BIOCRUST relationship with NURSE PLANTS in serpentine soils

BIOCRUST relationship with NURSE PLANTS in serpentine soils. Kite Hill Wildflower Preserve, in San Mateo County, Woodside, California. Copyright © 2026 by Craig Carlton Dremann, owner of  

The Reveg Edge, Box 361, Redwood City, CA 94064 -- Email = craig@ecoseeds.com 

MOSSES present or absent in soil where organic fertilizers and mulch were added on “Yellow  star thistle ridged” which runs east-west from Jane Dr. to the I-280 fence. Kite Hill Wildflower  Preserve 14-acre serpentine preserve owned by the Town of Woodside, San Mateo County,  California.  

Waypoint Lab (Anaheim) A-01 and organic matter soil tests were done from the top two  inches, data only in a bar graph format.  Then, organic fertilizers and mulch have been added to  nearly every one of the acres there, with a minimum of 1,500 pounds of blood meal (180 lbs N),  1,000 pounds of bone meal for calcium and phosphorus and 500 cubic feet of mulch per acre.  

Trying to get biocrusts and mosses to grow by themselves, maybe a nearly impossible task.   Instead, provide the soil nutrient levels and organic matter thresholds for a nurse plant like  Plantago, and also seeding that nurse plant at the right density, then, the mosses and biocrusts  could return on their own, as they are doing in 1-2 years at the Kite Hill Wildflower Preserve. 

MOSSES ABSENT at these measured plant densities. Exotic plant’s names in italics 

Blow wives.........................................100/sq. ft. 

Buckwheat........................................... 40 stems/sq. ft. 

Clarkia, Farewell to Spring ........... 10/sq. ft. 

Coyote mint......................................... 24 stems/sq. ft. 

Poppies.....................................................1/sq. foot 

Ryegrass, Italian.....................................6/sq. ft. 

Soap plant ...............................................1/sq. ft/ 

Stipa pulchra..........................................3/sq. ft. 

Tarplant, Hayfield................................5-6/sq. ft. 

Tidy tips ...................................................1/sq. ft. 

Wild geranium....................................100/sq. ft. 

Wild oats....................................................1/sq. ft. 

Willow leaved lettuce ......................150/sq.ft. 

Yarrow......................................................1/sq.ft. 

Yellow star thistles............................. 20/sq.ft. 

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MOSSES PRESENT, at measured plant densities and percentage of moss cover 

Vulpia microstachys ........................ 12/sq. ft. 10% moss cover 

Plantago, native species....................5/sq. inch 80% moss or biocrust cover Lessingia, Crystal Springs ............. 30/sq. ft. 5% moss cover