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weed growth of both introduced and native pioneer species,thus the soil is sufficiently fertile that it <br /> can produce good growths of adapted species with adequate moisture. In such situations, research has <br /> shown that fertilizer often tends to aid the less desirable and aggressive annual and perennial weed <br /> species, including noxious weeds,rather than the desirable species. Fertilizer increases nitrogen <br /> content in the soil such that the opportunistic species take advantage of that nutritious soil and out- <br /> compete the desirable species. This effectively slows down the period of time it takes to achieve <br /> sufficient cover of the longer lived,more desirable species. This does not apply where soil nutrients <br /> are especially low; in those cases fertilizer is needed to get much of anything to grow. So when the <br /> goal is to produce a more natural vegetation and the soil is moderately to highly nutritious it is best to <br /> avoid fertilizers so as to reduce the competition from weedy species. <br /> Similarly, in moderately fertile soil such as this,mulch should also be avoided as mulch tends <br /> to provide a rich bacterial habitat that consumes a lot of soil nitrogen which is removed from the soil <br /> leaving the soil nitrogen deficient. Adding fertilizer can be done in small quantities,but that could <br /> encourage more weed growth that competes for limited water resources and often hinders the <br /> desirable growth. <br /> In conclusion it is often best to carefully select species to be planted that includes a small <br /> amount of the more quickly growing species that are often introduced species mixed with a higher <br /> abundance of more native and native-like species that will exhibit long term survival. Including some <br /> deeply rooted legumes is also useful if there is sufficient average rainfall to support their growth. In <br /> time the introduced species will die out by adverse conditions relative to them and the better adapted <br /> species survive. But that selection process often takes longer to occur than 5 years. <br /> Seeding should occur, as stated before, as soon as possible after the growth medium has been <br /> prepared and finished with grading. The medium is then most porous so it can easily absorb <br /> precipitation but spreading such materials or even working the top few inches tends to kill a lot of <br /> bacteria. That, in turn, can provide a mild and quick shot of nitrogen to help seedlings grow quickly <br /> beyond the seedling stage to where true leaves are producing the photosynthetic nutrients to support <br /> mature growth(i.e. free,natural fertilizer). However, drill seeding also accomplishes some of that. <br /> Broadcast seeding does none of that. Therefore,drill seeding here will be done within 30 days of <br /> surface preparation and broadcast seeding will be reserved for small areas where drilling cannot be <br /> done. <br /> Fountain Pit Technical Revision#3 - June 2022 M-1982-155 Reclamation Plan Page 18 of 23 <br />