Endophyte-free tall fescue seed is available. However, uninfected tall fescue is more difficult and expensive to establish and maintain than infected tall fescue, and it is prone to fail under stress such as drought. However, tall fescue allelopathic compounds inhibit the growth of other plants, making it difficult to maintain legumes in the mixtures. Tall fescue growth can be reduced by some other species. In Illinois old fields tall fescue produced greater height declines, dieback, and mortality among planted black walnut than occurred in fields with tall fescue removed.
Tall fescue can be invasive in native vegetation.
It is encroaching on the Clymer Meadow Preserve, a native prairie in northeastern Texas. Tall fescue typically spreads by establishing in wet or disturbed areas along roads, in eroded patches, and in damp hollows. It grows through the winter, shades out other plants, and begins spreading. It now covers as much as 40 percent of the ground in test plots at Clymer Meadow. Tall fescue has good tolerance to grazing.