There was, however, one more hitch. Although Switchgrass seed needed moist chilling to germinate, germination itself would not proceed satisfactorily until the soil was warm. This wouldn't be such a problem, except for the fact that Virginia has lots of weed species that DO germinate in cool soils, presenting a formidable competitive challenge to the slower-germinating Switchgrass sown in April...a challenge it didn't rise to very well! The obvious solution was to sow seed much later, like July.....but easier said than done. Summer sowing of any seed must contend with a variety of impediments: severe water deficits which greatly inhibit germination, high temperatures which enhance rapid water evaporation from the soil, which inhibits seedling establishment, and more weed problems caused by plowing the soil and exposing more dormant weed seeds. But Drs. Wolf and Parrish postulated that a summer sowing could succeed if the seed were sown using "no-till" methodology. The no-till technique involves killing the existing weeds with an herbicide to eliminate weeds that would compete with young Switchgrass seedlings. The seed is then sown with a special seeder which disturbs the soil minimally and allows existing dead weeds to remain as mulch. Mulch inhibits water loss and moderates soil temperature extremes. They were right! Summer-sown Switchgrass still had plenty of time to mature before frost and could be harvested or grazed with considerably less competition from weeds.

• Through fermentation, it can be used to produce methanol, methane, ethanol, and ethane, as alternatives to imported oil.
• As a combustible biomass, 1.5 acres of switchgrass, properly baled, is equivalent in heat energy to that of the oil needed to heat a typical house for one year.