Callide Rhodes Grass

We recommend Callide Rhodes Grass for this situation. It performs well on acidic, low fertility soils from pH 5 upwards and suits light sands through to loams. Being a tetraploid, it is more palatable and tends to be preferentially grazed in a mix, so stock go for it first. It is less cold tolerant, so we suggest it for sowings north of Perth.

Callide Rhodes Grass is a good fit for paddocks that sit wet. It is tolerant of waterlogging and handles mild salinity, and it adapts to a wide range of soils from light sands to loams with pH 5 or higher. It is summer active where soil moisture is available, so it keeps producing feed after the annuals have finished.

Sow in early spring, once soil temperatures are rising, and place the seed onto or just below the soil surface, no deeper than 2cm. For our Callide Rhodes Grass we suggest 4 to 8 kg/ha into a fine, firm seedbed with the weed burden removed. The seed will sit in the ground until there is enough rain to germinate.

We recommend Callide Rhodes Grass for areas with 400mm or more of annual rainfall. It needs more rain than Katambora Rhodes Grass, so it is best kept to the better rainfall country or where summer moisture is reliable. It performs best on light sands to loams with pH 5 or above (CaCl2), and sowings are better north of Perth.

We recommend waiting 8 to 10 months, or until the plants are mature and going reproductive, before grazing new Callide Rhodes Grass. This gives the plants time to anchor and build stolons. Then graze rotationally, going in at 25 to 30cm and leaving 12 to 15cm of residue. Avoid overgrazing over summer so the stand survives into the next season.

Stock usually go for Callide Rhodes Grass first. As a tetraploid it is more palatable and tends to be preferentially grazed when sown with other sub-tropical grasses. It has many growing points and a more prostrate habit, though its leaf and stem are coarser than newer releases. Under better fertility it can be more productive than Katambora Rhodes Grass.

We suggest sowing Callide Rhodes Grass with other sub-tropical grasses rather than on its own, as a mixture gives better overall production through the growing season. Our Finecut Rhodes Grass, Reclaimer Rhodes Grass and Gatton Panic Grass all combine well, or look at our WA Northern Perennial Pasture Mix. Legumes can be broadcast in the first autumn after the first grazing.

Choose Callide Rhodes Grass if you are north of Perth with decent rainfall and want a more palatable, productive grass. Choose Katambora Rhodes Grass if you are further south, as it is more cold tolerant and needs less rainfall. Callide is a tetraploid and flowers later than Katambora, and under better fertility it can outyield it, while Katambora is diploid and handles heavy grazing well.

We would not recommend Callide Rhodes Grass for salt scald, as it handles only mild salinity. For saline country we suggest Reclaimer Rhodes Grass: established plants stay productive at 4 to 10 dS/m, but it may struggle to establish where there is surface salt, so sow it as a monoculture using coated seed. Callide suits acidic, low fertility or waterlogged ground.

Yes, our Callide Rhodes Grass is coated and treated with Gaucho. The coating makes the small seed easier to sow and helps with seed placement, which matters because Rhodes grass should go no deeper than 2cm. We recommend sowing coated seed at 4 to 8 kg/ha into a fine, firm seedbed in early spring as soil temperatures rise.