permaculture

[dwoodard@becon.org]

Dear Suzanne:

I think we need to know more more to give useful advice.

Is the black plastic on top or buried? How thick? what is its condition?
(intact and tough or disintegrating?) How long has it been in place? How
many layers?

How thick is the pine bark and at what depth?

If you have pine bark on top with a layer of thick plastic just
underneath, I think you might be able to resell the pine bark and you
should certainly try to get rid of it. If the black plastic was put there
under the pine bark with the intention of preventing anything from
growing, it should continue to do that job - get rid of it.

Regarding species, big bluestem is a tallgrass prairie species and
I don't think it should be the main one in "semi-arid Colorado".

I suggest that you contact the
Colorado Native Plant Society
P. O. Box 200
Fort Collins, CO 80522-0200

http://www.conps.org

Click on "links" and see
"Native Plant Revegetation Guide for Colorado"

Also, there is a book which it might pay you to look at:
"Prairie Plants and Their Environment"
by J. E. Weaver
University of Nebraska Press, 1968, 1991

There are proceedings of the North American prairie conferences published
every two or three years; they should be in university libraries, and
likely the Colorado Native Plant Society can guide you to the publishers.

In books by John Madson (one being title "Tallgrass Prairie"
you will find lists of restored and original prairies including
midgrass and shortgrass prairies, and there should be some in your area,
the curators of which you can consult for
advice on restoration.

I'm sure that through the Colorado Native Plant Society you can contact
people who have experience in doing just what you want to do.

Doug Woodard
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada


On Thu, 5 Aug 2004, C. Suzanne Myers wrote:

>
> Anyone out there have any suggestions on how to re-manage a black plastic 
> nightmare?
>
> I'm working at an older Hotel and Conference Center in a semi-arid area of 
> SW Colorado, actually in the San Luis Valley. Right now, the ground is 
> layered with black plastic then dirt and big chunks of pine bark and it 
> looks pretty ghetto. Mostly tumbleweed and whitetop in any nook they can 
> find to grow 2 feet tall more or less. Not much Grass coming up in the area 
> in question.
>
> The intent is to do a natural arid landscape, I have suggested that we 
> landscape with a mix of native grasses, like big bluestem and Indian rice 
> grass mixed with some prairie flowers like sunflower and yarrow, etc... The 
> main point is that we must not have to water it at all or very little and 
> the big issue is the Plastic. How can we deal with the plastic? If we try 
> to rototiller it we could ruin the equipment by tangling up plastic in the 
> tines, removal by hand is just too time consuming and the labor cost out of 
> reach. I don't think we can leave it because it seems the soil aspect is 
> unevenly distributed and this would not seem to bode well for plants to 
> survive. If weeds with tap roots are growing in this stuff, could it be 
> okay to plant  over the plastic? Or should we toss more soil on it first, 
> which might not be possible $ wise.  I want to bring plants in responsibly, 
> to make sure the environment is right for them to survive. So, does anyone 
> out there have any experienc
>  e or
>  insightful ideas about this dilemma?
>
> Suzanne Myers
>
> solarsonicdove@yahoo.com