Sowing seeds for native grass production with Burrandies

NGT has been working with Burrandies Aboriginal Corporation on a native grass seed production area and nursery rejuvenation project at the Burrandies property, on the volcanic soils of Berrin/Mount Gambier.

In the South East region (SA), a limited supply of local-provenance native grass seed is a major bottleneck for many restoration projects. As a result, along with the technical challenges of establishing grassy groundcover, many revegetation projects plant only small numbers of grass seedlings, and direct seeding of native grasses is uncommon. 

Our collaboration with Burrandies aims to establish a pilot seed production area where native grasses are sown in a controlled environment – over weed matting, with irrigation. These plants are generally very productive, and the resulting seed is easily collected and is mostly free of weeds. This makes it suitable to go straight into the ground on direct-seeding projects.  

Burrandies also have a great existing asset in their plant nursery area. Their nursery hasn’t been used for some time, but it has irrigation and bench space for seedling trays. Another component of the project has been to tidy the nursery and prepare it for growing. 

Activities so far have included ongoing rejuvenation of the nursery, fencing off the seed production area from other paddocks and conducting weed control, the purchase of a brush harvester (like a seed vacuum/lawnmower) for wild collection of grass seed, harvesting of kangaroo grass seed with the Burrandies First Nations Crew to serve as a seed source, and propagation of the source grass seedlings.

The planting area has been designed, and we’re about to lay out the site with weed matting, drift fences and irrigation, getting ready for planting. The brush harvester is also available for use by habitat restoration groups in the region, so if you have a need, get in touch!

Thanks to Burrandies, volunteers and our NGT crew for all the good work so far. We’re looking forward to seeing a small sea of kangaroo and wallaby grass seedheads this summer.

This project is supported by the Limestone Coast Landscape Board Grassroots Grants program and is funded by the regional landscape and water levies.