Los Lunas Plant Materials Center

Deep Planting Methodolgy

Many Southwestern riparian sites require revegetation following the removal of invasive woody species such as saltcedar and Russian olive. To establish riparian vegetation with minimal or no follow-up irrigation, to improve survival and growth rates, and to reduce long-term revegetation costs, the Los Lunas Plant Materials Center (LLPMC) has focused its efforts on developing new, deep planting techniques for use in riparian restoration in the Southwest.

The deep planting of longstem stock can preclude or drastically reduce the need to apply irrigation water to establish riparian shrubs and trees. The cost savings of minimal or no watering and high percentages of transplant success will in most situations, far outweigh the added expense of the planting stock and deep planting. If you are revegetating a riparian site that lacks overbank flooding and has a deep water table, contact the LLPMC to see if deep planting of longstem riparian species might work for your restoration project.

Seed Production at the Los Lunas Plant Materials Center

The Los Lunas Plant Materials Center develops, tests and transfers native plants that can help solve conservation problems.  Producing certain native species can be challenging, even if the species has been grown for many years. 

• New Mexico
• Northeast Arizona
• Southeast Colorado
• Southwest Texas
• Southeast Utah

Developing the technology to produce native plants and installing field plantings are the primary jobs of plant materials centers.  The plants in the west are varied and abundant, and they perform vital roles in our environment.  Land owners, managers, and operators use grasses, forbs, shrubs and trees to help solve conservation and resource problems and improve our environment.  Many soil and water conservation problems can be solved with plants. 

The Los Lunas Plant Materials Center is part of a nationally coordinated plant materials program operated by the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service.

At the Los Lunas PMC,  plant scientists evaluate hundreds of plants for their capacity to solve problems that plague our modern world.  Their goal is to collect promising native plants and test their performance under a variety of soil and climatic conditions.  This involves assembling collections from native stands, evaluating and selecting the material for defined characteristics, developing seed preparation technology, and developing cultural practices for production of the plant materials.  Plant materials centers work closely with private, state, and federal agencies. 

The Los Lunas Plant Materials Center targets major land resource areas (ecozones) including:

• New Mexico and Arizona mountains
• San Juan River Valley plateaus and mesas
• Southern desert basin, plains and mountains
• Southern Rocky Mountains
• High intermountain valleys
• Pecos-Canadian plains and valleys
• Southern high plains