Get Johnston Festulolium at $2.34 per Pound 

The answer for any tough ground! It’s a fescue–rye grass cross. 

Tough like fescue and a big producer, while super palatable like rye grass! Sold to MANY customers in Montana, the Dakotas, and Wyoming who LOVE it! 

Johnson Festulolium is a perennial bunchgrass that is mainly utilized in pastures for grazing and stockpiling, either in mixes or pure stands. Silage and green chop are other major uses. It is adapted to cool humid climates as well as less humid climates with supplemental irrigation.

• Planting Depth: 0.25″ 

• Planting Rates: 25 to 45 Pounds per Acre, 8 to 20 Pounds per Acre in Mixes, 4 to 15 Pounds per Acre as a Nurse Crop 

• Planting Dates: March to May, August to September 

Product ships in a 50-pound bag.

Establishment

Festulolium is easy to establish due to its rapid germination and seedling vigor. Seed size is identical in size and weight to tall fescue. This characteristic, along with its fast establishment, makes it an excellent nurse crop for alfalfa and tall fescue.

Benefits of Festulolium include higher forage yields than perennial ryegrass, quality similar to perennial ryegrass, and increased midsummer growth compared to other cool-season grasses. Festulolium also has high disease resistance, winter hardiness, and persistence.

Adaptation

Festulolium does well on fertile soils with a pH of 5.5 to 7.0 but is not recommended for poorly drained soils or soils with poor fertility. Pure stands are the most productive in the first year, with productivity declining each year thereafter. Typically, pure stand life is three to four years, depending on the area.

Management

Festulolium fertilizer requirements are a mix between ryegrass and tall fescue. In general, 150 pounds of nitrogen per acre per year will be sufficient to help maintain a fantastic stand. Most farmers typically apply 0.333 of the nitrogen in the spring, with the rest evenly applied after each harvest or grazing period.

Festulolium performs best under a rotational grazing system and should be grazed down to 3” to 4” when plants reach a height of 10” to 12”. For silage or green chop, Festulolium needs to be cut before seed heads emerge for optimum forage quality.