Melica (harfordii)

Rae Watson Forestry Technician USDA FS - J Herbert Stone Nursery 2606 Old Stage Rd. Central Point, Oregon 97537 541.858.6131 541.858.6110 (fax) rewatson@fs.fed.us gillyflowernursery.com

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Family Scientific Name:	Poaceae
Family Common Name:	Grass Family
Scientific Name:	Melica harfordii Bolander
Common Name:	Harford's melic, Harford's oniongrass
Species Code:	MEHA2
Ecotype:	This protocol was developed from our experience growing 9 wild collections from northwestern California and southwestern Oregon.
General Distribution:	Harford's melic occurs in sunny areas of the Pacific states and British Columbia. It is found at low to moderately high elevations. It is a deep-rooted perennial grass typically found on rocky slopes, talus, or steep banks. Often it appears to be anchoring soil and rocks in areas of active soil movement or slope instability.
Propagation Goal:	seeds
Propagation Method:	seed
ProductType:	Propagules (seeds, cuttings, poles, etc.)
Time To Grow:	12 Months
Target Specifications:	"Field-cleaned" seed harvested when an optimum amount of mature viable seed is present on the plants; 100% free of noxious weeds; other agricultural weed seeds present only in trace amounts; with no significant disease or insect infestation.
Propagule Collection:	Lifespan on the Farm: Individual plants die after 2-5 (or more) years. Volunteers (from fallen seed at harvest time) do not become readily established in our plantings. Plantings can sometimes become a mix of different-aged plants after many years. Typical lifespan of our plantings is 3-4 years. A few plantings suffered a lot of mortality after the second crop-year and were plowed under. Our longest-lived melica planting was 6 years old when it was plowed under. Yield Information: Yield Information: Below are typical "field-cleaned" harvest weights. Finished-cleaned seed yields would be lower and highly variable by species and even within species. New plantings that failed (for any reason) and were plowed under were not included in these averages. Older plantings that were abandoned pre-maturely (for any reason) are only included through their last crop-year). Average first year yield from fall plantings = 360 pounds per acre (N=5, range 189-531). Average first year yield from spring plantings = 121 pounds per acre (N=4, range 51-243). Average second year yield = 464 pounds per acre (N=8, range 88-765). Average third year yield = 508 pounds per acre (N=6, range 200-845). Average fourth year yield = 454 pounds per acre (N=4, range 248-645). Average fifth year yield = 205 pounds per acre (N=2, range 190-220).
Propagule Processing:	Seed Processing: Seed is cleaned at a commercial or agency facility before sowing. The cleaning removes a majority of hairs, straw, chaff and empty florets that would otherwise prevent the seed from flowing smoothly through a seeder. We recommend to our clients that the seed be held in storage for a year (or at least a few months) before sowing. We make this recommendation in hopes that some seed dormancy can be overcome this way. We have no evidence that it helps. We have not done any special treatments or stratification to increase germination and don't know if any would be helpful. A natural stratification occurs when seed spends weeks or months in cold, wet, winter ground. Seed Characteristics: We know of only two measurements of seeds per pound. They were 149,210 and 194,678. Purity (percent filled seed by weight) of cleaned seed is usually 90-99 %. Purity of the "field-cleaned" (barely cleaned) seed we produce is usually 70-95 %. Purity of uncleaned wild collections is probably similar. Germination rates for mature filled seed are not known but we guess they are held at 40-80 % by some innate seed dormancy. It is not known to what extent this dormancy may be overcome by stratification or cold, wet winter weeks/months in the ground. Uncleaned seed (and our "field-cleaned" seed) has pubescent lemmas and a short awn.
Growing Area Preparation/ Annual Practices for Perennial Crops:	GROWING AREA PREPARATION: Site Selection: Melica harfordii appears to be intolerant of poorly drained soils so care is taken to prepare beds in well-drained areas. Our observations have also led us to conclude that the health of Melica harfordii plantings is also dramatically affected by other soil factors we have not been able to identify. These could be toxins, micronutrient abnormalities, pH, soil microorganisms or other causes. In the absence of better knowledge, we simply try to place our melica beds in parts of the nursery that experience indicates are "good fields." Isolation Distances: Our clients expect the seed we produce to be representative of the local wild stocks they originally send us to grow. Plantings are separated to minimize gene exchange between different lots of the same species. We generally maintain 300 feet between Harford's melic plantings except less distance is allowed when plantings are end-to-end with a roadway between them. Soil Preparation: Soils are worked and sometimes organic soil amendments are incorporated.Soils are then fumigated with dazomet (Basamid) at a rate of 392kg/ha (350 lbs/acre), to control soil-borne pathogens. Several weeks after fumigation, soils are ripped and disked and 1.2m (4 ft) wide raised beds are formed. Phosphorus and potassium are banded into the beds. Formulations and rates are: Ammonium phosphate (11-52-0) and potassium sulfate (0-0-53) at a rate of 280 kg/ha (250 lbs/acre) of each. ANNUAL PRACTICES FOR PERENNIAL CROPS: Weed Control: The fumigation described in a previous sub-section also keeps most weeds out of newly sown plantings. Hand weedings are done throughout the year, with greatest frequency in the spring. Hand weeding is our single biggest expense in the growing of our seed crops. A special visit is made to each planting immediately before harvest to clip out any weed seed that would inadvertently be harvested with the seed crop. Glyphosate (Roundup) and oxyfluorfen (Goal), as well as hand weeding, are used in the pathways and along irrigation pipelines. Nozzles are shrouded to prevent crop damage. Simazine or oxyfluorfen are sometimes used as pre-emergence herbicides on established plantings in early October where germinating rat-tail fescue and annual bluegrass is expected to be a problem. Disease and Pest Control: Harford's melic is not very susceptible to rust. A typical planting of Harford's melic gets zero or one treatment per year. When infections exceed IPM thresholds, we use the systemic fungicide propiconazole (Banner Maxx, Tilt), at label rates, to control these rusts. Spider mites are rarely a problem on Harford's melic. When needed, they are controlled by applications of chlorpyrifos (Dursban), at label rates, when mite populations exceed IPM thresholds. Harford's melic is not normally bothered by thrips, aphids, smut, ergot or other pests and pathogens that affect grass seed crops. Post-harvest and Dormant Season Treatments: The combine discards straw onto the stubble of the beds. The straw is promptly chopped up with a tractor-drawn chopper and ejected into the tractor paths between the beds. If the client requests it, the straw is instead baled with a hay baler, and then stacked for the client to use. If the planting was harvested with the flail-vac instead of the swather and combine, the planting will be mowed. Mowing should be prompt if there is enough stem material to lie down and smother the plants underneath. Remove clippings after mowing to also prevent smothering. If there are not a lot of stems and they are not likely to smother the plants, mowing can be done much later during the summer or early fall.
Establishment Phase:	Beds are sown most commonly from late September through early November. Sowings from late February through mid-April are also successful, though first year crop weights from these spring plantings will be less than fall plantings. Seed is sown through a modified Love/Oyjord seed drill at a rate of 65 to 100 seeds per linear meter (20 to 30 seeds per linear foot). Seed is sown in four rows, 30cm (12in) apart and immediately covered with a 6 to 8 mm layer of sawdust. Frequent irrigations are often needed to keep the seedbed moist during the germinating period. Seedlings usually emerge in one or two weeks. Thereafter irrigations are applied when needed to maintain adequate soil moisture for small young plants.
Active Growth Phase:	In late February/early March, a complete fertilizer (13-13-13-12 plus trace elements) is applied to established plantings at the rate of 308 kg/ha (275 lbs/acre). New fall-sown plantings that are well-emerged by this time should get the same, or an application of ammonium nitrate at the rate of 112 kg/ha (100 lbs/acre) may be substituted. In April or early May, before plants get too high to drive over, ammonium nitrate is applied at the rate of 112 kg/ha (100 lbs/acre). New fall-sown plantings would be fertilized now with 13-13-13-12 plus trace elements at the rate of 308 kg/ha (275 lbs/acre) if they did not get this complete fertilizer in the Feb/March application. New spring-sown plantings get fertilized anytime from now through early June, before plants get too high to drive over, with either one of the formulations described above, at the rates mentioned.Plantings are watered as needed to keep water from being a limiting factor on growth or seed production. In hot dry weather in late spring and early summer this means twice a week in our sandy loam soil.
Hardening Phase:	We continue to water twice a week through the hot part of the summer, decreasing to once a week as weather cools in the fall. Fields need to be dry for harvest. The last irrigation of the year on established plantings is usually in the last « of October.<p> A nitrogen application is done in September (after harvest), usually ammonium nitrate at the rate of 112 kg/ha (100 lbs/acre).
Harvesting, Storage and Shipping:	Seed Harvesting: Seed is harvested when the seed can be easily shaken out of the heads and some has started to naturally fall. Color change and endosperm consistency also influence when harvest occurs. One method of judging appropriate harvest time that is NOT advised for Harford's melic is bending and raking seedheads between your fingers. With this method, the seed will come off easily in your hand before it is really mature. The proper harvest date will normally be in June or July (sometimes August) and varies by age and ecotype. The objective is choosing the time when the highest weight of mature seed can be harvested. There is always some green immature seed at this time, as well as seed that has already fallen or that will be lost during swathing and combining. Harvesting seed is done by one of following two methods: 1. Beds are harvested by swathing followed by combining. The swather is a John Deere swather with a sicklebar and belt draper, which cuts the culms and lays them on the beds in a windrow. Our swather has been modified to accommodate the width of our beds. After 2-4 days of drying, our Wintersteiger "research" combine picks up and threshes the seeds from the stems. This combine is designed for small plantings and is easy to clean between different lots. 2. On smaller lots, or if the other harvest equipment is busy, the beds are harvested with a Woodward "flail-vac" seed stripper manufactured by Ag-Renewal, Inc. of Oklahoma. It is a large rotary brush and hood arrangement mounted on the front of a tractor and powered by the tractor's hydraulic system. Other manufacturers make similar devices. Besides the tractor operator, two workers are on the ground using broom handles to guide the grass culms under the hood where the seeds can contact the spinning rotary brush. This operation involves SOME RISK to the workers because the machinery is advancing toward them and their hands and broom handles are in close proximity to spinning parts. AN ALERT TRACTOR OPERATOR AND CAUTIOUS WORKERS ARE REQUIRED. Seed Processing and Storage: Harvested seed is placed in drying bins 1.2m (4 ft) by 1.2m (4 ft) by 0.5m (1.5 ft) deep with screened bottoms. These screens are stacked five high over a warm air duct which moves heated air 38C (100F). Air flow continues for 12 hours until seed moisture drops between 5 and 8 percent. Dried seed, without further machine cleaning, is placed in plastic bags (4mils) in boxes. Boxes are stored in coolers at 1C (34F) and/or freezers at -17(2F) for long term storage. Viability is expected to be greater than 8 years under these conditions.
Other Comments:	Harford's melic is sometimes difficult to establish due to some seed dormancy and a poorly understood sensitivity to soil factors. When healthy stands become established, they are fairly long-lived and produce good crops. Plants are not much affected by disease or insect pests. Plants are attractive and may have some ornamental value. Inferring from the behavior and habitat of wild populations, our clients hope it will be a valuable stabilizing grass for roadbanks and landslides. Miscellaneous: There are a number of procedures described above that are peculiar to our nursery and are not necessarily best for all growers. They are: 1. 12 inch row spacing with 4 rows in a bed rather than no beds and wider row spacing; we are set up to do it this way because we grow bare root conifers this way. 2. Frequent post-harvest summer irrigation; we do it but really don't know how much water is desirable this time of year when wild plants would not normally get much water. 3. Packing seed in plastic bags and boxes rather than woven sacks; we already have the bags and boxes and uncleaned seed is a bit more difficult to put in woven sacks. 4. Delivering more or less uncleaned seed to clients; we don't have the cleaning machinery and seed cleaning would be an additional cost, but in a commercial market it would probably be a mandatory step. J. Herbert Stone Nursery is a U.S. Forest Service facility and therefore is bound to the terms and conditions of a 1989 court settlement regarding the use of pesticides on Forest Service land in the Pacific Northwest. We are not free to use many of the herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides available to the modern commercial grass seed industry. Therefore specific chemicals we describe in this protocol may not be the best choice for another grower. Our heavy reliance on hand-weeding is, in part, a result of that court settlement (note that no broadleaf herbicides are mentioned in the weed control sub-section). Our choice to fumigate prior to sowing these seed crops is, in part, influenced by our limitations under that court settlement. We do know that the propiconazole we use for rust control is probably the most common fungicide used to control rusts in Oregon's commercial grass seed industry.
References:	JHSN summaries of seed crop yields, unpublished, but revised and sent to clients each year.

Citation:

Rolle, Wayne; Archibald, Colleen. 2001. Propagation protocol for production of Propagules (seeds, cuttings, poles, etc.) Melica harfordii Bolander seeds USDA FS - J Herbert Stone Nursery Central Point, Oregon. In: Native Plant Network. URL: https://NativePlantNetwork.org (accessed 2024/07/02). US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, National Center for Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetic Resources.