Bedding in a bag experience

Bigeight

Active Member
I planted Bedding in a bag from Real World Seeds for the first time last week, and was SUPER impressed with the product. I have planted a lot of WSG mixes and usually either drill, or small areas just let the fluff float in the wind evenly.
I was really impressed with how much actual "seed" was in the bag rather than the fluffy stuff that usually is mixed in there. I could have spread this stuff with a push spreader if I wanted to. Night and day to what I have used in the past.
Hopefully the stand will be great in a few years, as I don't have a mature stand of this mix growing anywhere to know if it truly is better.

I have used the Switch grass from that company in a few different locations, and compared to my CIR stands, it's not even close. The RW grass is way taller, stronger and I got way more germination the first year and a decent stand out of the gates.

I hope the WSG mix impresses as well.

Figured I'd share my experience with this product, and hope some have used it as well and are happy with the product a few yrs after planting.
 
I used their product a few years ago and drilled it. The only thing that really materialized was the switchgrass. I doubt I will ever use that product again, but have no issue with their switchgrass variety. The Bluestem and Indiangrass components just never panned out for me and I see no point in paying for it, if its not going to work. I would say I am happy with the product but not over-whelmed.
By the 2nd full growing season my switch was 4 to 5 feet high on average.....and that is the actual grass and not the seed heads. I will say that we put the switch in a different seed box on the drill so it only planted the outer row on each end. This resulted in roughly 4 foot wide rows of switch, which now fills in with common and giant ragweed and other natural forbs and the like for additional cover and even a food aspect. My planting is all buffer strip and really help buffer the field edge to the timbered areas. Here is a before and after pics of my burn this year (I am guessing late feb time frame - I don't know for certain and I'm too lazy to look). I do this to expose cool season trouble makers like canada thistle and stilt grass as I can spray them while the switch is still dormant. I have more pics on my land tour thread, you just have to dig, as to what it looks like in the summer
burn.jpg
 
Hmmm....I wonder why the other varieties didn't show up? Do you think the Switch choked it out ?? You are right though, that looks like a straight switch grass stand.
 
Hmmm....I wonder why the other varieties didn't show up? Do you think the Switch choked it out ?? You are right though, that looks like a straight switch grass stand.
No - I think the other grasses didn't germinate well (even being drilled) or simply did not survive long after germinating. When the planting germinated I was VERY protective of it and sprayed 2-4D as long as I could to give the grass as much of a chance as possible. Late in the summer foxtail showed up and all I could do was mow and try to get as much foxtail as I could while not harming the NWSG. I was very concerned that I had lost the entire stand. The following spring only the rows of switchgrass emerged.....and it's been pretty much that way ever since. Something I will also note is that many folks talk about the "aggressive" nature of switchgrass.....but I have yet to see it. My switch seeds out every fall and I tend to burn every spring....and yet it's still pretty much just in rows and has not "escaped" to other areas. I think the bluestem and indiangrasses are just much, much harder to establish. Don;t get me wrong I have a few plans of these that I see from time to time, but it is literally less than 1% of what is there. Like I said - I love their switchgrass, but I have had poor luck with the other components of their "bedding in a bag" product.
 
My real world switchgrass didn’t germinate. Cave in rock my go to, especially at $6/pound. Cir been holding up to wi snows for a few years now. Stuff germinates like a weed too
 
No - I think the other grasses didn't germinate well (even being drilled) or simply did not survive long after germinating. When the planting germinated I was VERY protective of it and sprayed 2-4D as long as I could to give the grass as much of a chance as possible. Late in the summer foxtail showed up and all I could do was mow and try to get as much foxtail as I could while not harming the NWSG. I was very concerned that I had lost the entire stand. The following spring only the rows of switchgrass emerged.....and it's been pretty much that way ever since. Something I will also note is that many folks talk about the "aggressive" nature of switchgrass.....but I have yet to see it. My switch seeds out every fall and I tend to burn every spring....and yet it's still pretty much just in rows and has not "escaped" to other areas. I think the bluestem and indiangrasses are just much, much harder to establish. Don;t get me wrong I have a few plans of these that I see from time to time, but it is literally less than 1% of what is there. Like I said - I love their switchgrass, but I have had poor luck with the other components of their "bedding in a bag" product.

I wonder if the annual spring burn is destroying some of the previous fall’s seed? I know some of my swatch seed heads are holding some seed through March- I’m not sure if it will still germinate this spring or not.


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I wonder if the annual spring burn is destroying some of the previous fall’s seed? I know some of my swatch seed heads are holding some seed through March- I’m not sure if it will still germinate this spring or not.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Might be, but I have not seen it in areas outside of where planted in other areas I don't burn either......
 
I was excited for my real world trail, but the more I think about it does it matter to a deer if the switchgrass is either 6 or 8 feet? The 6’ cir is still thick, still cool during the summer, etc.
I love the look of my Indian/ big blue, but it often tips over in November. That isn’t good for my hunting.
 
I was excited for my real world trail, but the more I think about it does it matter to a deer if the switchgrass is either 6 or 8 feet? The 6’ cir is still thick, still cool during the summer, etc.
I love the look of my Indian/ big blue, but it often tips over in November. That isn’t good for my hunting.
My Real World switch has never reached over 6 foot (actual grass height, seed heads will get that tall). Now I don't fertilize it either. It does tend to hold up during the snow we have here, which tends to be minimal compared to some other places, and it will stand back up fairly well also.......but I don't get feet of snow at a time either. I think you are correct in that to the deer 6 or 8 feet means squat. 2 feet is only going to matter if you are screening and really need that 2 feet to accomplish that. Once you are above the deer's line of sight I doubt it matters much to the deer. If you are planting switch in a large parcel I would suggest adding some sort of shrubs, conifers or even downed tree tops.....as the deer seem to relate and bed next to those differences better than simply a sea of grass from what I have seen if you are looking to create a bedding area.
 
I used the bedding in a bag and planted at about 50% rate of what is suggested as I want to leave plenty of room for other forbs in the bedding area. I also planted Pin oaks at about 60' spacing, and Norway spruce at about 30' spacing to break up the monoculture. I know I wont be able to burn, etc to manage the WSG, but I wanted to make sure there were at least some weeds/grasses that grow in that 5-6' range mixed in there.
There is a lot of nice goldenrods, etc that should come up as well, I just love that tall grass look to a field and seeing the antlers navigate out of it :)
I hope I get better germination with the Bedding in a bag than others experienced. I thought it looked amazing with more seed/pound than other mixes I've used in the past. Hopefully it pans out...
 
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