Tall Fescue Online Monograph

Late-summer to mid-autumn seedings (Table 5-1) are common in most of the humid southeastern United States, particularly where summer heat and water-deficit stresses are prevalent. Such seedings are made at least 2 to 3 wk before the first hard freeze is expected.

Late-winter to early-spring seedings (March-April), commonly called spring seedings (Table 5-2), are preferred in most of Kentucky and more northern areas, parts of Virginia, and at the higher elevations in more southern states. In general, spring seedings are delayed until the danger of a hard freeze (-2°C) has passed.

Basically, the system options are: (i) suppress (Hoveland et al., 1986) or kill the tall fescue sod by chemical means, followed by no-till seeding (Fig. 5-4 and 5-5); (ii) kill the tall fescue sod by tillage, maintain a fallow to eradicate surviving seed and plants, and seed into a conventional seedbed (Fig. 5-6); and (iii) grow one or two annual crops managed to eliminate residual tall fescue seed and plants, and then seed the new tall fescue at the next suitable season (Roberts and Andrae, 2004). Regardless of the system used, detailed planning, as illustrated in Table 5-3, is essential.

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Fig. 5-4. The small no-till seeder is heavy enough to be well suited to sloping land; heavy press wheels firm the disturbed soil well over the seed if the soil is not too dry.			Fig. 5-5. The "Great Plains" no-till seeder has fertilizer and seed boxes and works well on relatively level fields.			Fig. 5-6. Sowing tall fescue with a drill in New Zealand on a firm seedbed that has been prepared adequately.