Timothy can be spring or late summer planted.

Description

Known for its palatability and superior winterhardiness, timothy is the latest heading of all cool season perennials. It is well suited as dry cow hay due to its low uptake of minerals such as potassium. It makes excellent horse hay. Timothy has a shallow root system allowing great spring production with poor performance in the heat and drought. However, it does well on heavy, wet, and peaty soils. The small bulb at the base stores nutrients giving it persistence through the drought and heat periods.

Management

Choose an earlier heading variety when combining with alfalfa because timothy will not tolerate harvest during the jointing (stem elongation) and early heading stages. Keep the cutting height 3 to 4 inches for stand persistence. Does not graze well. Use a late heading variety for grazing. It tolerates mechanical harvest well, with proper fertility. Fall cutting should be early enough to allow carbohydrate reserves to be replenished. An early application of will significantly boost production.

Establishment

Timothy can be spring or late summer planted. It needs to be planted into a very firm seed bed keeping the depth 1/8 to 1/4 inches. It is slow to establish so control weed pressure and leave 4 to 6 weeks from seeding date to summer drought for spring plantings and the same period before frost for fall plantings. In the South, timothy is often Fall planted as a cover crop, harvested or grazed in the spring and then killed off to make way for spring crops.

Erecta

Description:

  • Late maturing
  • Persistent and winter hardy
  • Good palatability
  • Erect growth habit helps prevent lodging in silage swards for easier mowing
Barpenta

Description:

  • Latest from Barenbrug
  • High dry matter yield producer
  • Very late heading
  • Better of the timothy varieties or grazing

Zones: 1,2,3,4,5

Presto

Description: View Store

  • Good stand density
  • Yield distribution throughout the growing season
  • Good persistence for Timothy
  • Stable high total yields
  • Mid late maturity

Zones: 1,2,3,4,5

Kootenai

Description:

  • Good tillering with very high yield
  • Early heading
  • Works well with alfalfa
  • Fall seeding allows early spring harvest
  • Excellent for double crop in South

Zones: 1,2,3,4,5,6

Barfleo

Description:

  • Product of Barenbrug USA
  • Intermediate maturing variety with good spring production
  • Winter-hardy
Climax

Description: View Store

  • Better on drier than wetter soils
  • High yielding with high quality and palatability
  • Rust resistant
  • Relatively short–lived
Zenyatta

Description:

  • Long seed head
  • Good standability
  • Brown leaf resistant
  • High tonnage
  • Dark Green Color