Interesting Facts About the Roots of Eastern Gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides)

Eastern Gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides) is a native warm season grass that has an extremely deep root system, growing through impenetrable soils to reach water and nutrients at impressive depths. This deep-rooted plant has symbiotic relationships with fungi and bacteria, which benefit both the plant and the fungi or bacteria.

[@hammbone1612]

Very informative. Thanks for your time

[@brentmeadows9602]

Great talk - Loaded with info - wow! Great for hard pan soils - improvement! Eastern Gamagrass may have been a precusor to corn. I just got my 1lb back of e.g.g from Roundstone seed that I plan to plant in places. Big seeds take a while to germinate but are fun to grow individually in pots - and gift the plants.

[@brentmeadows9602]

Oops.. pardon, naming a 'competitor' - I did not realize Hamilton was a vendor! Nice web site -- I will look more! [ from eastern TN ]

[@great0789]

Each and every note you just mentioned in this video was music to my ears!!! All I need to know is… is it good livestock and horse forage???? Thank you!!!!

[@brettbaer9804]

It’s called the ice cream grass for its richness and palatability. But do your homework, because it needs to be established without grazing for a year, cut or grazed once in year two and maintained in a management intensive grazing program going forward, otherwise livestock will selectively overgraze it due to it being such superior warm weather forage. Lots of good information online.

[@graziergeek]

I thought Hamilton were in Texas Co, MO. Where in the world in south of the MO River did you get a core so deep without a rock? Yes, I see the clay in the bottom half but there’s at least a foot of dark soil. Wow

[@graziergeek]

I mean no disrespect. I love your vids. I tried remote MIG about 20 years ago. The fescue (and the fact you can’t run a farm remotely) caused me to sell out 16 years later. That professor was probably showing a “typical” core from the UM farm by Columbia. I’ve tried a lot of things. Wish I were on the farm every day, I’d have avoided some mishaps. Please keep sending this great information. I may move to the farm and try it full time (or start off with summer stockers)

[@EarthREALTOR]

The root channels also help to get rain water down to the aquifers. Very similar to teosinte - Corn's ancestor.

[@casey_spencer]

Corn is believed to be a hybrid of teosinte and gamagrass

[@kevinfoster4129]

Will this Gama Grass grow well in subtropics

[@alsuarez6413]

When do you recommend to put the seed in the ground ( I am in North Florida, Thanks

[@HamiltonNativeOutpost]

Eastern Gamagrass needs seeded in the dormant season. We aim for ~2 months before the average date of last spring frost. However, it needs to be around 15-30 days after the average first frost date of fall. (Basically plant in the winter).

[@timshirk6261]

What happens to the long roots in a haying situation where it gets mowed to 6” . How far back do the roots die back ?

[@HamiltonNativeOutpost]

Great question. In my studies, I do read that cutting the leaves of the grass cause the root system to contract. Additionally, the more frequently and severely the greenery is cut back, the more that the root system is pruned. So, while I don't have any exact numbers on how much the roots die back when haying native warm season grasses, I believe that they would die back some. I can say that they are likely to die back less if the mower is not allowed to mow too close to the ground. Mowing close to the ground on native warm season grasses will cut off the growing point and it takes more energy for the grass to regrow likely causing a larger retraction of the root system.

[@johngraham8893]

@@HamiltonNativeOutpost So in a typical farming situation when it is grazed and cut down to a few inches all these high preforming factors will suffer?

[@flyhigh5056]

@@johngraham8893 Yes, shouldnt be cut less than 8", last cut typically no later than July 1st

[@olsonlr]

Is gama grass the best for deep penetrating roots?

[@flyhigh5056]

Big blue Stem