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Re: Johnson Grass



Ed and Gale wrote:

> In June we sprayed four acres of fescue with a few small patches of Johnson
> grass and a little sweet clover with round-up prior to planting a warm
> season grass and forb mix. (new CRP contract) The round-up was not very
> effective and we ran out of time to meet contract planting deadlines so we

After years of use, many of the fields here have RR resistant Johnsongrass.
Itdies back, but comes back after about 3 weeks. I also think Illinois
Bundleflower
may have resistance, too along with Maximillian Sunflower.

> In some spots the Johnson grass is in neat rows with the corn and milo
> leading me to believe the seed in the drill was contaminated. Other areas
> appear to be patches that are twenty times bigger than they were last
> season. So far I have spot sprayed ten gallons of a 5oz/gal mix of round-up
> to control the explosion of Johnson grass on just four acres.
>
> Could the discs on the drill have cut up and spread the rhizomes?
> Has anyone else had problems like these?

I think it was the warm winter that helped the Johnson Grass more than
anything else. It does not like to get cold or to get dried out. S Illinois is
a long way from Texas, but in our fields the natives will outcompete
Johnson Grass as long as you do not use N. I would mow or hay it now
and do that again every 25 days or so until the first frost. This winter
should be very cold. If you can keep it from seeding and keep hitting
it right before it boots, the cold weather will kill the rhizomes and few
plants will sprout from seeds. In addition, you can put extra seed from
an agressive native (like Switchgrass or E Gamagrass) on the patches
of Johnson Grass to ensure it gets competition in the coming years.

-Austin

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