Intensive land use has led to a drastic decline of arable weeds in Central Europe. The objective of the project “Restoration of local populations of rare and endangered arable field plants on organic farms in Germany” is to develop methods for a successful re-establishment of arable weeds on fields where absence of herbicides provides favourable development conditions. Two complementary approaches are tested by research teams at Freising and Witzenhausen. In Freising two exact trials were set up in order to find suitable crops and dates for the initial sowing of three rare and endangered species (Consolida regalis, Legousia speculum-veneris, Lithospermum arvense). The study area is located in the Munich Plain which is characterized by limestone gravel. First results show a better establishment of all three species on plots with a reduced sowing density of the crop. Furthermore, sowing in early autumn seems to be beneficial for the establishment of the study species
