Puccinellia Seed

Puccinellia is the grass we recommend for bare, salt-scalded ground that lies wet over winter. It is the most salt tolerant of all commercially available grasses, winter active, and palatable to sheep even when mature, so it can turn a scald into useful grazing. Sow 2–4 kg/ha in autumn to early winter, using the higher rate where the scald is worst. It suits loams to heavy soils in 350 mm-plus country, but it needs the soil surface to dry out over summer to persist.

Puccinellia tolerates waterlogging once established, but its seedlings are sensitive to it, so young plants in the lowest, wettest spots often fail. Sow in autumn to early winter into moist soil once opening rains have flushed salt from the surface, ideally before the ground becomes waterlogged. The seed is small, so sow it shallow or drop it on the surface. Established plants then thrive in winter and spring flooding, provided the soil surface dries out over summer.

Start the season before you sow. Puccinellia grows slowly at first, so choose a paddock free of barley grass in the establishment year; DPIRD suggests spray-topping sea barley grass the spring before sowing, then a knockdown herbicide at the break. Seedlings are also susceptible to redlegged earth mite, so monitor and control mites at establishment. Keep stock out while the stand establishes, as young plants are easily pulled out.

Sow puccinellia at 2–4 kg/ha on its own, or 1–2 kg/ha when it goes into a mix. Use the higher rate on areas with more severe salt scald. The seed is very small, so sow it shallow, or drop it on the soil surface, in autumn to early winter. DPIRD notes a rough seedbed is preferred on heavy soils and high-salinity sites. Expect slow early growth: plants are ready to graze in their second year.

Hold off longer and graze more gently. Puccinellia is ready to graze only in its second year, and then during late autumn and winter. Graze rotationally and avoid heavy grazing in spring, when sheep can pull plants out and reduce ground cover and plant numbers. DPIRD advises against set stocking until the end of the second growing season, and letting plants set seed at least once every two to three years helps thicken the stand. Once established, dry plants can be grazed over summer.

Dry puccinellia is not enough on its own. It is excellent green feed, but as plants mature, crude protein and digestibility fall to levels barely adequate for maintaining liveweight, below about 5% protein and 50% digestibility, so supplementary feeding may be needed in late summer. Green winter and spring growth is far better, at about 15–25% crude protein. In autumn, plants that look dry can still hold sappy green stems with useful feed value. Puccinellia has no noted livestock disorders or toxicity.

Not reliably. Puccinellia needs saline soil and does not survive on non-saline ground, so keep it on the salty, winter-wet core of the site. On the better-drained, moderately saline margins, Tyrrell Tall Wheatgrass is its ideal companion, suiting sands to heavy soils with 450 mm or more of rain. DPIRD suggests sowing each grass in its own salinity zone rather than mixing them, because they need different grazing management through the year.

Yes, on the less saline parts of the site. Puccinellia responds to nitrogen, and a legume supplies it. Paradana Balansa Clover has excellent waterlogging tolerance and mild salinity tolerance, suits 500 mm-plus country and needs Group C inoculant; DPIRD found puccinellia and balansa work best together where salinity is below about 16 dS/m (ECe). On neutral to alkaline soils, Strawberry Clover is a perennial option with waterlogging and mild salinity tolerance; inoculate it with Group B.

Puccinellia needs a dry soil surface over summer. It handles winter and spring flooding well, and needs regular winter waterlogging to persist, but it does not survive where the surface stays wet through summer, such as permanent seepage areas. Before sowing, check that the site dries out by summer. Puccinellia is a winter-active grass with strong summer dormancy, so it is built for saline flats that are wet in winter and dry in summer.

Puccinellia suits areas with more than 350 mm of annual rainfall, but having wet, poorly drained soil over winter matters more than the rainfall figure. It grows on loams through to heavy soils. It appears to prefer neutral to alkaline soils, but it has been grown successfully at pH (CaCl2) as low as 5.5. Once established it responds well to nitrogen, and it is a low-input pasture for saline, waterlogged country.