Need Seed Ideas

[TylerStewart]

I'm admittedly not as smart about plants as I wish I was, and I'm looking for some ideas.... I am building some enclosures that are probably 6 months away from having water run to them. I want to throw some seeds in the ground at some point with the hope that some of them will grow with very little watering on my part. I am there (currently) 1 or 2 or 3 times a week, and can flood them while I'm there (I have a water tank in my truck). In the meantime, I want to start some stuff in these enclosures, and am looking for ideas from you plant experts. It's a desert climate at about 3,500' elevation; winter lows are around 20-22 degrees and summer highs will likely be over 110. Annual rainfall is going to be about 4-5". I intend to have these enclosures built but then leave them empty of tortoises for a few months at least just to watch what happens, and to get some other stuff a little established (planting lots of desert trees, mostly African sumac) before tortoises are messing with them. Some of these enclosures will have a shade cover over them, and others won't.

Any ideas for some good tortoise-friendly seeds and/or seed mixes as well as where to get them? Think larger scale; I don't really want to buy 1,000 seeds of this and 500 seeds of that. I'd love to find a large dandelion seed supplier....

 

[October]

You could try highcountrygradens.com. They have alot of xeric plants. Groundcovers, xeric grasses, etc.

Something like this maybe? http://www.highcountrygardens.com/catalog/product/99580/ It needs rainfall of 10"-25", but if you will be able to supplement some that should do fine. I'm planning on replacing my water hungry lawn soon and this is one of the contenders, though I have not checked the edibility on it.

 

[John]

I get all my seed mix from tortoisesupply you should check out thier site

 

[Missy]

Wild bird seed

 

[TylerStewart]

I get all my seed mix from tortoisesupply you should check out thier site

LOL, yeah, there's a reason I don't sell a seed mix. If I did, I'd be getting constant e-mails wanting to know the protein content in my mix, or people complaining that only 12 of the 15 types of plants did well after 8 months and wanting their money back....

Thanks for the link October.... That looks similar to what I'm looking for. Much of it will be in Testudo pens, where I want some grass to get going and established for a bit before I put animals into it. I'm trying to figure out how to contain it into small "patches" of grass (maybe 2-3 foot diameter "islands" dotting the landscape) with pathways in between. I don't want a whole pen carpeted with it. The watering might be a pain, but maybe I'll just plant them in the late summer when the rain starts up again. We get lots of rain here in the winter and early spring. If the seeds can't handle the winter cold with 1" of manure & topsoil on them, they probably weren't meant to be here anyways!

 

[October]

You can salt or vinegar the ground where you want nothing to grow. I don't know if salt would be good for the torts, but vinegar wont hurt. Or buy some of those garden bed divider things. People use them in landscaping for just that purpose.

 

[Len B]

Try sundrops,It is a very drought tolerant flower that is non toxic and cold tolerant to at least zone 4. there are different kinds and some are native to New Mexico. I believe the ones I have are called common sundrops and it's the one plant I never worry about watering. Len

 

[dmmj]

I would go for a ground cover succulent. They don't require a lot of water and they produce flowers that the torts can eat. I could provide sunflower sees but probably not at the numbers you want.

 

[N2TORTS]

Tyler … here are some good ground covers and or edible plants for the torts. All of these would do well in your area elevation, climate….and so on .
Partridge peas ~
Partridge peas have many uses for a variety of settings. Some of these include: wildlife habitat improvement, erosion control, recreational area plantings and roadside improvements. Partridge pea seed is one of the major food sources of quail species and other birds since the pea itself remains in good condition throughout the winter and early spring providing nourishment
Crown Vetch - Penngift ~
Primarily used as ground cover for hillside erosion plantings in areas where mowing is difficult or impossible Crown vetch produces fairly attractive flowers during the seasonal blooming period
Clover King ~
is the ideal perennial blend for deer food plots. Makes a great seed mixture as it is 90% clover with 10% alfalfa for extra flavor and palatability. This mixture of clover and alfalfa will provide approximately 30% protein for the majority of the year for increased antler growth. A single planting can last up to 5 years without re-seeding. Clover King deer food plot seed gives you up to 5 years of deer-attracting and growing benefits from the effort of just one planting. Plus, it's heat-resistant, disease-resistant, and cold-tolerant to endure changing conditions.

Birdsfoot trefoil ~
is a long-lived, deep-rooted perennial forage legume used for pasture, hay and silage and grows on many different soil types, from sandy loams to clays.


JD~

 

[October]

Gazania is another good one. Leaves and flowers are edible. It's the newest trend to replacing yards because it covers so well. Problem though is I can't find seeds anywhere.

 

[Neal]

Succulents.

Ice and jade plants are my favorite. It's hard to find medium or big sized plants where I'm at, but if you find some, you can propagate and get a lot of plants going in six months. You could probably get by watering once or twice a week.

 

[John]

I get all my seed mix from tortoisesupply you should check out thier site

LOL, yeah, there's a reason I don't sell a seed mix. If I did, I'd be getting constant e-mails wanting to know the protein content in my mix, or people complaining that only 12 of the 15 types of plants did well after 8 months and wanting their money back....

Thanks for the link October.... That looks similar to what I'm looking for. Much of it will be in Testudo pens, where I want some grass to get going and established for a bit before I put animals into it. I'm trying to figure out how to contain it into small "patches" of grass (maybe 2-3 foot diameter "islands" dotting the landscape) with pathways in between. I don't want a whole pen carpeted with it. The watering might be a pain, but maybe I'll just plant them in the late summer when the rain starts up again. We get lots of rain here in the winter and early spring. If the seeds can't handle the winter cold with 1" of manure & topsoil on them, they probably weren't meant to be here anyways!

Lol, I feel your pain Tyler but seriously the mix I get from carolina pet is very good, for my part of the country anyway.

 

[yagyujubei]

Check with your county extension office. They can be very helpful. http://www.unce.unr.edu/counties/clark/programs/ It's their job to help you with exactly what you want.

 

[Kristina]

Here ya go - http://www.groworganic.com/dryland-wildlife-food-and-cover-mix.html

 

[TylerStewart]

Sweet, thanks everyone for the ideas and links, this will get me going at least in some direction. I'm perfectly fine with throwing down seed and hoping for the best. I understand that with low watering, I'm not going to have complete success, but I'll take what I can get! I'm pretty tempted to plant some and not water it at all. Maybe just shade cloth and crossed fingers. It gets really green there in the early spring (mostly grasses growing underneath creosote bushes where it's partial shade). I think with shade cloth up, I would get pretty decent natural growth in the spring even without additional seed.

I'm a little worried about succulents because I'm still fighting a chipmunk and rabbit war, and I'm afraid they'd wipe it out in no time (they're still screwing up my cactus daily, that stupid solar powered rabbit deterrent was a piece of sh...). Even a few tortoises I would think would wipe that out in no time. Maybe I'd grow them in areas that were less accessible to tortoises and rodents once I'm there more, and once the dogs are there full time to deter the rabbits.

 

[TylerStewart]

Seeds got here today, I used the ones in Kristina's link: http://www.groworganic.com/dryland-wildlife-food-and-cover-mix.html

I threw them out in the yard (not yet in the new place) in dry areas, wet areas, shaded areas, full sun, grassed areas (I just scratched up the surface, threw seed and kinda re scratched the surface to mix it in) and everything else I could find that was different, and we'll see what happens. It's not the prime time for planting obviously at 100+ degrees, but it was just a small dent in my 4 or 5 pound bag (don't remember what I bought already). Whatever planting situation works is what I'll try to duplicate there. Thanks again for the links, I think this will work well.

 

[yagyujubei]

I think that whatever you try to grow is going to need to be watered, otherwise, those areas would be covered with weeds already. Good luck.

 

[Kristina]

I love using the wildlife seed mixes. I use a similar one here for my torts, that has all kinds of grasses, clovers, alfalfa, etc. The same company has several wetland mixes (which would be great for Box turtle, Hingeback and Redfoot pens!) and meadow mixes (great for testudo) and herbal mixtures. The prices can't be beat when compared to the tortoise seed mixes usually available.

Glad I could be of help!

 

[TylerStewart]

I think that whatever you try to grow is going to need to be watered, otherwise, those areas would be covered with weeds already. Good luck.

I agree, but the areas that are either shaded (under a larger bush or joshua tree) and/or are the lower areas where the rainfall collects are areas that do have weeds and/or grasses in them. The problem is, once it's 100+ degrees and without rain for 3-4 months like we are in the summer, it all dies off. Most of the places I am planting this will be covered by shade cloth, and the pens will have higher and lower areas specifically to get the plants to grow in the lower areas (helping collect rainfall there as well as flood irrigation, which will be my primary watering method for the first few years probably). These things combined with me dumping water there at a minimum twice a week will do a lot to help it grow. If it doesn't grow, I'm only out $34 and it was a good effort. My solar powered rabbit deterrents were a lot more than that, and they didn't even try to work). I'm fairly confident that something will grow, even if it doesn't all grow. I'm much more concerned about the chipmunks eating it. If nothing else, I threw 1/2 pound of it in some of my current pens (with sprinklers, shade, etc). Something will grow.

 

[Eweezyfosheezy]

Tyler what kind of seed comes in the ones that you got? Their website is down for some reason. I need seed for my testudo as well and Im having a hard time having other seed grow in my dry arizona dirt.