Native Warm Season Grass

A yard and a third stick???o_O:confused:;)

Like I said - what do you call it?

It's like a yard stick, but it's 48" long so it isn't a "yard" stick!

I'm planning on getting additional switchgrass seed from Don (I have been real happy with it) - I can send you a copy of the tag if you are interested - I know I am just if I can get it cheaper elsewhere.
 
That would be good, I will do what I can to decipher the tag and make some inquiries as to who may be the initial supplier.;) I would think the variety he is using would be very good in your part of the world, but maybe not so good too much farther north(especially) or south. Hopefully we can make a determination on what it is, so we can have the zone information and provenance of the original cultivar.
 
That would be good, I will do what I can to decipher the tag and make some inquiries as to who may be the initial supplier.;) I would think the variety he is using would be very good in your part of the world, but maybe not so good too much farther north(especially) or south. Hopefully we can make a determination on what it is, so we can have the zone information and provenance of the original cultivar.
The switch has done really well on my place. I got nearly 4' out of it in it's first full growing season and hope for more this year. For as much guff as Don catches - the switchgrass he sells has done everything I have asked of it.
 
Like I said - what do you call it?

It's like a yard stick, but it's 48" long so it isn't a "yard" stick!

I'm planning on getting additional switchgrass seed from Don (I have been real happy with it) - I can send you a copy of the tag if you are interested - I know I am just if I can get it cheaper elsewhere.

Can I offer up "12 hand stick" as a name...we all know that a hand is 4 inches
 
I wouldn't sell the Indian and big blue off till the end of this year
My 2013 stuff didn't look like much last year, but this year it's gonna kick it in.
 
PDF's of the 1st 3 pages of this thread with Dlbtree's photobucket images included.
Thanks for the work on this. I'm trying to figure out how to move your updates to just below Pauls original posts. Haven't found an easy way yet but I'll keep looking.
 
The switch has done really well on my place. I got nearly 4' out of it in it's first full growing season and hope for more this year. For as much guff as Don catches - the switchgrass he sells has done everything I have asked of it.

How is your bedding in a bag areas doing now? Overall thoughts? I like the june planting option.. I'm curious to try some of this product as well, I'm also in MO.
 
How is your bedding in a bag areas doing now? Overall thoughts? I like the june planting option.. I'm curious to try some of this product as well, I'm also in MO.
So the switchgrass has done great...the others....not worth a damn. Mine is now well established and the grass itself grows to 5 feet tall or so with the seed heads being even taller. It's not as "aggressive" as I have heard some people claim. In fact...I have not seen any spread of it at all. It does/will outcompete the other warm season grasses, but that has been all I have seen. I will also say that it needs "structure" if you want the deer to bed in it. It needs cedars, or a brush pile or a downed tree top.... otherwise it's just a sea of grass. I use it more as buffer areas between the woods and the plots or ag fields... But again the deer don't seem to really care to bed "in" it, but instead along the edges of it...IF there are other things to create that edge. I will say that the deer tend to like it when its allowed to have the other native weeds growing in it as well. They provide some browse for them as well. I get more diversity when I disc an area and then broadcast the switchgrass and then control the weeds the first year....then mother nature does the rest after that. It seems to be more wildlife friendly than the sea of grass I have in some areas where it is drilled.

If I had to do it again...I would buy only the switchgrass seed, and then kill the weeds, disc, lightly broadcast the seed and control the weeds during year one as best as you can. Broadleaves are easy to control with sprays, but grasses, you have to mow but just enough to keep from cutting the actual switchgrass. After the first year or so the switch will be established and your native weeds can then grow and add some much needed diversity. Some shrubs or structure would be awesome as well.
 
So the switchgrass has done great...the others....not worth a damn. Mine is now well established and the grass itself grows to 5 feet tall or so with the seed heads being even taller. It's not as "aggressive" as I have heard some people claim. In fact...I have not seen any spread of it at all. It does/will outcompete the other warm season grasses, but that has been all I have seen. I will also say that it needs "structure" if you want the deer to bed in it. It needs cedars, or a brush pile or a downed tree top.... otherwise it's just a sea of grass. I use it more as buffer areas between the woods and the plots or ag fields... But again the deer don't seem to really care to bed "in" it, but instead along the edges of it...IF there are other things to create that edge. I will say that the deer tend to like it when its allowed to have the other native weeds growing in it as well. They provide some browse for them as well. I get more diversity when I disc an area and then broadcast the switchgrass and then control the weeds the first year....then mother nature does the rest after that. It seems to be more wildlife friendly than the sea of grass I have in some areas where it is drilled.

If I had to do it again...I would buy only the switchgrass seed, and then kill the weeds, disc, lightly broadcast the seed and control the weeds during year one as best as you can. Broadleaves are easy to control with sprays, but grasses, you have to mow but just enough to keep from cutting the actual switchgrass. After the first year or so the switch will be established and your native weeds can then grow and add some much needed diversity. Some shrubs or structure would be awesome as well.

Great feedback! Thank you. I wonder why the Bluestem and IG didn't do well? Interesting.. My main concern planting in June was that I wouldn't get good germination planting pure switch the first year but it looks like yours did fairly well by the summer (?).

Based on your results, I may go pure switch then. I have other sources for Indian Grass I may use to add some diversity to the switch. Don't care about Big Blue, seems to lodge too bad anyway.

My main focus is to screen a few areas and to direct travel along an edge. One short stretch will be about 40 yards wide between a road / thin section of timber and a food plot, so if they bed in it will be a bonus but don't figure they will being that narrow. Mostly just screening for daytime plot use.
 
Great feedback! Thank you. I wonder why the Bluestem and IG didn't do well? Interesting.. My main concern planting in June was that I wouldn't get good germination planting pure switch the first year but it looks like yours did fairly well by the summer (?).

Based on your results, I may go pure switch then. I have other sources for Indian Grass I may use to add some diversity to the switch. Don't care about Big Blue, seems to lodge too bad anyway.

My main focus is to screen a few areas and to direct travel along an edge. One short stretch will be about 40 yards wide between a road / thin section of timber and a food plot, so if they bed in it will be a bonus but don't figure they will being that narrow. Mostly just screening for daytime plot use.
If you want it for screening I would just go with switchgrass....or even some MG. As for planting...I would make sure you get a good kill on any and all cool season plants...first...especially anything perennial. The switch likes warm weather, and yes you have to be concerned about a drought killing it, but I had a bigger battle fight with foxtail...as it comes on strong here later in the summer and being a grass it can't be sprayed. My switch didn't get real tall the first year...I was concerned about how much survived as it's tough to tell the difference between young switch and foxtail. The following year the switch became far more apparent as I had it drilled in rows and you could see the new green in the rows. The foxtail was a non-issue after that. In areas where I broadcast the switch...it takes a a year or two before you see the results as its far more difficult to find the individual plants mixed in with the other natural weeds. By year the second full growing season my switch was full height.
 
If I had to do it again...I would buy only the switchgrass seed, and then kill the weeds, disc, lightly broadcast the seed and control the weeds during year one as best as you can. Broadleaves are easy to control with sprays, but grasses, you have to mow but just enough to keep from cutting the actual switchgrass. After the first year or so the switch will be established and your native weeds can then grow and add some much needed diversity. Some shrubs or structure would be awesome as well.
With proper prep, other grasses should not be any kind of an issue first year. Spraying with gly and panoramic 2sl at the time of drilling (or before emergence if you have a small piece that was frost seeded) will not only control grasses the first year it will also ensure a clean slate for all the pollinators in the seed bank to emerge the second year.
Straight switch plantings rarely have anywhere near the diversity a properly established mix planting (big blue, little blue, Indian Grass) has. That is in large part because the high rate of switch required to establish a good stand in poor conditions absolutely should become agressive in years 3-4 and will choke out everything else in the field. That type of condition is good if you have a problematic high-pressure property, but is not good wildlife habitat. In short, if cool season grasses are already established at the same time as your NWSG planting your stand will never reach its full potential without high intensity management that can exceed the costs of simply prepping properly by several hundred percent.
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If you want it for screening I would just go with switchgrass....or even some MG. As for planting...I would make sure you get a good kill on any and all cool season plants...first...especially anything perennial. The switch likes warm weather, and yes you have to be concerned about a drought killing it, but I had a bigger battle fight with foxtail...as it comes on strong here later in the summer and being a grass it can't be sprayed. My switch didn't get real tall the first year...I was concerned about how much survived as it's tough to tell the difference between young switch and foxtail. The following year the switch became far more apparent as I had it drilled in rows and you could see the new green in the rows. The foxtail was a non-issue after that. In areas where I broadcast the switch...it takes a a year or two before you see the results as its far more difficult to find the individual plants mixed in with the other natural weeds. By year the second full growing season my switch was full height.

I think I recall Dbletree saying somewhere to not worry about the foxtail, long term the switch will still come through. Don't quote me on that maybe from another forum.. I have a few sections of foxtail, but it's not too bad. I like the diversity..
 
One thing that I discovered with Switchgrass this spring is that it gets going so late that you can easily knock out most of the competition with glyphosate. I'd forgotten about the switchgrass and intended to knock out everything, but weeks after everything else turned brown here comes the switchgrass.
 
One thing that I discovered with Switchgrass this spring is that it gets going so late that you can easily knock out most of the competition with glyphosate. I'd forgotten about the switchgrass and intended to knock out everything, but weeks after everything else turned brown here comes the switchgrass.

It's for that reason that I may seed in early June next year instead of frost seeding. After that initial flush of spring weeds.
 
It's for that reason that I may seed in early June next year instead of frost seeding. After that initial flush of spring weeds.
Three years ago, I drilled cave in rock switchgrass on July 2nd. I had almost no weeds the following spring.
I'm drilling in about 5 more acres of CIR and Kanlow in two weeks.
I think frost seeding works really well if you're seeding into an old bean field or something with little residue. Otherwise, I've had better luck of drilling in the switch.
 
Three years ago, I drilled cave in rock switchgrass on July 2nd. I had almost no weeds the following spring.
I'm drilling in about 5 more acres of CIR and Kanlow in two weeks.
I think frost seeding works really well if you're seeding into an old bean field or something with little residue. Otherwise, I've had better luck of drilling in the switch.

Wow, any problems with germination/establishment seeding that late? Would think moisture would be a limited resource then..
 
It's for that reason that I may seed in early June next year instead of frost seeding. After that initial flush of spring weeds.
Makes a lot of sense if you have that moisture! Looks like it doesn't germinate until the soil is 50 degrees, and 75-80 degrees is optimum for seedling growth.
 
I don’t think NWSG needs all that much moisture to germinate. If drilled it will be fine unless your planting into sand.


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I don’t think NWSG needs all that much moisture to germinate. If drilled it will be fine unless your planting into sand.


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I agree. It's not ideal to be planting anything in the middle of the summer, but warm-season grasses can generally do pretty well, especially with drilling.

Next week I'm drilling in 5 more acres of Kanlow and Cave-in-Rock. Just need stay on top of weeds in the first full year.
 
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