 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power crews hand-plant more than 2,000 native plants at the Laws Seed Farm. Photo courtesy Chris Plakos By Mike Gervais
Register Staff
11-19-2009 The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is getting into the gardening business.
Crews with the LADWP planted more than 2,000 native plants at Laws, north of Bishop, on Oct. 20 as part of its seed farm program.
For approximately five years the LADWP has been harvesting seeds from various species of native plants to grow at several parcels of land throughout the valley.
According to Public Relations Manager Chris Plakos, the seed farm project is part of the Inyo-L.A. Long-Term Water Agreement, and will give some areas of the Owens Valley a hearty helping of native foliage.
Last month, construction and watershed management with the LADWP hand-placed 2,000 young plants in a 118-acre area referred to as the “Laws Seed Farm.” That was the first batch of plants to go into the seed farm that were grown in the LADWP greenhouse in Bishop.
Once the plants flower, they will be used to produce seeds, which will be harvested and taken to the greenhouse, where they will be grown into sproutlings before being transferred to on of the native plant project parcels in the valley.
The plants growing at the seed farm are watered with an underground drip irrigation system,
“In nature, if you have a dry year, you might not get any seeds, but with the seed farm, we can always have a good year,” LADWP Biologist Paula Hubbard said.
In early October, LADWP crews completed an initial planting of 3,000 young plants in a field southeast of the seed farm.
All 5,000 plants (2,000 from the seed farm and the 3,000 in the field) were grown in the LADWP’s new greenhouse in Bishop over the past 10 months using wild seeds harvested from the Owens Valley.
“With the huge success of this effort, crews will continue to gather seeds from the Owens Valley and Laws Seed Farm in the future and germinate them in the LADWP’s greenhouse,” Plakos said.
Different plants that Hubbard grows in the greenhouse will be used at different planting sites.
“We’re growing more than 15 species, from grasses to shrubs to sub-trees,” said Hubbard.
Hubbard said there are dozens of sites, including five in the Laws area, that will receive plants from the seed farm and greenhouse operation. She also said the sites vary in size from “very small to in excess of 100 acres.”
Biologists with the LADWP expect to grow approximately 5,000 plantings every six months.
Hubbard said she believes the greenhouse can support two crops each year, with a harvest in the spring and fall. The greenhouse can support about 6,000 plants each cycle, but about 1,000 plants will fail each crop. However, Hubbard said 10,000 plants a year will go a long way towards meeting the LADWP’s environmental commitments.
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