Eradicating Johnson Grass in field.
wantonamara Z8 CenTex
5 years ago
Featured Answer
Sort by:Oldest
Comments (25)
wantonamara Z8 CenTex
5 years agoVulture61
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoRelated Discussions
Johnson Grass contains cyanide??
Comments (5)What was written about Jonson grass is true. I think I might be inclined to keep cattle off a pasture if that is the principle grass growing in it, after a frost gets the young grass, for at least a week, maybe longer. As written, I don't think hay, if well cured, would be a problem. I think it is more toxic for horses than for cattle, but can also affect cattle, if eaten at the wrong times. It is one of the grasses that, in general, is not a problem, but which can become one. I think, because it's only sometimes a problem, people get complacent and start to disbelieve. And, once it gets into a field, it's hard to get out, due to its growth habits, and can crowd out other grasses. It is also a fast growing grass, so offers a lot of feed value quickly - if you discount the toxicity. Red maple leaves, when wilted, are toxic to horses because of the cyanide they develop. I think a couple of the other maples can be toxic as well. I don't knw about their affect on cattle, but imagine it affects them as well. Fresh are fine, it's only as they wilt... Wilted wild cherries are also known to be toxic to horses. I believe that the "abortion storm" that hit the Tb breeding farms in KY a few years ago was caused by broodmares ingesting tent caterpillars that had been eating wild cherry, but may be misremembering - it was a couple of years ago, and I don't have brodmares, so only noted it in passing, so to speak. Most grazing animals won't eat pokeweed, as far as I know, although birds love the berries. If there was little else to eat in a field, then it might become a problem. I think I would do what I could to limit its presence in any fields I had access to....See MoreThistle eradication?
Comments (15)I have a lot of milk thistle (the one with the white variegation) and one or two other kinds that are a little smaller. I don't worry about them until early spring (except in the garden and lawn), and just mow them a couple times in spring when they start to flower but before they set seed. Then at least for my work in thistle fighting I get a considerable amount of compost and mulch for the garden. Fewer of them come up these days than when I first started this, but it's impossible to mow the entire countryside and the wind blown seed tends to get around. I've actually kind of learned to not mind the thistles due to the amount of compost they produce - milk thistle in particular is a great compost crop. Next season I'm putting in some cardoon and artichokes since their cousins seem so happy here. For the lawn I have a manual coring aerator and that's my thistle and dandelion killer. I just go around the lawn and take cores from the center of the rosettes. That leaves cores with the taproot on the surface to die, and the aeration improves the health of the lawn by loosening the soil and improving watcher catching capability and retention, and providing some loose surface soil for overseeded fescue to hide from the birds under and germinate. That can be a lot of cores, but a good job of aeration will take a core ever 6" or so....See MoreWhat are you eradicating this year?
Comments (63)Most of what I'm doing is not exactly eradication, it's more trying to control rampant growth. I'm trying to limit Virginia creeper and meadow phlox to a reasonable section of the garden. Virginia creeper is fine in the woodier areas, but not everywhere where it can trip unwary passersby (and me) and smother other plants. Meadow phlox too is wonderful in bloom and the hummingbirds love it but the roots become deep and broad and woe to other more modest plants in its vicinity. A byproduct of this selective removal came yesterday when I started pulling out the meadow phlox under a rose where I was trying to establish some new daylilies. Mixed in with the phlox were were some plants with tiny white flowers that I'd never seen before. I left them there thinking they were native but I checked the Connecticut Botanical Society's Wildflower site and I think they were the very invasive Garlic Mustard which I've never seen before. I say were because I watered them this morning and then carefully pulled them all out along with their roots. I put them in a bag along with the poison ivy seedling I found the day before. Like PM2 I use the pooper-scooper technique of grabbing the poison ivy plant with the plastic bag on the hand and then inverting the bag to cover the plant, which gets inserted in another bag and sent to the trash. Claire...See MoreJohnson Grass
Comments (16)If bermuda grass is evil, Johnson Grass is EVIL, EVIL, EVIL. It grows at a speed and depth that make bermuda grass look wimpy. You have a choice. You can have a lovely garden with desirable plants of all kinds, or you can have Johnson grass. You cannot have both. Left to its own devices, Johnson grass will crowd out everything else you grow, including bermuda grass. If that doesn't scare you, it should. I would not grow Johnson grass on purpose, not one little sprig. It is insanity to consider letting it grow on your property on purpose. I fight it tooth and nail, and I don't always win, but I keep plugging away. We have a lot less Johnson grass now than we did when we first moved here, but we'll likely never get rid of it all. There are a million theories about how to improve clay. All that has worked for me is the constant addition of organic matter, including growing green manure crops, cover crops and compost crops. You never reach a point where you have improved your clay enough and can stop improving it, because our heat here breaks down all that organic matter much more quickly than we can add more. Johnson grass is not the solution you think it will be. I see more gardens abandoned by late June here because new gardeners underestimated how quickly and how thick Johnson grass would come back and take over their garden plot than for any other reason. After two or three years of letting the Johnson grass take back the garden land, they simply give up gardening. If you ever let Johnson grass get the upper hand, you'll want to give up gardening too because you'll find yourself in a fight you cannot win....See Morewantonamara Z8 CenTex
5 years agocarrie751
5 years agoVulture61
5 years agowantonamara Z8 CenTex
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoVulture61
5 years agowantonamara Z8 CenTex
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoVulture61
5 years agowantonamara Z8 CenTex
5 years agobostedo: 8a tx-bp-dfw
5 years agowantonamara Z8 CenTex
5 years agomemetexas
5 years agoklem1
5 years agogarybeaumont_gw
5 years agoklem1
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agowantonamara Z8 CenTex
5 years agoklem1
5 years agoflowergirl70ks
5 years agogarybeaumont_gw
5 years agowantonamara Z8 CenTex
5 years ago
Related Stories
GARDENING GUIDESGreat Design Plant: Purple Needle Grass, California’s State Grass
The long-lived, drought-tolerant Stipa pulchra is as admired for its benefits as for its good looks
Full StoryGARDENING GUIDESHow to Get Your Prairie On
Have a field day with your landscape, even if you've got just a few modern containers on a paved path
Full StoryPLANTING IDEAS7 Ways to Use Drifts and Masses In Your Garden
Whether in formal or natural landscapes, grasses or succulents planted en masse elevate the garden
Full StorySAVING WATERGreat Plants for Lush, Low-Water Gardens
Water restrictions making your garden look washed out? Give it living color with unthirsty grasses, flowers and succulents
Full StoryGARDENING GUIDESGive Your Turf the Fall Tune-up It Deserves
Treat your battered lawn to a little TLC this fall, and it will reward you with lush, healthy grass come spring
Full StoryMOST POPULARMeet a Lawn Alternative That Works Wonders
Carex can replace turfgrass in any spot, is low maintenance and adjusts easily. Add its good looks and you’ve got a ground cover winner
Full StoryTHE ART OF ARCHITECTUREHouzz Tour: Wild Cats Roam This Amazing Modern Prairie House
Stunning architecture competes for attention with fabulous felines in an eye-popping home near Oklahoma City
Full StoryEARTH DAYThe Case for Losing the Traditional Lawn
Work less, help the environment and foster connections by just saying no to typical turf
Full StoryTASTEMAKERSWomen Who Are Changing the World From the Ground Up
A new book, ‘The Earth in Her Hands,’ profiles 75 inspiring women who work with plants. Read about 10 of them here
Full StoryGARDENING FOR BUTTERFLIESButterfly Gardening: Delight the Eyes With Living Sculptures
Surprise and thrill with a garden that attracts magical winged creatures, bringing color, movement and life
Full StorySponsored
garybeaumont_gw