://members.gardenweb.com/members/exch/catrina Thanks, Catrina

Well, in my production for OG's, I use both production blocks, field division blocks, and seed/division plugs. Production blocks that I use are about 6 feet across, and range anywhere from 120 to 200 ft long. They can either be raised beds with a border like wood or plastic, or ground level beds cultivated for ease of division and growth development. Seedling blocks are hand sown, and then raked in by hand, thinned out by hand, and definately pruned and dug by hand. For instance, Panicum varieties that I can reproduce by seed, is the easiest and cheapest. I can grow a containerized-ready to sell Panicum grass that was grown from seed within 8 months after first sown, using production blocks. Plug trays are used when running grasses and aggressors can prove time consuming, or that I have to propagate by small, rhizome or stolon division. Overall fertilization of seedling and divisions are lliquid fed for the first 3 months, using a mixture between a weak fish emulsion and liquid kelp. Kelp by all means is a true tool for the grower, from vegetables to trees. I use only products like neem oil, hexacide, sporan etc etc because I can see only the best results in controlling problems that may occur like rust or miscanthus weevil. Other than the blocks, I grow lots of plugs, from perennials to grasses, and all have the same regiment of feeding, moisture, pest/disease management. Yet, the grasses have the quickest turnaround in terms of plug to container, or plug to ground exchange. Grasses like Muhlenbergia japonica variegata are grown here by two inch pots, because I have to take a quarter sized piece of the stolon to work with, and putting that in a half inch plug won't work. Other than that, winter protection is only thoght about and used when the production block of that certain genus is prone to damage or not entirely hardy with surface roots. Grasses as a whole are straight forward in terms of cultivating, but one can easily be overwhelmed with too many plants in little time.

Hexaploidy is relatively common in grasses, both in cultivated cereals and in wild plants. I couldn't find anything specific on what you wanted, but chromosome doubling with oryzalin or such, I would think would get some fertile hexaploids and allow further breeding, even with the interspecific hybrids. There is also the possibility that by repeated pollination with diploid and tetraploid pollens that you might someday get a seed or two that's more fertile. It happens in other plants, and succeeding generations can improve fertility further. Probably take an ocean of patience though. The caution is that these grasses can be extremely weedy and invasive when fertile, so you'd have to be very careful to keep them in bounds. We sure don't need another alien weed! Vincent