CIRCULAR 401 
 
 NOVEMBER 1950 
 
 CUCAMONGA 
 
 BROME 
 
 A NEW CRASS FOR COVERCROPPING 
 
 • PAUL E. LEMMON 
 
 • A. L. HAFENRICHTER 
 
 • B. A. MADSON 
 
 ALIFORNIA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION * THE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA • BERKELEY 
 
Cucamonga brome • • • 
 
 is an annual grass, recently developed and tested in southern California, and found 
 to be excellent as a covercrop in vineyards. It also has some value as a covercrop for 
 burned-over areas and along road banks. There is no apparent reason why it will not 
 work well in northern California, too. 
 
 One seeding . • . 
 
 in the fall establishes the crop. It grows rapidly after the rains start, guards against 
 wind and water erosion, matures very early in the spring and reseeds itself into a 
 perpetual crop without further planting. It is practically disease-free. 
 
 As a forage erop - - . 
 
 it is of limited value because it matures too early. 
 
 This circular • • • 
 
 tells how and where to obtain seed of Cucamonga brome, and how to use it for best 
 results as a covercrop. 
 
 The Authors: 
 
 Paul E. Lemmon is Assistant, Regional Nursery Division of the Soil Conservation 
 Service, U.S.D.A., Portland, Oregon. 
 
 A. L. Hafenrichter is chief of the Regional Nursery Division of the Soil Conserva- 
 tion Service, U.S.D.A. 
 
 B. A. Madson is Agronomist in charge of Field Stations, University of California, 
 Davis. 
 
In 1939 . . . 
 
 a small amount of annual brome seed was 
 collected from plants near Cucamonga, 
 California. Because the plants looked 
 promising for covercrop material, the 
 seed was tested over a period of 8 years. 
 The grass, which was given the name 
 Cucamonga brome, was found to have 
 these qualities: 
 
 1. When planted in the fall, it starts to 
 grow as soon as the fall rains come, 
 and continues to grow in cold, windy, 
 winter weather. 
 
 2. During this period of growth, it pro- 
 vides excellent protection against both 
 wind and water erosion of the soil. 
 
 3. It matures about 20 to 30 days 
 earlier than conventional covercrop 
 grasses and therefore may be cultivated 
 before it has a chance to use up mois- 
 ture needed by other plants (e.g., grape 
 vines) in the field. 
 
 4. When cultivated, and left as a mulch 
 on the soil, Cucamonga brome reseeds 
 itself. The seed lies dormant during the 
 summer, but starts to grow again the 
 following fall, and gives wind erosion 
 protection year after year from one 
 planting. 
 
 5. It is of limited value as forage be- 
 cause of its early maturity, but during 
 its short life, is palatable and has no 
 bad features such as sharp-pointed 
 seeds or long awns. It never attains a 
 height of more than about 24 inches. 
 The efficiency of Cucamonga brome 
 
 has been proved in southern California. 
 Its adaptability to northern California is 
 still being studied, but since the species 
 from which it was obtained grows over a 
 wide range, no difficulty may be expected 
 from northern California conditions. 
 
 Top: A first-year stand of Cucamonga brome 
 that was drilled in a vineyard. Bottom: The 
 second-year stand in the same vineyard, after 
 the grass had reseeded itself over the entire 
 area of the vineyard. 
 
The original planting should be 
 made carefully for best results 
 
 Cucamonga brome should be planted 
 in the fall, before the rains start. Drilling 
 is best, but broadcasting may be used if 
 necessary. 
 
 A mulch will help to improve the stand 
 as the first seed planting is susceptible to 
 being destroyed by wind erosion before 
 it gets started. If there is no mulch on the 
 soil, it is well to provide one. If the plant- 
 ing is being made in a vineyard, prunings 
 or grape pulp may serve as a protecting 
 mulch. Otherwise weeds or manure or a 
 combination of these materials will do 
 for a mulch. 
 
 In a new vineyard, sudangrass may be 
 planted between the rows in the spring to 
 provide a summer covercrop and to act 
 as a protection for Cucamonga brome 
 planting in the fall. 
 
 For drilling, mix seed with rice hulls 
 to give a more even distribution. Add 
 half as much rice hulls by weight as there 
 are pounds of seed— or 4 parts of rice 
 hulls to 5 parts of seed, by volume. Rice 
 hulls are very inexpensive to buy, and 
 can be purchased from almost any feed 
 dealer. 
 
 Rate of seeding should be approxi- 
 mately 20 pounds of seed per acre when 
 drilled. This reduces to about 10 pounds 
 of seed per acre if it is drilled in between 
 the rows of a vineyard, because only ap- 
 proximately half of the area is seeded. 
 
 To get the correct seeding rate when 
 the seed is mixed with rice hulls, open 
 the drill to seed about 30 pounds of the 
 mixture per acre. Since % of the mixture 
 is seed, this will give 20 pounds of seed 
 per acre. Most drills will deliver the cor- 
 rect amount of brome and rice hull mix- 
 ture when set to plant 130 to 150 pounds 
 of barley per acre. 
 
 Depth of planting. In drilling, the 
 seed should be covered about 1% inches. 
 
 Broadcasting the seed is, as stated, 
 less efficient than drilling, and of course 
 no rice hulls are needed for mixing with 
 the seed. However, if it is desired to seed 
 all of the soil in a vineyard, instead of 
 just one way between the rows, broadcast- 
 ing is necessary. 
 
 The rate of seeding, when broad- 
 casting, should be raised to about 30 
 pounds per acre to take care of the pos- 
 sibility of poorer germination expected 
 from this type of seeding. 
 
 This is the type of cultivation equipment recommended for working Cucamonga brome. The 
 blades shear off the grass below the soil surface, but leave the plants on top to protect against 
 erosion and reseed themselves. Deep tillage does not work as well. 
 
 [4] 
 
m 
 
 i , : 
 
 1 ji > ■iNn 
 
 ** I' '1 ':■ I 
 
 This shows the desired effect of shallow tillage on Cucamonga brome. Most of the covercrop 
 material has been left on top of the soil where it gives protection against erosion and is able to 
 reseed itself. 
 
 In a bearing vineyard, it is well to 
 broadcast the seed before the grapes are 
 picked. The seed will then be trampled 
 into the soil during the picking operation. 
 
 For road banks and burned-over 
 areas, broadcasting is probably the only 
 method that can be used. If possible, road 
 banks should be harrowed previous to 
 seeding— better stands will result— but in 
 burned-over areas, the seed may be broad- 
 cast directly into the ash. A heavy rate of 
 seeding will improve such Stands. 
 
 Nitrogen is the most 
 efficient fertilizer 
 
 Nitrogen is the most important ferti- 
 lizing element needed for a good stand of 
 Cucamonga brome that will protect the 
 soil against erosion. The recommended 
 rate for applying nitrogen is about 40 
 pounds per acre (equal to 200 pounds of 
 
 ammonium sulphate per acre) . The ferti- 
 lizer should be applied every year in the 
 fall, before the rains start. The fertilizer 
 may be broadcast or drilled. 
 
 When Cucamonga brome is used as 
 cover in a vineyard, the nitrogen that is 
 applied as fertilizer becomes available to 
 the grape vines when the covercrop has 
 decomposed. 
 
 Cultivate in early spring 
 for the best results 
 
 To insure the best seed germination 
 for the following year's crop, Cucamonga 
 brome should be worked down in the 
 early spring, after some of the seeds are 
 filled. If planted in a vineyard, cultiva- 
 tion should be done before the grapes 
 start to leaf out. 
 
 Examine the plants to see that the seeds 
 are matured before cultivating. 
 
 [5] 
 
Work the covercrop so that a mulch is 
 left on the surface of the soil, as shown in 
 the photo on page 5. 
 
 While disking is the most popular way 
 of working in covercrops, it is probably 
 not as good as some others for Cuca- 
 monga brome because it tends to bury 
 too much of the grass and leave none on 
 top for a mulch. Disking will work, how- 
 ever, but must be done later than if sub- 
 surface tillage is practiced. In any case, 
 leave enough mulch on top for protec- 
 tion. 
 
 For best results, it is recommended that 
 one of the newer type machines that give 
 subsurface tillage be used— either the 
 sweep, blade, or rod type weeders de- 
 signed for covercrop tillage. These will 
 leave enough mulch on top of the soil so 
 that the grass will tend to reseed itself 
 better, and give a heavier crop the follow- 
 ing year. When this type of equipment is 
 used, cultivation may be practiced earlier, 
 because the plants are left on top of the 
 soil and will mature seed, even after the 
 roots have been cut. 
 
 Head smut disease is easily 
 controlled by seed treatment 
 
 The only disease that has attacked 
 Cucamonga brome so far is head smut, 
 but this has been found to be easily con- 
 trolled by seed treatment, according to 
 Dr. George W. Fisher, Plant Pathologist 
 at Washington State College. 
 
 For treatment, apply either Arasan 
 dust or Tersan dust, at the rate of 3 to 4 
 ounces per bushel of seed, 3 to 4 days be- 
 
 fore planting. If more convenient, 2 
 ounces of 2 per cent Ceresan or ^2 ounce 
 of New Improved Ceresan per bushel may 
 be used. 
 
 In any case, the directions on the con- 
 tainer should be followed carefully, and 
 special care should be exercised in using 
 Ceresan to avoid seed injury. 
 
 Yield compares favorably 
 with that of other grasses 
 
 To determine the amount of cover pro- 
 vided by Cucamonga brome, yields were 
 measured against those of comparable 
 stands of domestic ryegrass, Lolium 
 multiflorum Lam. and soft brome, Bromus 
 mollis L., and the results are shown in the 
 table below. 
 
 Taking the averages of the figures 
 shown in the table, Cucamonga brome 
 produced almost 1% tons of mulch per 
 acre per year ; soft brome (one of the best 
 annual range grasses in California) pro- 
 duced a little over 1 ton per acre per 
 year. While ryegrass produced more 
 mulch the first year than either of the 
 others, it does not reseed itself, and only 
 a small amount of weed growth was pro- 
 duced in the second and third years to 
 provide erosion control. 
 
 Cucamonga brome is not 
 recommended for forage 
 
 While Cucamonga brome is a good, 
 palatable grass when it is young and 
 green, and it has no bad features such as 
 sharp-pointed seeds or long awns, its 
 early maturity greatly detracts from its 
 
 Amount of Mulch Produced by 3 Annual Grasses at San Fernando, California, 
 
 Seeded Dec. 6, 1946 
 
 Variety Air dry yield per acre — pounds 
 
 First year Second year Third year Total 
 
 Cucamonga brome 2,870 1,480 4,220 8,570 
 
 Soft brome 2,320 1,690 3,130 7,140 
 
 Domestic ryegrass 3,670 3,670 
 
 Normal 
 Rainfall in inches 16.38 7.49 8.23 16.53 
 
 [6] 
 
This is the seed of Cucamonga brome. On the left is the pure, cleaned seed, and on the right 
 is a mixture of seed and rice hulls. The rice hulls are added to make for easier drilling (see page 4). 
 
 forage value. Other grasses will provide 
 as much feed, and will remain green for 
 a longer period. 
 
 However, if Cucamonga brome is pas- 
 tured, it will be palatable and nutritious 
 up to the time the seeds begin to mature. 
 
 Seed, what it is like and 
 where it may be obtained 
 
 Seed of Cucamonga brome is about % 6 
 to V2 mcn l° n g? averages about 136,500 
 seeds to the pound— there are about 25 
 pounds in a bushel. The short awn found 
 on the seed in the field is removed when 
 the seed is cleaned, making it easier to 
 run through the planter. 
 
 Good Cucamonga brome seed should 
 have a purity of over 97 per cent, and a 
 germination rate of more than 80 per 
 cent. 
 
 A limited supply of the seed for cover- 
 cropping is currently available to farmers 
 in soil conservation districts from Soil 
 Conservation Service production. 
 
 Foundation seed for seed production 
 purposes can be made available through 
 the S.C.S. or through the California Crop 
 Improvement Association. Farmers inter- 
 ested in obtaining seed should contact 
 either their local Soil Conservation Serv- 
 ice officer, or office of the County Farm 
 Advisor. 
 
 In order that the information in our publications may be more intelligible, it is sometimes 
 necessary to use trade names of products and equipment rather than complicated descriptive or 
 chemical identifications. In so doing, it is unavoidable in some cases that similar products which 
 are on the market under other trade names may not be cited. No endorsement of named products 
 is intended nor is criticism implied of similar products which are not mentioned. 
 
 Cooperative Extension work in Agriculture and Home Economics, College of Agriculture, 
 
 University of California, and United States Department of Agriculture cooperating. 
 
 Distributed in furtherance of the Acts of Congress of May 8, and June 30, 1914. 
 
 J. Earl Coke, Director, California Agricultural Extension Service. 
 
 15m-ll,'50(2578)WP 
 
 [7] 
 
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