This document provides a great deal of background about this invasive plant and its management.

Here is a link that might be useful: STEWARDSHIP ABSTRACT

Pick your battles well. Try to suppress it in one area (the area you want it removed from most), then see what happens from there. Move through your property trying this approach. As stated by esh, it is an annual, so try to reduce the population by removing seed heads prior to distribution.
As for garlic mustard, I have it, but have really reduced it through herbicide treatments. I absolutely refuse to let this plant win. I will likely die with a backpack sprayer in hand..........

Rx

Hi esh, we have tried for the last two years not to let it go to seed (using the weed wacker), however it is still as thick if not more thick than ever.

Thank you JAYK for the very imformative article. Interesting that this horrible plant actually makes changes to the soil , i.e. "thinner organic horizons." Also, since this monster raises the ph of the soil, it does in face make the soil less hospitable for woodland natives which often require a low ph.

I wonder why we don't read more about this kind of thing happening to our forests (in the mainstream press)??? What is happening to all the little critters whose sources of food and shelter have been replaced by this stilt grass?

That is good advice. Until recently, I did not even know that I could plant anything in that area....I was under the impression tht wetlands were to be totally left alone.

I know people who have been fined for what they saw as wetlands restoration, but which the wetland officials saw as interfering with wetlands.

It is all very confusing to me, and I will proceed very, very slowly. Thanks for the advice

Keep in mind that once seeds are distributed, they remain viable for some time. Some people refer to it as a "seed bank". You may be dealing with seeds from 3-4 years ago, despite your best efforts to cut down crops these last two years. Also, seeds from birds, wind and even via water continue to move in.

Good luck.

Hi folks, I've only recently found out about Jap stilt grass, but it really sounds like a nightmare for those who have it. I was wondering if anyone had tried using some kind of pre-emergent control like 'Preen'. I saw them mentioned in the article as providing good control, but only as a one or two sentence comment.

I would think this would be a good choice since it shouldn't damage the perennial wildflowers -other than stopping their seed germination for a few years until the seedbank of stilt grass decreases. Am I missing something? I'm sure it's not the cheapest method, and like I said I'm just learning about the problem recently, but to me it seems like a good way to keep most of the natives you have while at the same time controlling some of the S-grass invasion.

My entire yard has been invaded by this nasty stuff. It's true that the seeds remain viable for a long time (up to ten yrs according to some sites) so you have to be really vigilant if you want to eradicate it. Forever, it seems, as seeds can blow in from adjacent properties. It's not a problem in lawns, as they are mown constantly and it can't produce seeds. But you see it taking over all the woods around here. That and the japanese honeysuckle. I commend all of you who are working to keep your woodlands natural (and native) and fighting the evil invasives. -Aislinn

Esh, You make such good points! After reading your post, I wondered over to a conservation area which is in back of our woods---filled with the horrible weed!!! So even though we do not let the part in our yard go to seed, we still will get seeds.

The group who owns the conservation lands has a "do not touch" policy, so I would not legally be able to pull up or weed wack the stilt grass there. Their phiosophy is that nature ultimately does the right thing.

What do you think about this kind of policy? In my opinion, nature always does the right thing when we stay out of its way...However my town kills the natural preditors of the deer...So, in intervening to protect the deer, we are putting at risk all of the little creatures who depend on the native plants which the deer eat.

We still have tons of frogs, but we are seeing fewer of the birds who depended on the native plants. For example, if you look at the bloom time of the Cardinal Flowers and the migration of the hummingbirds, you will be in awe of how it all fits together. However, since the deer have been eating the Cardinal Flowers, what are the hummers to do? I am upset at the moment because I put in some replacement Cardinal Flowers for the hummers the deer ate---and last night the deer ate the replacements.

Do you think that in favoring one species over all others (deer), we may be throwing our whole enviornment out of wack?

No informed or responsible wildland manager believes that "nature ultimately does the right thing" when it comes to invasive species. "Nature" in this instance has been compromised by introduction of species that have no natural check. While there may be various opinions regarding the ways to deal with the problem, there is no disagreement among biologists and ecologists worldwide that the problem exists, and the "hands off" approach is irresponsible. I would contact those responsible for the land in question, and make sure that they are actually following the intentions of their parent organization. For a good background on these issues, the link is to the Nature Conservancy, a well known responsible group that works tirelessly to improve the ecological health of the lands they care for.

Here is a link that might be useful: TNC Invasive Species Initiative

It really sounds as though you'll need to deal with the deer population, or any attempt at correcting the problem will be doomed. Are you sufficiently far out in the country to invite someone to cull them? If not, perhaps you'll need to look into fencing.

A fine example of the "nature knows best" foolishness with respect to invasives is this post on another forum, where the postee asserts that stiltgrass infestations will somehow magically disappear in ten years:

http://cpanel.wispme.com/pipermail/mpwg_lists.plantconservation.org/2004-July/000372.html

Even if you could eliminate the stilt grass, and the 4 years of viable seeds, the deer will again eat the natives. If it is not your land, you have little recourse. I don't fence, but I do use chemical herbicide on stilt grass. I started with small areas, letting natives come back and supplementing with planted natives. In 2 years, I have beween 1 and 2 acres under control - but the grass seed blows in, so it's constant vigilance on tiny grass starts. Unfortunately the deer will gladly eat the calycanthus and deciduous holly unless I coat leaves with TreeGuard, and by January, when they are starving they will eat Christmas fern and bitter sprayed leaves as well. I wish I could use no chemicals, and I try to be very sparing, but I believe that it is impossible organically and very labor-intensive nonorganically.