johson grass for nesting cover?

quail hound

quail hound

Moderator
I have a farmer friend who has a small population of wild birds on his land, he is finally tired of stocking birds every year to hunt and wants to do a little habitat work. They harvest about 5-10 wild roosters a year on his 1200 acres.

I have come to the conclusion that the nesting cover is definitely the limiting factor in this area. The wild birds I believe come from early nests from the neighbors winter wheat.

He is willing to take 30 acres of corn out of production for this project. My question is will a dense stand of Johnson grass serve well for nesting cover or should I offer to share the seed cost to put in an intermediate wheat variety?
 
I have no idea about johnson grass, for pheasants, I do know turkeys like it! Might want to consider alfalfa as well, just don't cut it early!
 
Alfalfa is one of the problems, things are growing so good in the spring that the cut intervals are to short around here. I figure if he cuts his early and we have another option for them the hatch success may increase well.
 
I'd say no on the johnsongrass. A good stand of wheat of alfalfa would work, but would need annual replanting. I don't know what is native to your area to comment much on species of perennials. The NRCS or wildlife department should be able to help there.
 
Johnson grass will take over. I would think the neighboring farmers would put out a contact on any farmer that willingly planted Jgrass any where in the area. Around here it flattens out over the winter. Surely there's a better cover. Switch grass comes to mind or some type of native cover. I hate J grass with a passion.
 
The farmer didn't seem to think it would be a problem. There are no sorgum crops near by. Johnson grass is already present, just mostly supressed through normal farming practice. We are looking ar other options but we wouldn't need to seed Jg just disturb the soil and let it come in. We are looking for nesting cover not winter cover as our winters are very mild so it only really needs to stand strong in the spring. I realise there are probably better options but we figured this would be a cheap quick fix before spring. We will probably end up doing wheat and see if it makes an impact.
 
Quail Hound, talk with your local Pheasants Forever chapter. They'll know exactly what you'll need to increase nesting production in that area.

Also, they can help with the seed costs too.:) --1pheas4
 
1pheas4 said:
Quail Hound, talk with your local Pheasants Forever chapter. They'll know exactly what you'll need to increase nesting production in that area.

Also, they can help with the seed costs too.:) --1pheas4
Click to expand...

I wish I could, bit there is no PF in California.:mad: I have been trying to get a chapter going but I'm receiveing little help from PF or local hunters, farmers etc. It is very discourageing.:(
 
Google California native grasslands association, they have an ask a volunteer section on there with some contacts that may be able to help you with the right grasses for your area. Native Seed is to expensive to put in an area that it won't thrive. I think it would be best to ask a local expert there in CA.
 
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