Timofeevka belongs to the family. Timothy grass (Phleum pratense L.)

There are plants that are so ordinary and familiar that almost no one pays attention to them. They are distributed from Africa to the tundra, growing along roads, in fields and meadows. Timothy grass belongs to such plants, which, at first glance, seems to be a completely useless weed. Let's try to figure out if this is so.

Timofeevka, botanical description of the plant

Timothy grass is a genus of plants from the Poaceae family. It is found in all geographical areas of Europe. It also exists in Africa. It was brought to the Australian and American continents by settlers. There is a whole legend about how timothy came to America: that it was brought by an American newlywed named Timothy Hanson from the French city of Bordeaux, where, while on business, he managed to choose a bride for himself.

While walking with his beloved, the farmer saw a cereal, the ear of which was dense and hard as a stick. He collected the seeds and took them with his bride to America. After a short time, almost all of the American cows were chewing timothy hay. The usual habitats of grass are forests, steppes, and mountainous areas. Most often, timothy is a perennial herbaceous plant. It has several names, the most common:

• stick insect
• field worker
• Arzhanian
• Sivun
• seedling

The root system of the plant is powerful and well developed. The roots are numerous and form a good dense root, penetrating to a depth of almost a meter. The stems are straight, hollow inside, cylindrical in shape. They grow vertically upward. They reach a height of up to 100 cm. They form a loose bush. Timothy grass bushes are formed by three types of shoots:

• shortened, consisting of leaves collected in a bunch
• vegetative, normal length, without inflorescences
• generative, with inflorescence at the top

Timofeevka leaves are flat, narrow, from 0.5 cm to 0.9 cm wide, quite rigid, elongated, up to 40 cm in length, the edges of the leaves hang down. They form a rosette. The flowers are collected in a cylindrical inflorescence up to 12 cm long. The inflorescence of timothy is called a sultan. The spikelets grow together with the main axis, so the timothy sultan is quite rigid. The flowers at the top of the inflorescence open first. Each sultan blooms from 4 to 7 days.

The fruits are very small grains. A thousand seeds weigh less than one gram. The growing season begins in early April almost immediately after the snow melts. The plant blooms after two months.

The fruits ripen three months after the ground shoots grow in the spring. The shoots die off at the end of the growing season; in fact, they live for one season. The plant is characterized by high winter hardiness and frost resistance. Does not tolerate prolonged waterlogging and severe drought. The genus includes about 30 species. About 11 species grow in natural conditions on the territory of Russia. The most important species is timothy grass.

Timothy grass, meaning of culture and application

In economic activities, timothy is used in two main directions:

• as a fodder crop
• lawn and ornamental grass
• Timothy grass as a forage crop

Timothy grass is a good forage crop. It is widely used as green fertilizer and is also harvested not only for hay, but also for silage. Protein content up to 14%. Up to 50% of protein is absorbed by animals. The yield of green mass is up to 200 c/ha. The yield of dry hay is from 20 to 120 c/ha. Feeding qualities are improved when timothy is grown together with red clover and other legumes.

Video about proper planting of timothy under the lawn:

Forage varieties developed:

• Pskovskaya
• Lyupinetskogo 1
• Mayskaya 1
• Marusinskaya 297
• Vita 1

Timothy is mowed for fodder at the heading stage. The grain begins to be harvested at the stage of full maturity.

Timofeevka in landscaping

In landscaping, timothy is used as a lawn grass. In addition to meadow timothy, small timothy is also used. This type of timothy is capable of forming dense turf; the ground part is resistant to trampling and abrasion.

Both crops are used to create lawns. Timothy grass does not tolerate low cutting. It is most often used to sow the area allocated for an ordinary lawn. Timothy grass has a narrower leaf and a more decorative appearance. Tolerates low haircut well. Timothy is propagated by seeds.

How to grow timothy grass

When choosing meadow timothy, it is important not to forget that this crop is light-loving, but it does not tolerate prolonged drought very well. Feels good on clay, sandy and loamy soils with medium acidity. Tolerates saline soils. Reacts well to the addition of copper sulfate. Timothy grass as a monoculture is sown at a rate of about 10 kg per hectare.

If the grass is sown in a mixture with clover, fescue and other crops, then 4 - 5 kg per hectare is sufficient. It is sown in the spring, with the preliminary application of complex fertilizer before sowing. The plant is responsive to nitrogen content. Sowing is carried out in furrows up to 2 cm deep. It is important to remember that a dry spring has a detrimental effect on seedlings.

As it grows, drought resistance becomes slightly higher, but still a lack of moisture, as well as its excess, can destroy the crops. In all other respects, the plant is unpretentious and is suitable not only as a fodder and lawn crop, but also as a precursor for most cereals and other crops.

One of the well-known and frequently grown crops is timothy grass. This grass is also called seedling, arzhan, stick insect or fusel.

In this article we will discuss what meadow timothy grass is and where it grows. We’ll also talk about growing this plant.

Botanical description

Timothy grass, the description of which is known to many, belongs to the family. It can be found in Europe and Asia Minor, as well as in Africa and Australia.

When planting stick insects in the spring, in the fall it is necessary to fill the soil to a depth of 25 cm. Plant the grass in April. The seeds germinate within a week.

Planting timothy in the fall is most effective, especially if it is combined with other crops, such as clover or. In its pure form, the sowing rate is 11 kg per 1 hectare of area, and in the form of mixtures of herbs - 6 kg per 1 hectare.
In the prepared area, small grooves are made, about 2 cm deep, and the seeds are sown. In field agricultural conditions, planting is carried out in a continuous manner according to the standard scheme for sowing cereals. To obtain seeds, it is best to plant with row spacing of at least 0.5 m.

Important! The crop will not grow in acidic soil. Before planting, the area must be limed, for example with chalk.

Stick insects germinate at a temperature of +5°C. But for the proper development of the vegetative part, the temperature during the day should be at least +18°C.

Advantages and disadvantages of culture

The benefits of culture include:

• high winter hardiness;
• ability to grow on poor lands;
• high productivity;
• good feeding qualities;
• long life expectancy.

Disadvantages of the plant:

• a long period

Among the most common cereal crops growing in the area

In Russia, everyone has known from childhood a bushy grass, popularly called “arzhanets”, “seedling”, “sivukha” or “stick insect”. This is nothing more than a grass of the bluegrass family - meadow timothy.

Description of the plant

The stem of timothy grows in height from 25 centimeters to one and a half meters. It is cylindrical, hollow, erect, with rough to the touch, elongated, pointed at the ends leaf blades of green or gray-green color. creeping, with short rhizomes. Timothy grass, photographs of which are presented in the article, has an inflorescence in the shape of a complex spike (sultan), which is very similar to the inflorescence of foxtail, but more rigid. It lacks bristles, and the anthers, unlike the yellow anthers of the foxtail, are purple. Meadow timothy is cross-pollinated using the wind. At the base of the shoot, the plant has another distinctive feature - a thickening in the form of a bulb. Timothy meadow blooms in early summer. The seeds, having fallen off, quickly germinate again, forming a lush carpet underfoot that is resistant to trampling and retains its green color throughout the summer and even after the onset of winter cold.

origin of name

Timothy grass has become widespread throughout the non-chernozem territory of Russia. Its use as a seed crop in burnt areas is stated in documents dating from the late 17th to early 18th centuries. Peasants noted the unique features of this cereal plant, which does not require special care; easy harvesting of seeds stored for a long time in the inflorescence; love for timothy grass, which willingly eats not only fresh grass, but also hay stored for the winter. It is thanks to its agricultural properties that this cereal became widespread in other territories, and was also exported to another continent. According to one version, the enterprising American farmer Timofey Hanson took the seeds of this plant to America, where it also became widespread as a propagator. By promoting its distribution, he achieved commercial success and began to officially import the seeds into Europe. Thus, it returned to the territory of its original growth, but under a new name - Timothy grass, or meadow timothy grass, perpetuating the name of the American.

Planting and care

Timothy grass is a hay plant. It is durable and can grow in one place for up to 10 years. already at a temperature of 1-2 degrees Celsius, and at +5 the first sprouted shoots appear. Timothy grass does not tolerate drought - it can even survive flooding. Considering that this grass does not withstand shading well, it is better to plant it with plants whose active growth period is shorter. Thus, timothy gets along well with legumes and clover.

Timothy grass (Phleum pratense L) is one of the most common species, which is a perennial cereal plant from the Poaceae family.

The root system of the plant is fibrous, well developed, elastic, and can grow into soils to a depth of one meter.

Stems straight, less often ascending. Their height is 100 cm or more.

Leaves harsh, flat, up to 35 cm long, up to 1 cm wide, hanging down, serrated along the edges. The shoots have 5-7 generative leaves and 7-15 vegetative leaves. At the base of developed shoots (depending on the type, 6 - 280 shoots) there are bulbous thickenings that serve as a receptacle for nutrients.

The inflorescence of the plant is cylindrical, cone-shaped, rough, from 5 to 12 cm long.

Spikelets of the cereal are single-flowered with long scales up to 3 mm long, horizontally deflecting cilia with pointed ends.

The fruit is a membranous grain, round or oval in shape; gray, sometimes brown. The mass of a thousand grains reaches about 0.8 grams. The plant reproduces by tillering shoots and seeds.

Seeds timothy germinates quickly, the plant forms trampling-resistant turf that does not lose color even in winter. Weight of 1000 seeds is 0.3 - 0.5 g.

Earing of cereals after spring sowing occurs at about 5-7 weeks of growth, plants bloom at 8-10 weeks, seed ripening at 12-15 weeks (sometimes 18 weeks).

The growing season of Timofeevka is from 80 to 130 days. The grass is cross-wind pollinated. Refers to grasses of spring and winter types.

Biological features of timothy grass

Meadow timothy grass is a perennial loose-bush raised grass. It belongs to the spring-winter type of plants; it develops normally when sown in autumn and spring.

Plants begin to vegetate at an air temperature of 5, heading and flowering occur at a higher temperature (optimal 18-19). Timofey is one of the winter-hardy crops. It easily tolerates harsh winters, but sometimes dies during alternating frosts and thaws.

Meadow timothy requires a certain length of lighting period for its development, that is, it belongs to the type of long-day plants that complete the full development cycle with a day length of at least 12-14 hours.

The plant is very demanding of moisture and has little requirement for heat. It grows well in low-lying areas in floodplains, drained peat bogs and can withstand short-term flooding.

Seeds begin to germinate at a temperature of 1 - 2° C. In spring, timothy begins to germinate at 5-6° C. As a frost-resistant plant, it is also grown in the northern regions. All types of soils are suitable for it, except sandy ones.

Timothy grass has increased requirements for the content of nutrients in the soil, responds well to the application of fertilizers, and produces high yields. Its maximum yields are obtained in the third or fourth year of life, and in low-lying fertile areas its crops are productive for 10 years or more.

family cereals. This plant grows in meadows from the tundra to the subtropical zone of Europe and Asia, in North Africa. In mountainous regions it occurs up to the subalpine zone.

On the territory of the CIS countries it grows mainly in water meadows in the European part, in Kazakhstan, the Caucasus, in Eastern and Western Siberia. Timothy grass is of greatest importance as a pasture and hay forage crop.

This species is unpretentious to the composition of the soil. It grows on different types of soils, including moderately acidic and saline, where other grasses do not grow. It has high acid resistance and the ability to grow on soils poor in mineral components. It should be noted that the crop grows faster and becomes more viable on fertile soils with sufficient moisture, since it is a moisture-loving plant. Yields increase significantly when lime and organic fertilizers are applied. Timothy grass does not grow well in marshy, sandy and excessively saline soils.

This species is characterized by excellent frost resistance. The growing season begins in early spring with an average daily temperature of 5 degrees. Tillering is observed in spring and summer-autumn.

The structure of timothy grass

This is an upright loose-bush cereal plant. In each timothy bush, three types of shoots are distinguished: short vegetative ones, which look like a bunch of leaves, long vegetative ones with developed stems without inflorescences, and generative ones, consisting of stems and inflorescences. At the base of long vegetative shoots, peculiar thickenings are clearly visible - bulbs with reserve nutrients. Each shoot dies after passing through the generative phase, that is, it exists only for one year. Therefore, when used for many years, you should mow the grass at least 4 cm.

The root system is fibrous and usually well developed. The roots go deep into the soil, reaching 1-1.2 m, but mainly they are located in the arable layer. Stems are straight, hollow inside, with nodes. The height of the stems is up to 1.2-1.4 m. The leaves are long (20-30 cm), narrow (0.3-1 cm), somewhat rough, with denticles along the edges.

The inflorescence of meadow timothy is a “sultan” 5-10 cm long. It is a spike-shaped panicle with a cylindrical, elongated elliptical or slightly conical shape. The inflorescence is formed by single-flowered spikelets. The glumes are equipped with long horizontally extending cilia.

The fruit of timothy grass is a round-oval kernel of light gray color or with a brownish tint. Reproduction is carried out by seeds or tillering shoots. Development of the spring-winter type.

Meaning. This crop is an excellent pasture and hay grain, which is used as feed for cattle, goats, sheep, and horses. Higher yields are observed in grass mixtures with legumes, in particular with meadow or red clover.

This species is used for grazing, green feeding, silage, hay, and grass meal. It can be used to consolidate eroded soils, as a precursor before planting root crops and grain crops. From 1 hectare the hay harvest is up to 130 centners.