Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-1162
Big Bluestem
Andropogon gerardii
Big Bluestem is the tallest of the four grasses that built the tallgrass prairie, growing up to ten feet on roots that reach ten feet down and turning a deep maroon-tan in autumn. Its seedhead splits into three finger-like spikes that give it the common nickname turkey foot. Livestock find it so palatable that it is usually the first grass grazed out of a pasture, so it needs a rest-and-rotation schedule or a hay cutting rather than continuous grazing to persist, and more than twenty species of songbirds nest and shelter in its standing winter growth.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 4–9
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Moist · Well-Drained · Dry
Vertical layer
Herbaceous- Soil pH
- 6–7.5
- Plant type
- Grass
- Mature height
- 4–8 ft
- Mature spread
- 24 in
- Plant spacing
- 24–35 in
- Root type
- Fibrous-deep
- Spread pattern
- Both
Keep exploring
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Vigna angularis (Willd.) Ohwi & H.Ohashi
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African Eggplant
Solanum aethiopicum
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Agrimony
Agrimonia eupatoria
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Alfalfa
Medicago sativa
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Amaranth Greens
Amaranthus tricolor
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Angelica
Angelica archangelica
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The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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