Description:

• Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) is a short- to medium height, cool-season, long-lived, highly palatable, perennial grass that has smooth, soft, green to dark green leaves with boat-shaped tips.
  
• It grows best during cool, moist weather on well-drained, fertile soils and spreads via rhizomes to form a dense sod.
  
• It is best adapted to areas where the average daily temperature during July does not exceed 75 F. Warm summer temperatures are the most limiting environmental factor to Kentucky bluegrass production.
  
• Approximately 2,177,000 seeds per pound

Best Uses:

• An ideal species for permanent pastures that are continuously grazed. It tolerates close and frequent grazing better than other cool-season grasses.
  
• Limited use for hay
  
• Often used as a turf grass on lawns.

Adaptation:

• Kentucky bluegrass grows best during cool, moist weather on well-drained, fertile soil.

Management considerations:

• It is slower to establish than other cool-season grasses but, once established spreads quickly via its extensive rhizome production
  
• Achieves seventy percent of its annual forage production by early June.
  
• Poor drought tolerance
  
• Can withstand heavy traffic

Planting Dates:

• Early to late spring, late summer.
  
• Kentucky bluegrass can be "frost seeded" in mid-February to mid-March (when the soil is still frozen) into existing pastures to thicken the stand.
  
• In southern MN: March 15 – May 15, August 1st - August 15th

Seeding Rate:

• 30 lbs/acre alone for pasture. 4-10 lbs/acre in a mix. 100 – 150 lbs/acre for a lawn.
  
• Successful seeding requires good seed-to-soil contact.
  
• Ensure seedbed is firm, packed and free of residues

Fertility requirements:

• Lime and fertilizer needs of Kentucky bluegrass should be determined by soil testing. For best results the soil pH should be between 6 and 7. If the soil test calls for large amounts of nutrients, they should be applied prior to seeding and incorporated into the seedbed. If the Kentucky bluegrass is already established then surface application of recommended nutrients is equally beneficial.
  

Pasture management

• Kentucky bluegrass is one of the few foraging grasses that are stimulated into better production by the removal of the plant material.
  Mixing with legumes provides a higher nutritional forage than pure grass pastures.
  
• Controlled grazing with three to six inches of blade length will help keep the bluegrass tillering and build better root systems. This will develop the density the sod and lessen the traffic damage.
  
• Under grazing can result in the grass becoming clumpy and thin which can give rise to disease or insect pressure. 

Kentucky Bluegrass
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu

Kentucky Bluegrass
http://cropsoil.psu.edu/extension/facts/agfact50.pdf

Growing Kentucky Bluegrass
http://www.farminfo.org/forage/bluegrass.htm