There is certainly some truth to almost anything we say about wildlife plantings. It all depends... Moisture is probably the most critical factor in how plants react to their environment. Then it depends on what type of wildlife we want to attract and support. Killdeer do best on bare ground. Species like robins, doves and tree squirrels are doing great in our sprawling suburbia.

In my experience and from what I read, in general, game bird species do very poorly in a very heavy grass sod. That shoots down switchgrass, smooth bromegrass and reed canary grass almost immediately. It is very difficult for young chicks to move through this grass and there are very few insects for them to eat.

Rangersedge, in your profile, why don't you put in your location so we can help you better. Also, please tell us if this is an upland or wetland type of area. Depending on your situation, if you want more grass on an upland site, then you might consider a little bluestem variety called "blaze". It grows to 2-4 ft. tall and stays in a bunch form rather than forming a tight sod.

Canada thistle and quackgrass along with a number of other species can be extremely difficult to control. My particular problem is Canada thistle. There are a number of herbicides that have been developed specificially to control Canada thistle. What I've found is that Canada thistle is not shade tolerant and that annual sunflowers will shade them out.

If you think managing fish populations is hard, plants can be infinitely more difficult.

Norm Kopecky