I just found this nnice web site-

It addresses how to handle some native seed and quite nicely too-
http://people.uis.edu/braeb1/uisprairieproject/seed_treatment1.htm

Thank you EQ…GRRRR8 SITE...I will use this info to plant PRAIRIE instead of LAWN. I estimate the care of my 1+acre lawn accounts for $4k annually, and has a severe negative impact on the environment, with all the fossil fuels/oils used to run my lawn tractor. Not to mention the impact my general disposition becomes after having to ride around on a mower every week for no less than 4 hours! I cut the sod out of a 30 by 40 foot area. I plan to cover it with clear plastic next spring, The weeds will love the green house effect at first....but after they grow like mad the sun will cook them. No weeds and NO chemicals! I'll have a weedless area to plant my PRAIRIE. I will move the plastic next to this site and repeat the process again and again.

Yes, I am going in this direction too for many of the same reasons you mentioned. He he he, we paid for sod too. My husband thought I was absolutely nuts wanting to remove it until he saw the photos of the "look" the other grasses have. He sort of liked it and said that it looked more "at home" on our property. I'm glad he liked it as it would have been a son of a gun getting him to forget what we spent on sod not too long ago. I am also going for a small area of prairie this coming spring.

Where is Bethany IL in relationship to Chicago? I don't know exactly where you reside but you might want to do a quick check with your Village to make sure they allow grass like this. Some don't. They like that neat 1940's manicured "Leave It To Beaver Lawn" appearance that we all have settled into accepting over the past 6 decades.

Best wishes to you.

Oh, please. Make sure you actually look at the labels of all your new plants. When we were planting the lot where we built our earthshelter 25 years ago we made the mistake of letting our kids help with the seeding. They accidently mixed up the seed and some of those prairie seeds landed on top of the leech field for the septic system. Some of the roots go down 15 and 20 feet. It was a battle from the first growing season. I still love to see big bluestem. Jessamine

Oh! Oh! Oh! Good point about the roots. No, excellent point about the roots.

I don't have a leech field septic field type system here but there are others who do. I do have a septic system though.

Here's the question of the hour...
where does one find information pertaining to the depth of the roots of a plant? Is there a site somewhere that has this information all together at one location? To date, finding this information is pretty much hit or miss.

Back then we had been living in Madison, WI where Olds Seeds was located. They had that type of info in their catalog and on the packages as well. They sold out to another company and I haven't run into much of that kind of detail since. Our Display Gardens have a small prairie that the Hort Agent developed. I'll check monday or tuesday and see if he can give me a source. Jessamine

Thanks!