Persist has only been available to the public since Fall of '04, so we expect this section of our site to grow. In fact, send us your story!

 

 

Spring '08 - "As you know, the N.C. drought of 2007 went down as one of the most if not the most severe drought in N.C. History. During the drought, we DID NOT water this plot. I thought the orchardgrass was as good as gone---I estimated a 50% stand loss. We did not fertilize in the fall---there was no need to---too dry and it appeared the stand was almost gone. I applied fertilizer this spring (early March '08) and used 2,4D to take out the winter weeds(chickweed). Now iIt looks almost as good as it did right after I planted it in the fall of 2006. It appears that the "clumps" spread out and filled in where the grass had died or it may have come back from the roots and only appeared to be dead on top---not really sure but it does look really good after one of the most severe droughts in N.C. history." - PW, Agricultural Agent,  NC State University.

 

Persist Orchardgrass Fall '07 after Drought	Persist Orchardgrass April '08

 

 

June 27, 2005 - "I looked at one of the two Persist Orchardgrass plots I planted here in Alamance County (Burlington, N.C.) in the fall of 04. The field had a lot of volunteer (not a Tennessee Variety Ha!) rye grass in it. However, the Persist Orchardgrass looked good. The stand was thin but what was there looked good. On the other hand, another variety of Orchard Grass (Benchmark, I think) was planted at the same time with the same drill on the same land but in a different plot, was non existent. The rye grass had completely over taken that variety. Currently, we are experiencing a mild drought so it should really put the Persist to the test. I have another plot of Persist that is being grazed that I have not taken a look at since late winter. I will let you know about it after I get a chance to look at it." - PW, Agricultural Agent,  NC State University.

 

July 7th, 2005 - "I visited the other test plot of Persist Orchardgrass where it is being grazed and quite frankly--abused. But that is the reason we put it on working farms to see how it will exist in the real world. It is doing very well in spite of a mild drought this spring and some yearling bulls grazing on it during the winter after it was established in the preceding fall. One interesting note, this plot is directly adjacent to a field of Max Q fescue---the cattle are hardly touching the Max Q but are grazing the Persist really hard.  This was observed during the first week of July and we don't expect cattle to graze cool season grasses very hard in the heat of summer, especially fescue, because they move to native bermuda grasses, crab grass, etc. But in this particular plot they were readily grazing the Persist."- PW, Agricultural Agent,  NC State University.