Category Archives: Perennial ryegrass

Perennial Ryegrass Seed Price Trends

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Thomas G. Chastain

Market conditions as well as the cost of production affect the profitability of grass seed production enterprises.  Supply and demand dictate the price of seed.  Since seed is an international commodity, the production conditions and seed yields in all regions around the world are important factors affecting seed supply. The size of the carryover stock from one year to the next can effect prices.  Low supply or high price of one species of turf grass can lead to substitution in seed mixtures with another species, lower cost or more plentiful species.

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Fall irrigation improves crop stands and regrowth but not seed yield in perennial ryegrass and tall fescue seed crops

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Thomas G. Chastain

The Willamette Valley has experienced very dry late summer and early fall conditions to date and long-range projections are for more of the same coming in the middle and late parts of fall.  How dry has it been?  Rainfall for the July through September period has been 0.87 inches at Hyslop Farm or 37% of the normal 2.35 inches for the period.  Only 10 years in the past 123 years have been this dry or drier in the Willamette Valley.   In these dry years, rainfall in October has averaged 2.11 inches or 66% of normal.  When it gets this dry in July through September, dry Octobers typically follow.  Thus, no relief from the dry conditions in the near term can be expected given either the forecasts or the historical records observed in past drought periods. Continue reading →

Plant growth regulators and seed weight in perennial grass seed crops

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Thomas G. Chastain

There are two lodging control agents (plant growth regulators) available for grass seed producers in Oregon.  Palisade (trinexapac-ethyl) and Apogee (prohexadione-calcium) plant growth regulators (PGRs) are acylcyclohexanedione inhibitors of the 3-β hydroxylation of GA.  The known effects of the acylcyclohexanedione PGRs currently in use on grass seed crops are as follows:

  • Increased seed yield
  • Increases number of florets produced
  • Increased number of seeds produced
  • Reduced crop height and lodging
  • Reduced leaf length
  • Reduced vegetative biomass
  • Increased harvest index

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Spring weather and grass seed crop development

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Thomas G. Chastain

One question that is on the minds of seed producers is how much has the cold weather set crops back?  Over the 123 years of weather records at Corvallis, there has been only 15 times that the month of March has been colder than we experienced in March 2012.  Cold spring weather has been a phenomenon that’s been observed here in the Willamette Valley over the past few years (Fig.1). This cold weather was accompanied by near record wet conditions (Fig. 2).

Figure 1. Monthly average temperature at Corvallis (click to enlarge)

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Energy use and efficiency in perennial ryegrass topic of field day presentation

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Energy budget for perennial ryegrass seed production (Chastain and Garbacik, 2011). Percentages denote the proportion of energy consumed by management practices.

The efficiency of energy use by US farmers has increased dramatically as the energy use per unit of farm output has declined about 44% since the late 1940s. Despite these gains, there is increasing scrutiny regarding the amount and the cost of energy used in agricultural production. Since the prospect for higher energy prices and further limitations on the availability of inexpensive energy is both real and immediate, identification of improved energy efficiencies is essential in order for grass seed production to remain a competitive enterprise for Oregon seed producers. Reducing energy costs is one way that the profitability of grass seed production might be improved.

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May 2011 Hyslop Farm Field Day Handout