Punch Planting to Establish Grass Seed

Abstract

Perennial grasses are difficult to establish from seed in the Southern Great Plains. The conventional planting practice is to plant grass seeds 1 to 2 cm deep in the soil; but that soil layer often dries quickly, thus preventing plant establishment. I investigated punch planting, which may avoid the problem of soil drying around grass seeds. Punch planting is defined as the placement of seeds in open, small-diameter holes, punched in the soil to a much greater depth than conventional planting. Under drying conditions, punch planting produced satisfactory stands for 5 grasses, but conventional planting produced failures. Where the soil was kept wet, both methods produced satisfactory grass stands. Optimum depth of punch planting was related to seed size and seedling vigor. Small-diameter holes (0.6 cm) produced best plant emergence, because soil at the bottom of these holes dried slower than at the bottom of large holes. Punch planting may offer a solution to the problem of seeding failures.