# Planting Smartweed



## ghadarits (May 28, 2014)

I found a supplier for smartweed seed and no this isn't Colorado smartweed.... I'm talking real Pennsylvania smartweed.

I'm planning on testing it out in three of my spots. A farm pond, a beaver swamp and a low area that stays damp and floods when we have a big rain that holds duck when its flooded to see how well it will do in each area before making a big investment in it. I bought 1lb which is supposed to plant one acre and it cost $42.00 shipped.

Does anyone have any experience planting smartweed? If so is it too late in the season for it to produce seed if planted this weekend?


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## MudDucker (May 29, 2014)

I got some from Texas years ago.  Planted it in my pond after doing all of the prep the seller recommended.  Did not get much of a stand.  You might do better.


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## Wild Turkey (May 29, 2014)

If im not mistaken the seed is very small like lovegrass and has a specific temp window for planting. Mixing with sand to make it cover and distribute seed will help.


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## across the river (May 29, 2014)

ghadarits said:


> I found a supplier for smartweed seed and no this isn't Colorado smartweed.... I'm talking real Pennsylvania smartweed.
> 
> I'm planning on testing it out in three of my spots. A farm pond, a beaver swamp and a low area that stays damp and floods when we have a big rain that holds duck when its flooded to see how well it will do in each area before making a big investment in it. I bought 1lb which is supposed to plant one acre and it cost $42.00 shipped.
> 
> Does anyone have any experience planting smartweed? If so is it too late in the season for it to produce seed if planted this weekend?



It will need about 100 days to mature, so you could still get it to seed by sometime in Sept if you plant it now. Smartweed is one of those things that is usually easier to manage if it is already there than to get started, because if the habitat is good for it, it will likely already be there.  If you can drain down the pond or beaver pond and sow it on a wet mudflat you have a decent shot at getting it to take. And like Jap millet you can flood it a little once it is up some. If you can't control the water level it is tough.  In my experience I have never seen anyone have a lot of success just tossing it around the edge of a pond.   Even if you get some to take it doesn't make enough to really draw the birds just having it around the edges.  You need a large shallow mudflat or wet weather pond that dries out in the summer and floods in the winter.  If your low lying area is like that, and you can prepare the land to plant it , that might be you best bet.  Once you get it established, just lightly harrow (I have seen people burn it too) the spot each year  and it will come back thicker the next year just form the seeds it dropped.  If you don't fish the beaver pond you could look at putting some type aquatic vegetation in it.


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## ghadarits (Jun 1, 2014)

across the river said:


> It will need about 100 days to mature, so you could still get it to seed by sometime in Sept if you plant it now. Smartweed is one of those things that is usually easier to manage if it is already there than to get started, because if the habitat is good for it, it will likely already be there.  If you can drain down the pond or beaver pond and sow it on a wet mudflat you have a decent shot at getting it to take. And like Jap millet you can flood it a little once it is up some. If you can't control the water level it is tough.  In my experience I have never seen anyone have a lot of success just tossing it around the edge of a pond.   Even if you get some to take it doesn't make enough to really draw the birds just having it around the edges.  You need a large shallow mudflat or wet weather pond that dries out in the summer and floods in the winter.  If your low lying area is like that, and you can prepare the land to plant it , that might be you best bet.  Once you get it established, just lightly harrow (I have seen people burn it too) the spot each year  and it will come back thicker the next year just form the seeds it dropped.  If you don't fish the beaver pond you could look at putting some type aquatic vegetation in it.



The smartweed is already well established in the pond and swamps I checked yesterday. I don't think its the Pennsylvania strain though. I did plant a few areas that looked suitable and didn't have any smartweed already growing so we'll see.

The low area adjacent to the creek didn't have any so I planted a few small 10ft x10ft areas. We'll see if it grows there its not ideal smartweed growing conditions due to the amount of shade.

In the pond it looked like there was an area that had some growing out on a shallow area that hasn't been exposed this year is it possible for it to grow even while being submerged?


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## across the river (Jun 1, 2014)

ghadarits said:


> The smartweed is already well established in the pond and swamps I checked yesterday. I don't think its the Pennsylvania strain though. I did plant a few areas that looked suitable and didn't have any smartweed already growing so we'll see.
> 
> The low area adjacent to the creek didn't have any so I planted a few small 10ft x10ft areas. We'll see if it grows there its not ideal smartweed growing conditions due to the amount of shade.
> 
> In the pond it looked like there was an area that had some growing out on a shallow area that hasn't been exposed this year is it possible for it to grow even while being submerged?



There are different types of "smartweed."   The pennsylvania strand that you are trying to plant is an annual, so it grows from a seed every year, so it needs a mudflat or drier seed bed to sprout.   There are other similar plants, like the swamp smartweed, that are perennial plants, and can come back every year from the root system once it exists. If it is already established around the edge of the pond then it will grow along the bank and out into the shallower areas around where it is already established. It can grow each year on dry land or in an aquatic environment to some extent.


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