The protein values in other measured months were adequate to obtain some growth but retard antler development. Tall fescue is useful in rehabilitation work. Tall fescue is the most used and versatile of the grasses suited for reclamation of surface mines in the eastern United States. Tall fescue can be used to revegetate acid mine spoils having excess manganese, but it does not tolerate high aluminum concentrations. Tall fescue was found to be tolerant of pH 4 to 6 and manganese at 4 to 64 ppm.
Tall fescue produces allelopathic compounds which adversely affect many plant species.
In Pennsylvania tall fescue hindered woody plant growth and survival on strip-mined sites. The tree seedlings suffered severe stem dieback on plots with no groundcover control. Tall fescue seed was added to the seedbank in topsoil derived from a native species forest community in Anderson County, Tennessee. The topsoil was spread in a thin layer over mine spoils from a coal seam in Campbell County, Tennessee. The resulting community produced less total biomass and less total biomass in native species than a control community without tall fescue.