https://silvaetpratum.com/transcripts daily 0.75 2023-03-23 https://silvaetpratum.com/transcripts/bad-grass-kcxbx monthly 0.5 2023-03-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/63c0af06e1b9f6099fd84b92/da230d51-92bb-4bdb-a8a1-97d1040ba8c4/Front+Lawn.jpg Transcripts - Bad Grass with Mike Nadeau (transcript) Jeb Breece: There’s, there’s, no shame. That one’s mine, that’s mine. I’ve got plenty. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/63c0af06e1b9f6099fd84b92/26b8d223-3ebf-4757-9262-ad95454f0c7d/Front+Lawn.jpg Transcripts - Bad Grass with Mike Nadeau (transcript) Jeb Breece: Okay. So, as I said, this is...or was my lawn. And we're going to take you through all of the steps up until now. Right now anybody who drives down Main Street sees it as maybe not the meadow they envision when they think of a wildflower meadow. It's looking a little flat and dust bowl-ish. But we're on our way. So, this is where we started. And as someone wanting a meadow, wanting to get rid of lawn, I'm immediately, the first time I talked with Mike, wanting to think about the finished product. And Mike was pushing me back to the first step, which is a clean slate. And so, really, the next few slides are about getting that clean slate, and I'll let Mike talk about what they are. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/63c0af06e1b9f6099fd84b92/65d3c973-e48f-4d93-b06d-23ca40f41f47/IMG_7167.jpg Transcripts - Bad Grass with Mike Nadeau (transcript) Mike Nadeau: So, that's Matt's crew there. So, what's most important with wildflower meadow from seed especially is 100%, or as close as you can get to 100%, vegetation control before you sow seed. If you fail with site preparation, your meadow will fail. 40 plus years of experience, I've never found a shortcut around this part. So, if you have lawn, that's a piece of cake to control. I hate using the word kill. So, to be able to eradicate the lawn is really the simplest plant I know of to eradicate. When you get into the basic weeds like mugwort and woody invasives, the work is a harder. It takes a lot more inputs. I tend to do all my work organically, so I'm not really involved very often with synthetic pesticides. However, we do use them. They're a tool. Synthetic pesticides are a tool, just like the organic herbicide that I use is a tool. But it's to be used as a last resort and extremely sparingly. So, there are plants... mugwort. It's really a thug. Jeb Breece: So, right here, this is my layman description of what going on. You are vacuuming the yard. Mike Nadeau: Mowing, scalp mowing, and then vacuuming all of the debris out so that we would have nothing in the way of the next machine that we used on the property. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/63c0af06e1b9f6099fd84b92/b67be140-73c4-421a-a14b-8fa56d8df77d/IMG_4449.jpg Transcripts - Bad Grass with Mike Nadeau (transcript) Mike Nadeau: So, that's vacuuming, mowing, and then this is a machine called a Harley rake. And this machine is being driven backward, and this roller in the front is pushing all the material forward. So, what we're doing is we're shallow tilling the root system of the lawn after it's been mowed and vacuumed. So, all the mowing and vacuuming takes all the detritus off and leaves just this little stubble and then soil. So, this is how to do this organically. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/63c0af06e1b9f6099fd84b92/b85fdc77-fd5e-488d-a2c6-78bb82d97bcd/IMG_0092.jpg Transcripts - Bad Grass with Mike Nadeau (transcript) Jeb Breece: And this is where we ended up. This is what it looked like. Mike Nadeau: So, that's exposed roots, most of it, that we allowed to sun dry. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/63c0af06e1b9f6099fd84b92/5e0f0708-6f88-41e6-bd17-46ae84f95c36/2841C43D-88C4-4D5E-A728-064620FA6347.JPG Transcripts - Bad Grass with Mike Nadeau (transcript) Jeb Breece: So, then the next step here is... Mike Nadeau: The vinegar application. Jeb Breece: ... the vinegar application. And it's not just vinegar. We're not spraying balsamic, correct? Mike Nadeau: No, we're not spraying balsamic. We're spraying something that's very, very dangerous to you. So, I want to add that right up front, is that just because it's organic doesn't mean it's safe. It's safe in the right hands. Matt and I use it all the time, and we're careful, we're cautious, we know what we're doing. So, anybody that uses this must too. I want to explain one thing. What you see is the regrowth after the Harley raking. So, that is what sprouts back up. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/63c0af06e1b9f6099fd84b92/3b30ab40-3a99-49d3-8664-d722aaf104a8/65873E1D-35F9-44D2-9CF3-0769CB5CF0E5.jpg Transcripts - Bad Grass with Mike Nadeau (transcript) Jeb Breece: And this is what it... It looks bluer on our screen, but this is what it looked like when it was done. Probably many of you remember seeing this on the land trust property or on ours as you drove down Main Street. I think my wife would attest, we got more questions about what we were up to when it was painted blue than any other time in the process. Mike Nadeau: One thing you can't see here is the smell. 30% vinegar reeks, and it stays like that for a little while, probably, depending on the weather, but probably two, three days. It's pretty strong. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/63c0af06e1b9f6099fd84b92/72e0f21f-d15e-4934-a643-2733163a77fc/IMG_7569.jpg Transcripts - Bad Grass with Mike Nadeau (transcript) Jeb Breece: And so, the seeding, and this is not just, as Mike said, just throwing seeds around. This is actually a precision instrument. Mike Nadeau: Yes. So, this is Matt's TRUAX no-till seed drill machine in the back of that tractor. So, basically what it does is it cuts little slits and then has three different boxes for different size and different fluffiness of seeds. The seeds then blow down through these little tubes go into those slits, and then there's rollers after that that cover the slits up. And I've never had such good germination as using this machine. Hand scattering the seed is something I do with many smaller meadows or where you can't get a tractor in. And incorporating the seed afterward is really good. But this, I found, has an incredible germination rate. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/63c0af06e1b9f6099fd84b92/1bfa4a95-b4ef-4397-a1c2-fabf9565a6c9/IMG_0470.jpg Transcripts - Bad Grass with Mike Nadeau (transcript) Mike Nadeau: So, if you look at those rows, see those slits, and look at the vegetation. All those little babies, those are all wildflowers. And we went in two directions. If you back up, back one... I'm sorry, two. So, you see we're going in two directions. We're going 45 degrees to the first application. And the reason why is we didn't want to run out of seed, plus we wanted to make sure that it didn't look like cornrows when it germinated. But the most important thing was not to run out of seed. We used cat litter to bulk up the material and then there's lots and lots of testing, measuring and weighing, to make sure that the machine is calibrated properly. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/63c0af06e1b9f6099fd84b92/fe8c978a-8033-45dc-9778-eb97f2f38a80/IMG_0544.jpg Transcripts - Bad Grass with Mike Nadeau (transcript) Mike Nadeau: And those are our babies. So, those are all wildflower flowers to be. However, not all of them. This one is one plant we're going to be talking about soon. Chamaecrista fasciculata. What's the common name? Jeb Breece: Partridge pea. Mike Nadeau: And that's a weed. So, as well as we did with the vinegar, we still have some weeds. So, there is some work that needs to be done. It's usually a three-to-five-year maturation time for a wildflower meadow. And after that five years, it's constant vigilance. You can never let it go. Just like your lawn, you can't let it go because the invasive pressure is weed seeds coming in. Every time somebody comes onto your driveway with a car, could be bringing weed seeds in. Every time it rains. Birds drop seeds all the time, and they'll germinate just beautifully in this meadow until the meadow becomes really, really thick. And the thicker it becomes, the more diversity and complexity in the meadow, the less weed germination you will have. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/63c0af06e1b9f6099fd84b92/e5182106-255e-44e3-810a-c646527088e3/SALISBURY+LAND+TRUST+-+Seed+List+%282%29.png Transcripts - Bad Grass with Mike Nadeau (transcript) - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/63c0af06e1b9f6099fd84b92/049d04a7-05b9-47d0-b174-85d4aa9538ee/Swamp+Milk+Weed.png Transcripts - Bad Grass with Mike Nadeau (transcript) Swamp Milk Weed, Asclepias incarnata https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/63c0af06e1b9f6099fd84b92/9ceafda9-6af2-4013-97ed-b17dbd2acb73/IMG_0579.jpg Transcripts - Bad Grass with Mike Nadeau (transcript) Partridge Pea, Chamaecrista fasciculata https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/63c0af06e1b9f6099fd84b92/d64e1f45-2f18-49cc-848e-d691c1959832/Panicum+virgatum.png Transcripts - Bad Grass with Mike Nadeau (transcript) Switch Grass, Panicum virgatum https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/63c0af06e1b9f6099fd84b92/9ed608e4-8250-4acf-9f3f-bf2a7d54130f/meadow+closeup.png Transcripts - Bad Grass with Mike Nadeau (transcript) Jeb Breece: So, for a finished product, it was very tempting to show a beautiful landscape with a big perspective. But actually, Mike and I wanted to zoom in, because we started off talking about a monoculture lawn, and I think this is the best illustration you can get of how a meadow is the opposite of a monoculture. There's so much going on here, which I'll let Mike tell you what it is. Mike Nadeau: So, lots of diversity here. I won't go through the plants and all that, but you probably know brown-eyed Susan and mountain mint. But what I want you to see is what you don't see. Do you see any soil here? Do you see any mulch? Audience: No. Mike Nadeau: No. That's the key. That's the diversity, that's the layers, that's the weed-inhibiting growth of a well-planned-out meadow. It's got all of these layers, and all of these things help each other. 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