Super Fakahatchee Grass – Biomass, Visual Barrier and Animal Forage – Florida Native – Divisions

Fakahatchee grass is a perennial, clumping grass native to Florida. There is an increasing interest in biomass plants that can be used in agroforestry for biomass production and animal forage. There has been some buzz around Fakahatchee grass to meet this need, which many people find of particular interest because it is native to Florida. The typical forms of Fakahatchee grass distributed in the nursery trade are only moderately suited to these uses due to the low and wide form of the plants as well as fairly limited biomass production compared to other species of clumping grass.

“Super Fakahatchee” is a rogue plant identified by our friend Taylor Walker. In a botanical garden setting, he noticed one particular clump had a very upright form as well as being larger and more robust compared to hundreds of other specimens. Taylor generously shared this clone with us to propagate. It would seem that this particular clump of Fakahatchee could have been a unique seedling or even a sport/mutation with more desirable traits for biomass production and agroforestry. This variety can grow to the height of a person and is very upright. At Cody Cove Farm it has shown good vigor, drought tolerance and overall good biomass production. We have no way to prove that this is genuinely a unique cultivar other than general observation. We can say though that at least one person on a tour of Cody Cove Farm familiar with Fakatachee grass commented on the unique form and vigor of these plants as we passed by, unprompted by us.

For some, this may be considered as a native alternative to agroforestry grass species such as vetiver grass. It may be used for erosion control, generating mulch for gardens and visual screens. Though we haven’t personally used it this way, there is researching showing that Fakatchee grass may be an optimal species for animal forage systems. A great article from University of Kentucky has this to say about Fakahatchee – “The major use of eastern gamagrass is as a forage crop. It is highly productive as intensively managed pasture, hay, and silage. Eastern gamagrass can be developed into an important component of forage for beef and dairy production systems.” In addition to grazing, it may have great potential for small scale cut-and-carry forage systems on small homesteads for rabbits, goats, etc.

Incredibly, this species showed no visible damage after the horrible 2026 freezes, which turned most of Cody Cove Farm brown. The potential for Super Fakahatchee as a cold tolerant, evergreen ornamental is high as well as a nutritional winter time animal forage on homesteads.

This listing is for 4 field dug, bare root divisions.

Tripsicum dactyloides