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Grass area space requirements
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Posted by laylaa 7b (My Page) on Mon, Feb 16, 09 at 9:00
| I have been reading about creating native grass areas - not wildflower areas - for birds. I've come up with a lot of good material, however most of it is tailored to hunting land management and that sort of thing.
What I can not find is for the backyard wildlife gardener, what sort of minimum space is needed to create a usable grass area for birds. Food and nesting. I am sure that too small is of no value except food, and I am attempting to set aside an area to use for grasses only but have a limited amount of space. Has anyone attempted this and could give advice on what size area I would need? Not even for turkeys or larger birds, but ground nesting songbirds as well. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Grass area space requirements
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| I would think about the other way around. How much lawn do you need and use and want to maintain? Minimize the amount of lawn and maximize the amount of native grasses with the remaining space that you have available. |
RE: Grass area space requirements
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| my lot is all wooded. No real lawn, just beautiful trees. Lawn is a very thin strip and only considered a fire/critter break around the immediate house. That stays, I've had woods catch on fire before. Twice. Don't let drunk neighbors light bonfires, folks! They tend to pass out and forget about the fire part. I do have some scruffy wood edges I can clear but don't know if it is enough. I haven't the property style for a proper "meadow", hoped I could do a little grass at least. |
RE: Grass area space requirements
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| If you live in a fire area do not do grass close to your house unless you keep it constantly cut short. Check with your local fire protection groups to see how far away from your house the non-mown grass could be. If the grass catches on fire the particles of burning grass fly further than particles of burning wood. There are native grasses that are short but most put up seed heads which are more the fire problem than the base of the grass. You should check on what types will be happy in your area. If you are in the pine woods vs leafed tree areas will make a difference as to what will grow well. But first check on the size of burn area you need to protect yourself and your house. |
RE: Grass area space requirements
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I was thinking the dry grass might not be a good idea too. There's a lot of info on the web about how to make your property more fire-safe. Our property is not wooded so I don't know very much about it myself but do remember reading that some shrubs are more flamable than others.
On the side where your careless neighbors live, you might want a bigger area of mowed grass especially if the winds generally come from that direction. You wouldn't think they would do that more than once but there's some people around the corner from us that have had the fire department out three different times that I know of to put out a fire they started from burning trash or brush. I'm sure they must've gotten fined for it. Pretty stupid. Our lot is mostly surrounded by hayfields and I worry a little about grass fires but it hasn't happened yet, thank goodness.
I see a lot more birds around my shrubs than I do around the tall grass. The hay is a mixture and I doubt many natives are in there but I still think you might get more benefit from a few shrubs than grasses for the amount of space it would take up. Maybe with some google searching, you can find some native shrubs that are a low fire hazard and plant those instead. By the way, I have several shrubs that are one your trade list that you want. Are you good at rooting cuttings? I'm not but would be glad to send you some cuttings this summer if you want to try to root them. Send me an email. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Google - fire safe plants
RE: Grass area space requirements
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| I am not concerned about fire issues. After the fire dept puts out a couple of fires for you, one tends to go overboard on fire safety education. I know more about fire barriers and burning laws than any non-professional needs to know and think I deserve a special jr. fire safety lady hat to go with my talents in this department. Have barriers, neighbors are gone, grass area would be nowhere near my house, etc. My question is on space requirements only. Grass type is not an issue at this point either - it's to be determined by the specific location of the space. For anyone interested in the topic, Mississippi State University provides great info, but on a bigger scale. The information is out there, I just haven't been mentally able to scale it to my property. I wrote to a few local wildlife departments to see if they can give some advice. christie_sw_mo, I'll send an email. Mine is messed up here, sorry!! I should really try and fix that one more time. :) |
RE: Grass area space requirements
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| Laylaa - Did you try to send me an email yet? I haven't gotten one. I did some searching on plantings for ground-nesting birds but didn't find much that was specific enough to be helpful. Are you trying to attract any particular bird/birds? The article below is for quail so it may not be what you were looking for, but it has some info on minimums. Quail stay within 50 feet or so of an edge. They don't like to nest out in the middle of a field away from cover. It says "Nesting strips should not be less than 30 feet wide". You're more likely to find quail where the grass is thin or in clumps with bare ground in between where it's easier for them to move around. I don't know if songbirds would like similar conditions but it would make sense. It seems to be much easier to find info on planting grasses for quail than for songbirds. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Quail habitat
RE: Grass area space requirements
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| christie - I sent a mail and think I got one from you this morn, will answer it. If not, let me know and I will post my mail here. I have read 30'-50' also and finally decided to try it as best I can figure. I'm working on sparrows and buntings, but would be ecstatic if turkey or quail show up. I'm hoping this is an "if you build it, they will come" sort of thing. I have visited some habitats where quail live and the clump-space arrangement is certainly evident, so I think you are right about that. Now, to find sterile native grass cultivars to keep the neighborhood happy - they have been very supportive. Grass issue is a mess itself, but I tell you what, the native cultivars come in some outstanding colors these days and still feed/shelters wildlife. I hope to create an attractive grass garden as an example that wildlife gardening is not wild. |
RE: Grass area space requirements
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| There was a plot of land that was locked in by houses and roads I knew of that had some bobwhites. It was about 2/3 woods (half was mature walnuts/oaks and half was younger maples/oaks that were around 30ft.) and 1/3 grass/brush/exposed rocky soil. The land area was probably only about 10 or 15 acres in size, so apparently 15 acres is sufficient to maintain a small number. The main issue with something isolated like this is genetic diversity but you could always release some birds. I think you can actually buy them from most conservation departments. There was also an old, fishless cow pond that had spotted salamanders and all kinds of frogs. |
RE: Grass area space requirements
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| "to find sterile native grass cultivars to keep the neighborhood happy" If they are sterile they will not supply seeds for the birds and animals to eat. |
RE: Grass area space requirements
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| Sorry, my 2/26 message should read "they May not supply seeds. Some plants will have seeds that our friends can eat they just will not sprout. |
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