Beachgrass is native to the Atlantic Coast and the Great Lakes.  It is more strongly rhizomatous, less sensitive to high temperatures and somewhat longer-lived than European beachgrass.   American beachgrass is a tough, coarse, erect perennial with hard, scaly, creeping rhizomes and dense, spike-like seedheads.  Seed is generally infertile. American beachgrass has proved to be the best plant for initial stabilization of moving sand.  Stems from the plant form a mechanical barrier which slows and then traps moving sand.

Tentative Pick-up Date is Friday, Octboer 13th at our office in Scottville

A limited supply of American Beachgrass, also known as dune grass is available for purchase this fall.  We are selling bare-root culms (sprigs of grass) in bundles of 100 and 500. Plants are packed with peat moss or wet shredded paper to keep moisture on the roots, but should be planted within one week of receiving them, or placed in a refridgerator. If storing, plants should be monitored to ensure adequate moisture to keep from dyring out or becoming moldy.

To keep customer costs low, bundles of 500 are estimated based on weight and volume, and may not be exactly 500 culms. Please plan accordingly if you have specific planting needs.

We will be accepting orders for beachgrass throughout September but harvest and order pick-up will not take place until October. 

We plan on one week for harvest in mid-late October, once temperatures have cooled down and plants begin to go dormant for the season. 

Pre-orders will then be available to pick up in October at our office in Scottville. Clients in Mason, Oceana, Manistee and Lake County are expected to pick up orders in person.

We have a limited availability to ship orders if they are outside of our immediate area outlined above. Three bundles of 500 culms fit per box and cost is $58/box within state and $69 out of state.

We recognize that this harvest schedule is a bit tricky for our clients' planning purposes, but we appreciate your understanding as we do our best to work with mother nature and our limited staff availability for harvest time. Please consider this timing prior to placing your order. Anyone that places an order will be notified directly once we confirm our harvest and pickup dates.

Tips on planting and spacing -  Beachgrass Info  

You can place your order over the phone or by mailing or emailing in an order form. You can also use our webstore to purchase directly. If you order online and mail a check, we do not incur credit card fees!
In-state order form  or Out-of-state order form

Thank you for considering us for your planting needs!

American beachgrass plantings are established vegetatively with culms (plants).  Enough moisture should be present so when an opening is made with a spade, the sand will not run back into the hole.  If there is too much dry sand on the surface, scrape it away before the planting slot is opened.  A narrow tile spade or planting bar may be used for hand planting.  There have been mixed results in using a machine tree planter on large areas.  When planting, protect the culms from wind and sun so they do not dry out.

A planting depth of 6 to 10 inches is suggested so that the buds at the base of the stem do not dry out nor will plants blow out in a heavy wind.  When planting by hand, firm the soil around the plants with your heel.  Place 1-3 stems or culms into each hole.  On severe sites where quick cover is needed, space culms about 12 x 12 inches.  A minimum of 43,560 culms per acre are needed for this solid planting, more if placing more than one culm per hole.  Beachgrass is available for sale through the Mason-Lake Conservation District.  April -May and again September-October weather permitting.  Contact our office for availability

Beachgrass Information