Grass Seed Information

Hundreds of species of grasses can be found on the Eastern Plains.  Many provide excellent forage, and do so year-around, whether on the ground or as hay.  The grasses below are perennial, hardy, and palatable.  They span a wide variety of soil textures found in the area.  Some grow in summer (warm). Others grow in spring and fall (cool).  Some provide their best forage before they mature (spring); some after they head out (summer).  Most of these are native to Colorado, but several popular species have been introduced from far away. 

How to Plant:  Grasses must be planted in a firm, weed-free seedbed, primarily because success depends upon good soil-to seed contact.  Loose soil dries out quickly at the surface compared to firm soil, and native grass seed is planted only 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep.  All warm-season and most cool-season grasses should be planted with a designated grass drill to ensure proper placement of seed.  Double-disk furrow openers, seed box agitator and depth bands are needed.  Press wheels should be used to firm the soil around the seed and close small air pockets.  Broadcasting by hand may be necessary in certain small areas, such as areas too steep or too rocky to drill.

In most cases, a grass seedling needs little or no fertilizer during establishment.  However, on disturbed sites, such as area around a new house, water lines, trenching, etc., soil amendments may be required to maintain the vigor of the grasses. 

When to Plant:  Recommended seeding dates are Nov. 1- April 30 when soil is not frozen.

Cover Crop Seeding:  Seeding native grasses in a suitable cover crop is almost a must.  A suitable cover crop will decrease evaporation to retain soil moisture, and keep soil temperatures lower because of shading.  It protects young grass seedlings from strong winds, collects snow during the winter, and will minimize the weed problem.  The cover crop should be planted in the spring, allowing for a hay cutting in the fall, and leaving 6"-8" of stubble.  Grass will be seeded into this stubble in the fall.  Recommended cover crops are forage sorghum, long-season milo, forage millet, etc.

What to expect the first year:  Most growers of native grasses are convinced they have a failure the first year.  Most of the time they actually have a good stand.  Native grasses grow down, not up, during the establishment year.  The top growth normally amounts to a narrow, straight leaf until late summer.  It is also necessary to defer any grazing for at least the first growing season. 

Weed Control:  Weeds are the greatest cause of poor grass stands because they challenge small seedlings in two ways: they take away necessary water and nutrients, and they shade and smother the young plants. Mowing at a six-inch height is important to prevent the seedlings from being choked or smothered.

Grazing Management:  All desired grasses will decrease in numbers with continuous grazing, overgrazing, or abuse.  Undesirable plants will invade immediately.  Each grass plant has its growth and grazing characteristics.  Proper management practices should be used to maximize the use of each grass.  Most range plants provide quality forage and are eaten by some class of livestock during the year.  In an overgrazed pasture, 45 to 60 percent to the rainfall is lost to runoff.  In a properly grazed pasture, only 10% or less is lost to runoff.  Proper grazing use allows the land to be grazed at an intensity that will maintain enough cover to protect the soil, while maintaining or improving the quantity and quality of the desired vegetation.  A "rule of thumb" for proper grazing use is to "take half and leave half" of the available forage during the growing season.  Livestock can graze a plant down to half its weight, which is generally about two-thirds of the mature height,  without detrimental effects to the plant.  A growing season is defined as April 1 to October 15.

Types of Grasses Available

HOW DO YOUR GRASSES GROW

By Ben Hendrix    

    Eastern plains grasses are made up of the warm season and cool season grasses.  What this means is the grasses labeled warm season do most of the growing during the warm months of June, July and August.  The cool season grasses grow mostly during the cool months of April, May, September and October.

     Since it is important to allow your grass to grow and feed the root system it is also important to be able to at least do a switchback type of rotation of your pastures.  Switchback means to pasture one of your pastures the first half of the season then switching to the other for the last half of the season.  In doing this the next year the pasture you went into first the previous year needs to be pastured last this year.  This will allow grasses in both warm and cool seasons to grow and feed the root system with enough nutrients to help them to survive droughts.

     Some grasses have a deeper root system than others.  The short rooted grasses have adapted somewhat to droughts by going into a dormant state until moisture comes than they will kick in to green up and grow.  Tow of these that are noted for this is the grass call Blue Grama and the grass called Buffalograss.  These short rooted grasses also have a high mortality rate in a prolonged drought.

    The deeper rooted grasses have roots that reach deeper to moisture when available but then do poorer during droughts because of deep moisture and when we do get rains unless it is a soaker, the moisture doesn’t get to penetrate to the roots before it evaporates back out.

    When your grasses die off, weeds become a major problem.  They have no competition from the grasses so they will keep taking over the pasture.  It is costly to reseed your pastures and get grass established again so it is imperative to take care of the grass you have in your pastures and not to over graze or abuse it.  Good rule of thumb for grazing is to take half, leave half.  This will allow the grass plants to have enough forage above ground to feed the roots below ground.