Forage Crops

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Forage Crops - SOS
Timothy (Ch 6 pg 125-143)

(Phleum pratense L.)

Background

Timothy is a cool-season, shallow - rooted, perennial bunch grass.
Well adapted to Northeast and Upper Midwest USA.
Grown primarily as hay, but can also be used in pastures.
Timothy is often grown in mixes with legumes.
Hay of choice for horse owners.
Has haplocorm or corm, an enlarged bulbous structure at stem base, where energy reserves are stored for regrowth and tillering.

Agronomy

Timothy is best adapted to moist and cool environments.
Can be established successfully in spring or late summer (one of easiest grasses to establish in late summer and early fall).
Seed at 8 lbs/acre in pure stands, and 2 to 6 lbs/acre when used in mixtures.
Weed control must be good during establishment, grassy weeds can be especially harmful.
Sow seed no deeper than 0.5 inch in a firm seedbed with good seed-soil contact.
Timothy relatively tolerant of harvesting or grazing before jointing stage (stem elongation), but can be damaged if cut or grazed during jointing to early heading stage. Once stem elongation begins, wait to cut timothy until mid to late bloom stage.
Is responsive to N fertilization whenever legume content in the stand is less than 30%.

Advantages

Excellent winter hardiness.
Good companion with legumes (not very competitive with legumes).
Easy to establish, good seedling vigor.
Fair tolerance to wet soils.
Very popular hay for horses.
Very palatable with high forage quality until seedhead appearance, quality decreases
rapidly after heading.

Disadvantages

Does not tolerate drought and is sensitive to high temperatures, thus has poor summer growth.
Unsuited to droughty soils.
Lower yielding than orchardgrass in Ohio.
Easily weakened by frequent grazing or harvesting (has limited energy reserves in corms
and few basal leaves below cutting or grazing height to carry on photosynthes

Varieties

Old varieties: Clair, Climax, Mohawk.
Newer varieties: Barfleo, Barmidi, Derby, Dolina, Express, Summit, Vega.

Identification

Shoot
rolled

Ligule
white, short (~0.1 inch)

Auricles
usually absent, occasionally present but small

Sheath
smooth, sides overlap near top

Blade
narrow and flat, rolled within whorl, often twisted

Seed head
dense cylinder, 2-3 inches long

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Shoot	rolled
Ligule	white, short (~0.1 inch)
Auricles	usually absent, occasionally present but small
Sheath	smooth, sides overlap near top
Blade	narrow and flat, rolled within whorl, often twisted
Seed head	dense cylinder, 2-3 inches long