All of the varieties above except 'PMT-587' and 'WW BDahl', which are relegated to central and south Texas, are adapted to all or part of Oklahoma and much of Texas. 'King Ranch' bluestem is well adapted to south central and southwestern Oklahoma and points south. All other varieties have a wide adaptation range throughout Oklahoma and into Texas, with the possible exception of some Panhandle regions. Adaptation of the other varieties extends into New Mexico, Colorado, and numerous states in the eastern United States. 'Caucasian' does well in Arkansas and Missouri.

Old World bluestems grow on a wide range of soils. They are best adapted to finer-textured soils such as loams, clay loams, and silt loams. They will grow acceptably well on good sandy loam soils.
Old World bluestems planted on sandy versus finer-textured soils often require one or two seasons longer to establish and become productive, and they often need more weed control. The stand will be less dense and productive also.

Figure 1. A steep-sloped critical area established to Old World bluestem by covering the soil surface with seed hay.

Old World bluestems perform poorly or fail on soils that are extremely sandy (sugar sand or blow sand), alkaline, or saline; that do not have a shallow finer-textured subsoil; that are wetlands with longterm supersaturation; that are inclined to produce severe iron chlorosis; and that have a pH of 7.5 or higher. Some varieties have more tolerance to high soil pH.

The goal of a grass planting influences the inputs in planting, stand establishment, and early stand management. Your level of input determines whether you get a stand with no useful early stand production, a low level of potentially useful early production, or excellent early production with a goal of good, upper-level, useful production the first year or as early as feasible. The most economical forage produced per ton in the early years is usually from the better methods that yield well.

In southern Oklahoma, 'Caucasian' bluestem, 'Plains' bluestem, and weeping lovegrass can produce 3 to 5 tons of dry forage per acre the first year if managers use integrated planting and management inputs. Other varieties can likely do the same. Not all regions encourage early yields, and neither do all plantings in any region always achieve those early yields. Climatic or other factors will affect success, but experience shows that the relative establishment and higher yield will be progressively better from managed site, adaptation, and seedbed preparation. Higher early stand yield equals higher subsequent yields. Manage your resources to achieve whatever establishment and early production goal you desire.

The establishment phase of Old World bluestem includes site selection, type of seedbed, planting procedure, plant development, and perennial-grass plant stage. At the perennial stage, first-year or early stand management generally switches to management for improved and maintained stands or forage yield and use.
Management during the establishment phase and early stand production management are similar and complementary. The procedures are integrated management. Why go through the establishment phase and then let weed growth, plant starvation, or misuse damage or eliminate stands and production potential?

Knowledge of the growth stage of the Old World bluestem seedling or young perennial plant is important because it helps the manager determine whether to apply other management practices.

Figure 2. The early tillering stage of Old World bluestem at which establishment is usually achieved, secondary root system production is initiated, and production management inputs begin.

The fifth leaf is essentially the first tiller. Tillering and secondary root development occur simultaneously. It is at the tillering stage and simultaneous secondary root development stage that the young Old World bluestem plant becomes a perennial grass plant. The more it tillers and the larger the root system grows, the stronger the young perennial plant will be and the better it will respond to production inputs.

Drought, inadequate plant nutrition, and severe weed competition force the plant to remain in a weak seedling stage longer. It can die. The better the growth factors, the quicker the plant changes to a tillered, secondary, rooted plant. In addition, the tillers will become more numerous and the secondary root system will be larger.

At the young perennial stage, much early production management of postemergence weed control and plant nutrition takes place. Later, after forage has adequately accumulated, grazing or haying can be started. Use the above information and figure 2 to make management inputs more understandable.