Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola'

Research on the propagation and growth of one of my favorite ornamental grasses was published in the September/October 2000 Yankee Grower. The authors were Michael Harvey and Mark Brand from the University of Connecticut.

Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' is a deciduous perennial grass native to Japan. It is one of the few grasses which grows admirably in shade plus it has variegated green and yellow leaves. The problem with this grass is that it is slow growing.

Problems exist in tissue culture that cause severely congested bud growth in the crown, stunted height and shoot growth. Therefore, the authors looked at some more traditional production and cultural methods. Results are summarized:

1. Make divisions as early in spring as possible, preferably before plants break dormancy. Use of one to two year old stock plants is recommended.
2. Use at least 8 tiller buds per pot. Groups with 8-10 or 12-15 tiller buds/division were salable size after 105 days (in CT) in 1 gal pots.
3. Researchers used a 3 pine bark:2 sphagnum peat: 1 sand by volume media. Best growth occurred in their dolomitic lime study when no limestone was added to the growing medium. There was no mention of irrigation water quality in the article. The authors did mention that some dolomitic limestone was used in most of the research and the plants looked pretty good.
4. Plants were grown under 0, 30, 50 and 70% shade. They are recommending 50% shade in production following their test.
5. Plants need to be fertilized. If you are using a soluble fertilizer, an N rate of 112 ppm with an N-P-K ratio of 2-1-2 or 4-1-4 is recommended at least once per week (the test included 0, 28, 56, 112, 224 and 448 ppm N liquid feeds). They also used and 8-9 month controlled release Sierrablen product with good results.

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