It can be harvested as pasture, silage, or hay, whether sown in pure stands or in mixture with legumes. Reed canarygrass grows 3 to 6 feet tall and has sturdy hollow stems up to ½ inch wide, with reddish coloring near the top. Reed canary grass can improve the productivity of … It tolerates a wide soil pH range, has outstanding persistence, provides better than average forage yields, tolerates any type of cutting schedule, and thrives in both dry and wet soil conditions. Plant samples were taken and analyzed for prussic acid. We use cookies to help provide and enhance our service and tailor content and ads. While herbicide treatments can control large stands, this method … Supported in part by a grant from E. I. duPont de Nemours and Company. In hay production the highest yield is obtained at heading; however the highest quality is obtained prior to this. Feel free to let your views be known in the comments’ section below, but let’s keep it civil. In essence, I was told what orifice might work for filing my fact sheet. Because these fields are more intensively managed, invasiveness into other fields or field boundaries has not been a problem. The term “invasive” only scratches the surface as to how quickly native (wild) reed canarygrass can spread over a natural habitat with its aggressive rhizomatous root system. Animals would starve before voluntarily eating Reed Canarygrass hay. reed canarygrass . reed canary-grass. Tolerant of long periods of wet soils and inundation. However, it is frost-sensitive and will turn brown quickly after early fall frosts. By continuing you agree to the use of cookies. To be sure, reed canarygrass can take over and dominate a wetland, choking out more desirable plant species. In the voluntary intake experiment, horses consumed more timothy hay than reed canarygrass hay during the two-week study period. The rations fed were second-cutting alfalfa hay and three reed canarygrass hays, the latter fertilized at the rates of 0, 100, or 200 lb. Dense stands have little wildlife habitat value. All horses showed an increase in body weight during the period, with body weight increasing more in the timothy-fed horses. Copyright © 1961 American Dairy Science Association. An oat companion crop can be used for spring seedings, but early removal of the oats for silage is suggested. Perhaps no forage species is as perplexing and invokes such a wide range of emotions or adjectives as reed canarygrass. He renewed his cussing. At this time of year, the seeds have all fallen off, and since it's a dominant monoculture, there aren't many other plants mixed in, so it makes a great seed-free mulch. This grass does best in moist, cool climates. Present address: Department of Dairy Husbandry, University of Maryland, College Park. It will out grow the fescue, orchard grass, brome hay. that reed canarygrass was primarily a pasture