TOPIC: My first big planting of seng - Hankins Method used

Hey Guys,

I got out today and did my first big planting of wild simulated seng. I used a slightly modified Hawkens method for this planting.

My first problem was when I went to treat my seed this morning 10% clorox solution like Scott's book recommends. Well the only clorox my wife had was a \"spring rain\" scented type. I was a bit worried about using that so made a trip to wal-mart and picked up some regular clorox. Got that part done. I am not sure if the seed I have has already been treated - it was not mentioned in the info I got with the seed, so I did a short treating just in case (5 minutes in the solution) then rinsed good.

Let me tell you something else I learned - it is very hard work ! And as usual I started off too big and did a planting area 100' long x 5' wide (4 rows cut 1\" deep) and spaced out 14\" apart.

Even though in fairly good shape (for a 49 year old) let me tell you this about whipped me today. I got started on site around 11:00 and finished up around 5 PM. I did the work alone and used regular garden tools, grubbing hoe, garden rake rake, leaf rake, to get it done.

Looking back I should have started out on a planting about half that size. If there were two working together it would not have been that bad, but it was too much for one person.

Here is a pic of my site before doing any major work. I had only cleared a few saplings out of the way at this point.

TNhunter

The location has a decent slope to it and faces between north and north east.

My old garden rake has black tape marking off 1' increments - which comes in handy when planting stuff in the garden. I used it to measure off the strip I was raking back down the hill.

Oh yeah - now this started the real work.

I tried to space the furrows out 14\" apart and did my best to dig them about 1\" deep.

4 of them 100' long - 400' (yep now that is some work).

And as usual I forgot something back at the house (marker flags) but had cell service and called home (not far away) and my best buddy brought me out the bundle of marker flags.

I got some pictured or me and my son on site doing the planting - good documentation in case needed later on.

Here is a pic of the lower end of the bed - where I expect the seng will do best.

I did my best to space the seeds out 4\" apart in the furrows, but of course did occasionally mess that up a bit and at times dropped 2 seeds in one spot but kept on trucking trying to get it done.

After getting the 4 furrows full of seed I raked over the entire bed to cover the seed with about 1/2 of dirt and then I top dressed the bed with 8 lbs of bone meal (the good stuff with N/P/K rating of 0/10/0), and then also added 12 lbs of gypsum.

Then I made sure each furrow was filled up to the top and then walked up and down each one to compress the dirt around the seeds.

Below is what it looked like after that.

Here is a pic of the bone meal and gypsum products used.

Looks real nice TNhunter. I know it sure can be a lot of work, but it is worth it when you start seeing them sprout in the spring.

And here was a sight I was glad to see - got the leaves raked back on, entire bed marked good, finally finished.

PS - the orange flag markers are temporary. I will drag up some old logs and limbs and mark it good with those and then remove the flags.

Since I will be top dressing with gypsum each spring and fall, important to have the exact location of the planting marked good.



The soil was still a little damp from the last rain we had and our 7 day forcast shows 30% chance of rain tomorrow/Sunday, 60% chance Monday, 50% chance Tuesday, 30% chance Wed.

It would be nice to get a couple good rains on it now.

I am going to go and rest my aching back now !

Will be sure and post some pics next spring. Our seng was up around April 15 here. You know I will sure be out there checking it out.

Have a nice Weekend All !

TNhunter