# Timothy Grass



## circlejacres (May 17, 2010)

Can anyone tell me how Timothy does in Delaware. I am wanting to plant a Timothy/Orchard mix and was told that Timothy does not like dry weather.

Thanks


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Timothy indeed does not tolerate dry weather. I would think that DE would have plenty of annual rainfall for timothy. You need at least 36" of annual rainfall, but 46' " is better. Tim/Orch is a excellent mix. I sowed 12 acres of this combo today in TN. Timothy must be planted in the fall in order to survive summer heat unless you irrigate. Spring planted timothy almost invariably dies during summer heat/drought due to insufficient root development from spring growth. Tim needs to develop a extensive root system and in order for this to happen it needs to develop from fall plantings. Regards, Mike


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## Barry Bowen (Nov 16, 2009)

Timothy is not a good choice in Delaware. If you can plant it with winter wheat, you can usually get a fair stand, but with the summers we get around here you will generally only get one cutting in June. Then it gets too hot for timothy, it goes dormant and the weeds take over. If you can irrigate and it does not get too hot, you may get a second cutting, maybe. Mixing orchard and timothy, not so hot. The two do not get ready at the same time. The timothy will make the orchard on the thin side, and then there will not be enough orchard to keep the weeds down and give good second and third cuts. Just do a striaght orchard field. This will give you the best results around the DL,MD areas. The other major hinderance to timothy around here is the cereal rust mits. The only thing labeled to spray is Sevin, and it does not work well at all. The winters are not cold enough to keep the mits down like it does further north of here. Orchard will sell well if you make it well. If you are using a drill to plant with, plant in two different directions, and put down a total of about 16-20 pounds per acre.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

"Mixing orchard and timothy, not so hot. The two do not get ready at the same time."

That is true about the "older" varieties of both grasses. Now there are some very nice more current varieties that allow one to shrink the maturity window dramatically. New orchard grass varieties like Intensiv by Barenbrug mature much later and newer varieties of Timothy like Kootenai mature much earlier allowing for a "timely" harvest of both. They also are more palatible than the older varieties. I sell small squares of both pure orchard and Timothy/Orchard grass combination. I sell four times the amount of Timothy/Orchard mix as I do straight orchard by customer choice. My horse customers take the Tim/Orch combo everytime and it brings $1.50 more per bale than straight Orchard. I have successfully grown both grasses together with NO problems. It gets very hot here in Tennessee so I get just 1 cutting of the Tim/Orch combo, but get straight orchard grass 2nd cuttings.
Some folks and educators say that you cannot grow Timothy successfully south of Kentucky, but myself and many other Tennessee growers know otherwise. I enjoy doing some experimenting and when you have some degree of success doing so it makes hot, long, field days that much more pleasurable. Regards, Mike


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

Apparently VOL has had more success than many others. Timothy likes a cool and wet climate, and does not tolerate heat. Orchardgrass will tolerate more heat than timothy, and it seems to have much better regrowth. I've never mixed the two cause the timothy here will only last two years. More oftem than not, the later date of cutting timothy will allow unwanted grasses to ripen fully and go to seed. A good timothy stand might last 5 years, but many of ours are taken out of production well before that. Like was said, once it gets hot and dry (right about the time 1st cut is taken off, or maybe a week or two later) it will stop growing, turn brown, and go dormant. It takes a LOT of water to wake it back up again. The mites are a problem, but I think that Sevin does a good job. If you elect not to spray, and have an infestation, your yield will be dropped by 50-75%.

Rodney


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Both timothy and orchardgrass need to be cut TALL, 4-5 inches, because their crowns are above ground as opposed to underground like alfalfa. Cutting them too short robs them of the sugars needed for regrowth. Both tend to be susceptible to crown damage from equipment.

I learned this from experience--I had a guy custom mow my first try with timothy. As an old alfalfa grower, he mowed it at ground level--1 inch. Second year, no timothy.

I have about 15 acres that I plan on putting into straight timothy next fall. It is low ground, pretty well shaded much of the day. This will be my second try with timothy.

Ralph


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