best switchgrass for my area

EarthySpirit

5 year old buck +
I am so confused by the varieties of switchgrasses. I'm in Central Kentucky. I want to plant the tallest switchgrass (perennial) for my area to screen my food plots and my access routes to my stands. Does anyone have advice on which species to purchase? thanks so much.
 
Kanlow can grow a little taller than Cave in Rock. Both are the most common varieties planted for wildlife purposes. If you're planting them just as a buffer, make sure they are at least 30 yards wide.

If you're only interested in them as a screen, you might be better off with miscanthus gigantus. I would consider showing some aerials of what your plan is so people can chime in with more detailed resoonses. Regardless, I'd try out the search function in this page. There have been numerous threads on selecting the right switchgrass cultivar and/or miscanthus use.
 
I would talk to your local NRCS/USDA field office. As I understand it switchgrass types are based on latitude ranges and varieties. These folks should be most familiar with the soils you have and have some experiences with what grows best in your area. I will add that switch grass has the grass component and the seed head component, and for screening access you are most concerned about how tall the actual grass gets. This is why some of us also use MG as it tends to get even taller if you need that. The switch I have here in south-central IN gets about 5-6 feet tall (the grass portion). I got my from Real world.
 
Native Hunter on here is in your State, not a bad idea to pick his brain about anything IMHO :)
 
You dont make clear so I will ask. Why are you focused solely on switch? Especially when grown in a dense monoculture, which is the fad theses days, it creates a biological desert that is pretty much the antithesis of productive well managed habitat. Certainly, if you are talking very thin strips, the loss is immaterial. However, if you are covering any meaningful amount of ground it can be short sighted.
If height is really a concern, and it usually should not be (deer are not that tall), both Big Bluestem and Indian Grass will usually get taller than switch especially if the switch is planted in a dense monoculture.
For maximum benefit to wildlife, with the ability to screen, a reasonably wide strip of a mix of Switch, Little Blue, Big Blue and Indian Grass planted at a low/medium density is probably a better choice.
 
Indian Grass, which is naturally occuring on my farm. Peter is well over 6’. As you can tell, it provides a functional screen. The only reason it would benefit from additional species for a screen is to improve standability, which is pretty good even as a monoculture. BE53A242-05D9-4DA9-BC98-90126FE81C43.jpeg
 
You dont make clear so I will ask. Why are you focused solely on switch? Especially when grown in a dense monoculture, which is the fad theses days, it creates a biological desert that is pretty much the antithesis of productive well managed habitat. Certainly, if you are talking very thin strips, the loss is immaterial. However, if you are covering any meaningful amount of ground it can be short sighted.
If height is really a concern, and it usually should not be (deer are not that tall), both Big Bluestem and Indian Grass will usually get taller than switch especially if the switch is planted in a dense monoculture.
For maximum benefit to wildlife, with the ability to screen, a reasonably wide strip of a mix of Switch, Little Blue, Big Blue and Indian Grass planted at a low/medium density is probably a better choice.

Thanks for the question. Yes, just strips to provide cover for the deer in plots that are otherwise open on a couple of sides. I didn't know that about Big Bluestem and Indian grass. Are those perennials like Switch? It does not have to be switchgrass. In fact, I don't care what it is so long as it provides a boundary for 3 of my food plots on certain sides which are otherwise very open. I want deer to visit them more during the day, but they do not until after dark, I presume because of the wide-open edges. I don't want to plant conifers for several reasons which I don't need to explain. Thanks again!!
 
Yes, the other varieties are just different kinds of Native Warm Season Grass. Here is an View attachment 34110example alongside the edge of one of my plots.
 
Yes, the other varieties are just different kinds of Native Warm Season Grass. Here is an example, from January, alongside the edge of one of my plots. The switch that is in that mix is Cave in Rock.

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Indian Grass, which is naturally occuring on my farm. Peter is well over 6’. As you can tell, it provides a functional screen. The only reason it would benefit from additional species for a screen is to improve standability, which is pretty good even as a monoculture. View attachment 34108

Awesome! I've bought some IG and SG potted seedlings this year to try and get a jump start on a screen. Love the Indiangrass. Do you see much wildlife use in it also? Bedding, etc?
 
Awesome! I've bought some IG and SG potted seedlings this year to try and get a jump start on a screen. Love the Indiangrass. Do you see much wildlife use in it also? Bedding, etc?
Yes, everything uses it.
 
I've planted blends, straight CIR, Blackwell, sunburst, etc. Unfortunately the most expensive stuff did way better Real World Switch grass won by a landslide for height, density, and stood up much better in the ice and snow.
This is 2 yr old stand (2nd growing season)
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Unfortunately the most expensive stuff did way better Real World Switch grass won by a landslide for height, density, and stood up much better in the ice and snow.
That is some nice looking switchgrass! What was your source for RWS and is this planted with seed as opposed to rhizomes like MG?

Edit: I think I found the right site lol Their MG is comparable prices to Maple River.
 
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bigeight - Do you see much buck bedding in that switch? Or do they prefer to bed in the corn in the growing season? After harvest?

Thanks!
 
These are long strips of pure SG for screening. This one is 880 yards long by 45' wide running past some better bedding cover (spruce and weeds) for our access to the back woods.
I believe it's skinny enough and poorer bedding than other areas available that they do not use it at all. That was our intention and so far it's worked. Two years so far (not the longest experiment) but I've never seen a deer bed in it.
 
We do have one pit stop along the way that we sneak through it and into a ground blind on a clover plot. Feel like a ninja getting into that spot !
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I took B8's advice and planted RWW's switch. I also called Don Higgins for some particulars. RWW switch bought direct from RWW, along with Shawnee & Timber varieties (I mixed 'em) , from Ernst were also planted. That was just in May, so cannot share much...other than I can see the linear rows of it amongst the weeds. BTW, against B8's advice to use Atrazine.........I instead used Simazine. I shoulda listened to Big8. I was ....and am....unhappy with Simazine's effectiveness as a pre-emergent.

BTW, I went with Shawnee because of a lot of good reviews from YouTube and several other forums. And then when I spoke with the horticulturist at Ernst. He recommended Timber for its 'standability' in winter and its height. We'll see.

And yes, RWW' switch is by far the most expensive.....about $20 per lb. Higgins recommends 4lb per acre.
 
Maybe hard to tell, but that is the switch screen view from the elevated blind. About 9' tall now and has a 5' walking path with about 21' 9f switch on each side.
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Now that is good access! Awesome.
 
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