Seed Characteristics Figure 3. Wooly cupgrass inflorescence showing spikes and seeds. Woolly cupgrass is a prolific seed producer, generating over ten times the number of seeds as giant foxtail. Seed dormancy increases soil longevity. In addition, seeds are very large, which allows for germination from soil depths of up to six inches.
Seeds germinate early compared to some other annual grasses.
Seedling emergence was evaluated twice weekly throughout the 1995 growing season. The emergence patterns are shown in Figure 4. The graph shows that most woolly cupgrass emergence occurred more than two weeks ahead of giant foxtail. This represents one more competitive advantage for woolly cupgrass. The emergence pattern study may have been inadequate to detect extended emergence under field conditions, since seeds were planted at only the two-inch depth, and the same number of seeds were planted for each species.