What is this junk?

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Beefy

Beefy

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Jan 2, 2004
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Georgia
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name that grass.
 
I really can't see the weed very well, but we have been inundated with vassey grass and it is a growing problem Just wicked one pasture with Roundup to see if I can kill it. Take some to your agent for ID and let us know.

Billy
 
I agree with txag. Looks like smutgrass to me too. And the cows not only don't like it very much, but they don't like it worth a sht and I have never seen cattle eat it. Maybe if they were starving they may consider it.
 
It appears to be smutgrass to me. I have no trouble getting my cows to eat it, especiaaly if you pastures are clipped on a regular basis. They have done quite well in the past on it especially during drought times. Of course these are multi-generation cattle that were taught to eat it by their mothers and grandmothers.
 
It gets the name smut grass from the fungus that grows on the seedheads. It has a smutty appearance. It can be toxic to cattle but I've never heard of cows dying from it.
 
BC":lwomjwqj said:
It appears to be smutgrass. Cows will eat the stuff, but have to be forced to eat it.
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Just out of curiousity, will they eat it when it's vegative and start avoiding it once it's gone reproductive? Or do they just not like eating it at any time unless forced to?

dun
 
We have smut grass, cows will eat it fine as long as it hasn't gone to seed...but once gone to seed they won't touch it. that's one reason we shred our pastures. not only to top the smut grass that's there but to controll weeds.
 
TXCOWBOY":2lm9lygp said:
Anyone sprayed Velpar to control smutgrass? Label says it controls it but curious if that is true.
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I've looked into herbicide for the stuff and Velpar is all I can find that's recommended. But Velpar scares the heck out of me. I've seen too many oaks bite the dust when it was used on clay type soils. I've used Power Pellets (a pelletized version of the active ingredient in Velpar) to kill yaupon in sandy loams. I dropped a pellet each into several clumps of smutgrass (away from any oak trees) and I'm waiting to see the result.
 
jersey lilly":1f8jeosq said:
We have smut grass, cows will eat it fine as long as it hasn't gone to seed...but once gone to seed they won't touch it. that's one reason we shred our pastures. not only to top the smut grass that's there but to controll weeds.
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I shredded a pasture with just a few clumps of smutgrass and now I've probably got hundreds of clumps. It seems like shredding scatters the seed, or maybe just makes it mad :roll: .
 
milesvb":212kkuuc said:
TXCOWBOY":212kkuuc said:
Anyone sprayed Velpar to control smutgrass? Label says it controls it but curious if that is true.
Click to expand...

I've looked into herbicide for the stuff and Velpar is all I can find that's recommended. But Velpar scares the heck out of me. I've seen too many oaks bite the dust when it was used on clay type soils. I've used Power Pellets (a pelletized version of the active ingredient in Velpar) to kill yaupon in sandy loams. I dropped a pellet each into several clumps of smutgrass (away from any oak trees) and I'm waiting to see the result.
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Seemed pretty harsh to me too. Don't want to burn down the trees either. I believe I saw a 70 day waiting period on that stuff too!
 
so if they do eat it that means i have a lot more than i think i do. is it a native grass? if so and its drought tolerant as a poster suggested maybe i should let it be if they will in fact eat it. if not its toast.
 
The trouble with the "live and let live" approach with smutgrass is that, although the cattle might eat it prior to emergence of seedheads and/or soon after shredding, it will nevertheless go to seed and eventually take over the pasture. Over time you'll have more and more of those thick clumps of it, making more & more seed to spread to other pastures. The last time we had it was on a place that got turned into rowcrop land so I'm not positive of the best herbicide to use. I think txag mentioned Roundup and I guess that would be what I'd try first for spot spraying. If Roundup doesn't work and you are afraid of Velpar because of nearby trees, etc. I'd probably do a little test by spot spraying with an extra heavy dose of Remedy + water + surfacant to see if that kills it and if it doesn't I'd use a heavier concentration of Remedy & diesel. The Remedy/diesel mix has killed out virtually every kind of grass I've had growing around huisach bushes & trees when it's the later species that I was aiming to kill -- but that's an expensive route for killing grass. Like most undesirable stuff, it is drought tolerant.
 
We have a recent infestation of Vassey grass which also is a tall weed and is like Arnold said, starting to take over. I wicked it this week using Roundup at 50% solution and it seems to be killing it. Wicking allows one to kill tall grasses and is realtively cheap, so it might work with smutgrass? Time will tell.

billy
 
It's smuttgrass, if anyone knows how to get rid of it they will soon be besieged with gratitude.
 
MrBilly":39zksqvn said:
Wicking allows one to kill tall grasses and is realtively cheap, so it might work with smutgrass?
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wicking with Roundup will work on smutgrass. of course, the kill won't be as good as spot-spraying but it sure saves on time.
 
IN SW FLORIDA IFAS RECOMMENDS VELPAR TO CONTROL SMUTGRASS AS IT DOESNT KILL THE BAHIA UNDERNEATH IF APPLIED PROPERLY. THEY REC. 2 QTS. VELPAR/20 GALLONS OF WATER PER ACRE. STAY AWAY FROM THE OAK TREES. DONT APPLY IT NEAR DITCHES OR STANDING WATER. YET IT NEEDS TO BE WET SO THE SOLUTION GETS DOWN TO THE ROOTS. WE HAVE SOME VELPAR AND ARE SLOWLY EXPERIMENTING WITH IT.

IF APPLIED TOO STRONG. IT DOES KILL THE HECK OUT OF EVERYTHING.

OUR NEXT EXPERIMENT IS TO SPOT/SOAK THE CENTERS OF EACH PLANT. WE HAVE 18 ACRES WE ARE WORKING ON. STRONGLY INFESTED W/SMUGRASS BUT IN PATCHES. WE ARE SLOWLY DOING THIS W/7 CATTLE IN THERE. THEY ARE TAME AND WE OCCUPY THEM W/FEED AND THEY ARE GOOD TO STAY OUT OF OUR WAY, AS WE WORK IN THE OPPOSITE CORNER FROM THEM.

MOM SUE
 

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