Ive removed buffelgrass from my land. Should I reseed the cleared area with native seeds?
Reseeding areas cleared of buffelgrass is generally not necessary for several reasons. First, it is simply too dry in the Tucson Basin to achieve reliable emergence and survival from seed in most years unless supplemental irrigation is used. Native species typically establish episodically in rare years of above average rainfall. Secondly, native seed is not subject to the same purity and germination regulations as crop seed, and can often be contaminated with invasive species and other undesirables. Finally, seeds generally require good soil contact for successful emergence and usually this means some form of soil disturbance (such as tillage), which facilitates invasion by undesirable species like buffelgrass. Thus, by spreading native seeds from commercially available packets in newly cleared areas you may inadvertently be spreading other ‘problem’ species.
