Volume16.06

June 2016

June 2016

Crop Talk

2016 harvest is here and it is once again quite early. Here in the Willamette Valley, turnips and crimson clover have been down for a week or more and now fawn, orchardgrass, and annual ryegrass are all being cut. If the weather holds, the combines will be gathering up those crops at full throttle. For Gulf ryegrass, it is none too soon, as the old crop Gulf has essentially been either shipped or spoken for. How has the early harvest affected yield and price? It’s too early to tell. In general, new crop price forecasts are fairly flat, especially for those crops that have carryover. The only other significant new crop pricing news is that OGSBA met resulting in an agreement to keep the same pricing structure for turf-type tall fescue with slight downward adjustments made to the perennial ryegrass grower price.

Tractors harvesting seed
Haven turf-type perennial ryegrass

Haven Makes The Grade

While reviewing the latest NTEP Reports, we observed that our Haven perennial ryegrass rated quite nicely throughout the country. This latest report, the 2011-14 summary included some very high marks for Haven specifically in the areas of :

  • Turf quality - Multiple locations
  • Overseeding turf quality - Arizona
  • Traffic tolerance - Virginia
  • Winter survivability - Massachusetts
  • Gray leaf spot resistance - Maryland
  • Pink snow mold resistance - Minnesota
  • Poa annua resistance - Maryland

Learn more about Haven at tinyurl.com/HavenRyegrass. Complete trial data is available at ntep.org. Book your 2016 needs now.

Meroa is MORE Dense

This past year, we have entered Meroa tetraploid Italian ryegrass into numerous trials throughout the US. While we know that it has some intrinsic benefits akin to all true Italian ryegrasses, (specifically the need for vernalization for seedhead production), we also have wanted to see how it might work in conventional annual ryegrass and cover crop applications.

So far, we have seen three consistent characteristics - excellent late season performance, good winter hardiness, and notable density. Last month we video taped a visit to the UGA’s Calhoun, Georgia research site. In this video, the density and late performance are clearly displayed. The difference between Meroa and the other trial entries is pretty amazing. Learn more about Meroa and see the video at tinyurl.com/MeroaRyegrass. Book your 2016-17 needs now.

Meroa Italian ryegrass in trial plot

Meroa Tetraploid Italian Ryegrass

Ryegrass in a trial plot

Other Ryegrass