I'm planning to broadcast some wildflower seeds in a few weeks. I want use sand to mix with the seeds to help with the disbursement.

Is there a certain ratio of sand to seed? Also, anyone have any personal experience(s)... success or failure with wildflowers? The mix contains greenthread, huisache daisey, indian blanket, lazy daisy, prairie verbena, winecup, Texas bluebonnet and purple coneflower.
Kent

I don't know about your sand to seed ratio. I just broadcast the seeds. I would go ahead and broadcast in the next week or so. When we get Fall rains, it will help germinate the bluebonnets and they will live throughout Winter and bloom in Spring. You also want any perennials to go ahead and develop enough to survive cold weather and come back next year. I'm not a huge fan of wildflower mixes because I have had limited success with them. I usually buy individual species of flowers I feel pretty certain will germinate and do well.

Thanks dragonfly. I agree with your thoughts on mixes, but these are from Native American Seed (seedsource.com) and all the varieties in this mix are currently growing on our property so I figured they would do well. Native American Seed doesn't believe in mixing non-natives like Wildseed Farms, for example. You wont find California poppies there. Their website is very informative and interesting. Anyway, thanks again. I'll plant them next week. Kent

Are you planting a large area? We have a pasture area on our property that is about five acres, and we (rather I) broadcast seeds, then we have the field lightly disced with a tractor. This seems to greatly improve germination rates since we have been doing this. Do you have a tractor? What area are you in? What type of soil are you working with?

I have about 2 lbs to spread over about 3,000 sq feet. The wildflowers will seperate my grass lawn from the street forming about a 15' strip running the entire width of the property and curving around to one side, down to a wooded area. The lawn and the wildflowers will be seperated by large stones.
I live in Ellis county... thin soil on white rock.
Kent

What is currently growing on the strip of soil you are going to seed? With 3000 square feet, that should be fairly easy. Your strip must be about 200 feet long or so. Why don't you draw imaginary lines along the 200 feet and make it into 13 or 14 small squares to seed. If it were me, I would go to HD or Lowes and buy a few bags of the cheap topsoil, humus, or cow manure and use that to mix my seeds in for broadcasting. You could take a 3-5 gallon bucket for mixing it in, and just go from square to square broadcasting the dirt/seed mix. If you have a rotary type garden tool for loosening the top of your strip of dirt (I think mine is called a garden weasle or something like that), it would help imbed the seeds a little and help prevent them getting washed out.

Before our house was built there were wildflowers and weeds. Since the builders left, it's mostly rocks since they did quite a number on the soil. Prairie verbena is already making a comeback, along with some greenthread and something that looks like coreopsis. I even saw Indian paintbrush in full bloom (weird for this time of year). I just want to help it along with a large dose of seed.
I think I like your idea about mixing small batches in a bucket. Instead of humus or manure, what if I use lava sand as a carrier? I did find a recommendation on the ratio. 1 part seed to 4 parts carrier.

Thanks for the help.

I'm sure lava sand would be fine. I was just thinking "cheap", lol. I suspect the reason for another bloom period for the wildflowers was the rains we had in Aug, which are unusual for this time of year. I noticed lots more wildflowers of various species blooming during August. It was great.

The more I think about lava sand, the more I think it makes sense for this.

It should make it easy to see where I've already sown and hold some moisture for germination. And, I needed to add lava sand anyway. As long as it doesn't grind the seed too much. It might help it to grind a little. I guess we'll see.

maybe your making it way too difficult..

just throw the seeds out..

rake it if you want to...

water it if it does not rain..

simple...

Thanks drk. You've really added some insight. I guess I lost my head.

Hello - this is Emily at Native American Seed. I just (finally) signed up for a dirt doctor account so i can post replies. I love these conversations and will try to chime in when i can from now on, thanks for your support of 100% native wildflowers!

And for the comment on mixes not working... We want you to be totally pleased with our efforts and our products and do not want to sell you any mixes that won't be successful for your growing conditions -- so feel free to call ahead and our staff will be happy to talk with you about which mix works best for your area. If you purchase a mix from another source please, please check two things: 1) make sure you are getting native seeds to your area & 2) read the ingredients and make sure there are no fillers, only seeds!