Silvopasture provides an opportunity to integrate trees into pastures without sacrificing significant forage production. However, in the Midwest and East-central USA, tall fescue is the most utilized pasture grass species and some tree species perform poorly when grown with tall fescue. Our objective was to determine if tall fescue is more competitive with seedling trees than orchardgrass or Kentucky bluegrass and whether the endophyte status of tall fescue has an effect.  Seven groundcover treatments (Jesup novel endophyte tall fescue, a low yielding turf-type tall fescue, E- tall fescue, E+ tall fescue, orchardgrass, Kentucky bluegrass and a no vegetation control) were established in September 2002. Containerized black locust trees were planted into the plots in October 2003 and subjected to four management treatments (irrigation, fertilizer, irrigation and fertilizer, or nothing) during the 2004 and 2005 growing seasons. For the groundcover treatments, biomass production in the no vegetation control plots was significantly greater than in any of the grass treatments. Among the grass treatments, no significant differences in biomass production were found. For the management treatments, irrigation resulted in significantly greater biomass across all grass treatments. However, within each grass treatment, no significant differences in biomass yield resulted from the management treatments. Results from this study suggest that black locust growth in tall fescue, regardless of endophyte status, during the two years after establishment is not significantly different from growth in orchardgrass or Kentucky bluegrass.