How to Start a Mondo Grass Farm
A commercial mondo grass farm requires a lot of land and water. A member of the lily family rather than an actual grass, mondo is known for its short, gracefully arching blades, clumped sod-like growing habit and seasonal flower spikes. Mondo grows more easily from plugs and rootings rather than from seed, thus a beginning mondo grass farm must be ready to immediately support fully sprouted plants. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Mondo grass
- Irrigation pipe
- Water delivery system
- Metal garden rake/commercial leveler
- Tiller
- Fumigation chemicals
- Nitrogen fertilizer
- Soil roller/cultipacker
- Sharp knife
Instructions
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Select a location for the mondo grass farm that has a large land area with full morning sun exposure. The area ideally also should have only partial sun in the afternoon.
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Clear the farm land of all existing grass, weeds, stumps, rocks or other obstructions in the spring once there is no long any chance of frost.
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3
Divide the farm into planting fields, then build dirt road access to each field. Build or install any barns or storage sheds for the field and planting equipment, excavate and lay drainage and irrigation pipe for the water delivery systems.
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4
Level the soil in each planting field with a hard metal rake or commercial leveling machine to create a uniform surface for a commercial tiller.
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Give the soil in each planting field an initial tilling and then fumigate the soil to kill parasites and bacteria that might be lurking in the soil.
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Spread a layer of nitrogen fertilizer across the soil at a rate of 1 oz. per 100 square feet, then till the soil again, this time to a depth of 6 inches.
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Roll the soil to smooth it out with a commercial cultipacker, then walk over the field. If footprints are less than 1 inch, the field is adequately compacted and ready for planting. Re-roll the soil if footprints are deeper than 1 inch.
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8
Take the mondo grass plant out of the commercial container and divide the root ball by cutting it with a sharp knife. Cut the plant into four to six smaller plants, or plugs.
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Plant each mondo plug by digging a hole with a garden spade or a commercial machine, and place the plug in the hole at the same depth as it was in its container, then firm the soil around the roots. Plugs must be 8 to 12 inches apart for standard mondo and 6 to 8 inches apart for the dwarf variety.
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10
Water the soil so it is thoroughly saturated to a depth of at least 4 inches, then water as needed to keep the soil moist. Do not let the soil dry out at any time during the growing season.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit plants image by Mats Tooming from Fotolia.com
