Rangeland drills are wonderful pieces of equipment and, provided you operate them correctly, provide the most cost efficient and reliable means of establishing native grasses. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to a native grass drill. If one is available, it will most likely be available through your state fish & game agency, local Soil and Water Conservation District or Quail Unlimited chapter. Creating additional concern is the new CRP which has dramatically increased the demand for such equipment and even if a rangeland drill is available locally, it may be a challenge trying to schedule its use.
What do you do if a rangeland drill is not available or scheduled so tightly you can't get it? As they say, necessity is the mother of invention, and there have been some creative approaches to sewing the chaffy native grasses. Results can vary dramatically using these alternative methods but experience has eliminated a lot of the guess work and if you follow the details you can expect reasonable results, and in some cases exceptional results.

The most reliable method, excluding drilling, has been broadcasting using an air seeder. An air seeder uses a forced air system to distribute material through booms with outlets at intervals along the booms. This type of equipment can typically be found at a local farm coop or ag-chem dealer. An air seeder is commonly used to spread fertilizer or lime, broadcast wheat or soybeans or other seeds.
In order to be able to distribute the chaffy native grass seeds through the air system, a carrier must be used. There have been several things tried as a carrier but potash or pelletized lime have shown the best results. Work in Wisconsin found 100 pounds of potash per acre necessary for the chaffy seeds of big bluestem, indiangrass and little bluestem to flow. Recent work in Missouri found 60 to 100 pounds of pelletized lime per acre necessary. In both cases establishment was considered adequate.

It is important to remember that just broadcasting using the recommendations above are not all that go into a successful seeding. Proper seedbed preparation is necessary and rolling after spreading is required to insure proper seed to soil contact.

The advantages to broadcasting using this method is that a lot of acres can be spread in a relatively short amount of time. The disadvantages, if you are going to do it right, are that to prepare a firm fine textured seedbed, you will have to make multiple passes across the field, three or more to prepare the seedbed, one to roll it, one to spread it and finally another to roll again.

BROADCASTING USING CONVENTIONAL EQUIPMENT

Broadcasting can be done using conventional broadcasting equipment. A lime truck, fertilizer cart, three-point seeder or endgate seeder can all be used. Be prepared for some real frustration. It will take a lot of determination to get many acres seeded using this method. As with the air seeder, a carrier will need to be used to get the chaffy grass seed to flow. Potash, lime, fertilizer (excluding nitrogen), wheat or oats can all be used. If using lime, potash singly or fertilizer, apply per soil test recommendations. In many cases, if planting CRP, the NRCS will require a soil test and fertilizer application anyway. It is important not to use nitrogen fertilizer though. Without weed control, such as that provided by PLATEAU herbicide, weeds will take advantage of the extra nitrogen and out compete the new native grass seedlings.
Wheat or oats can be used as a carrier as well. I recommend oats for spring plantings and wheat for late fall plantings. When using either it is important to not use too much to avoid competition problems later. Use 40 to 60 pounds of wheat per acre or no more than 32 pounds of oats per acre. It is preferable to mow the wheat or oats before any seed heads mature to reduce potential competition from volunteer plants later in the season. Annual ryegrass has also been used as a carrier but I don't like it because the ryegrass tends to crowd out the new native grass seedlings early in the growing season on a spring planting and many times (depending upon your latitude) doesn't winter kill. Using either a lime/fertilizer truck or fertilizer cart works fairly well.

However, the real challenges come when using a three-point seeder or endgate seeder. You will most likely need to constantly fiddle with the adjustment and feeding of either. Though it can be done, it will take some determination on your part.

An important factor to remember is the light, chaffy seeds won't carry as far as the heavier fertilizer, lime, wheat or oats. It is therefore necessary to overlap swaths when broadcasting to get a somewhat even stand. Most folks will double spread. After having covered the field the first time, spread the field a second time, going across the field perpendicular to the first application. Broadcasting using these methods usually require about 25% more seed to get similar results to using an air seeder or drilling.

This method requires a prepared seedbed as outlined earlier.

CONVENTIONAL MODERN GRASS/GRAIN DRILLS

I specifically mention "modern" because there has been some work done recently using a John Deere Model 750 drill. The John Deere 750 is relatively new on the market. I am sure there are other drills out there that are similar to the JD Model 750, I just don't know what models they are. These drills are also available with no-till attachments that make them an attractive alternative.
This reminds me of an experience a few years ago. I was talking with an agency person, in an eastern state to remain unnamed, about planting native grasses. He was anxious to get started promoting and planting native grasses but lacked practical experience. We discussed planting options and I recommended that if he was really serious about planting native grasses he should purchase a Truax native grass drill. He was interested in doing business with local sources and proceeded to shop locally. He came upon a John Deere salesman that assured him the 750 would plant anything. My friend, being skeptical, asked if it would plant native grasses, the salesman, not knowing, but having been assured through sales training the 750 would plant anything, said yes, he would guarantee it. With that assurance, my friend ordered a drill. When judgment day arrived, the proud salesman exclaimed a loud "Oh (expletive deleted)", and promptly ate his words and took the drill back. My friend now owns a Truax.

Fact of the matter is, if that salesman would have used a little ingenuity, he could have used the 750 to plant at least some of the native grasses. There are two options for using a modern, conventional style drill. One, you can purchase highly conditioned big bluestem or indiangrass seed. Purity must be very high (relative to native grasses), probably 80% or more and not have any stem pieces over ½ inch long for the seed to flow. Many seed companies will sell debearded seed which will flow through these drills. The drawback is debearded seed requires extra cleaning steps and you will pay for it dearly. Highly conditioned seed is hard to find, particularly in CRP times. Another disadvantage is you are limited to only two species which will work this way, big bluestem and indiangrass. Little bluestem and sideoats grama will not flow, regardless of conditioning.

The second method, and best option of the two is to mix the seed with a carrier. Sound familiar? Products such as cracked corn, rolled oats and rice hulls have all been used. Cracked corn is the most commonly used and provides the best results. Mix cracked corn and your seed at a 2:1 ratio. For every pound of native grass seed, use 2 pounds of cracked corn. Seed will flow through the drill relatively well but there are some problems. Usually you can't plant enough native grass seed in this mixture ratio in one pass, therefore requiring you to double plant. Additionally, as the seed box empties, there will be a certain amount of native grass seed that will "float" on top of the cracked corn and will not come out of the box. It is important to keep refilling the box and mix the seed periodically to keep from planting pure cracked corn.

These are the only alternative methods that have any practicality, at least on an agricultural scale. Hydro-seeding has been used on roadsides and in some mined land reclamation projects where steep slopes make it impractical to use drills. Mulching is another method that has met some success lately. Native grasses are harvested late in the season when seed is ripe and then spread on a prepared seedbed using a mulcher. These mulchers are implements from the forage industry that were designed to grind up big bales of hay for livestock feeding operations. The technique involves rolling after spreading the native grass hay to get good seed soil contact. The disadvantages to this method are, you have to have the equipment, you have to have a source for the material and seed availability is determined by what is ripe at the time of hay harvest.

On one occasion, I arrived to plant a field of a little over an acre. The landowner was to have a tractor on site and ready to hook the drill to. Well, the tractor was there but he had forgot to leave the keys. I had no way to contact him as this was his hobby farm and he lived 60 plus miles away. Not wanting to waste the trip, I grabbed a bag of seed and began broadcasting by hand. I wouldn't want to do very much that way but if worse comes to worse, you can find a way to get it done. By the way, that planting ended up being one of the best ones I did that year.

I am regularly asked, what is the best way to plant native grasses? Without a doubt, when considering cost effectiveness, drilling is the best. Results are more consistently successful. However that doesn't mean you can't establish native grasses using other means. Bottom line is if you don't have access to, or can't get a rangeland drill scheduled, there is more than one way to skin that cat. The important things to remember about establishing native grasses, no mater the method are the critical factors: seed quality, planting depth and weed control. As long as you use good quality seed, plant no deeper than ¼ inch and control the weeds, God willing and weather permitting you will get a stand of native grasses.