Muhlenbergia capillaris 'White Cloud'

Muhlenbergia ‘White Cloud’ on High irrigation in Sept. 2017. Photo: SK Reid.

Summary

UC Davis is located in Davis, California, this site has a silty clay loam soil and plants are irrigated with potable water. More information about the field sites is located in the Nuts & Bolts section.

The southeastern U.S. origin of this cultivar of hairy awn muhly grass is likely responsible for its poor performance in this trial in our hot, dry location. The annual average overall appearance was not acceptable at any rate under this irrigation regime (Table 9a). It is possible that the cultivar would have performed better with the same amount of total water, but delivered more frequently or in a more humid coastal area. In August, only the highest irrigation treatment was marginally acceptable, and though the 50% ET_o was briefly acceptable in September after receiving irrigation, by the end of the trial it had fallen into the unacceptable range again.  For us, only a few plants flowered, but too few flowered heavily enough to earn its moniker.  Three plants on 80% bloomed, 3 plants on the 50%, and 1 plant on 20%, but most with a floral rating of 1. The largest plants were on the highest irrigation treatment, but there was no significant difference in relative growth during the trial period.

While several Open House participants championed ‘White Cloud’ in their ratings, for most it was “not a very exciting plant”. This is borne out in the ratings, where only the 20% achieved an acceptable overall appearance as the season progressed. Plant selection for the open houses occurred before the May event, with staff choosing the best performing plant material at the time. After assessing the data, we suspect the individual selected for the 80% treatment may not have performed as well as the others replicates for that treatment, creating the difference between ratings collected by project staff and open house participants.

Growth and Quality Data

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