What kind of grass is this?

Help Support CattleToday:

kenojoe

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 11, 2004
Messages
181
Reaction score
0
Location
cynthiana,ky
I was clipping my pasture this week and noticed what looks like crabgrass. This stuff is in a clump up tp 1 foot in diameter and grows in a clump no more than 3 or 4 inches tall The leaves are about 1/2 wide and are turning purpleish in color out towards the last third of the leaf . It does not have any seeds yet. Sorry I don't have pictures, I will try to get some next week. I thought it was crabgrass but I can't find any pictures that show it with the wide purple leaves. I have looked at foxtail and goosegrass and thats not it. I tried to pull some up and it is some tuff stuff. Any ideas? Thanks Joe
 
The leaves of my stuff are up to 6" long and 1/2" wide. I will post a picture as soon as possible. With all of the grasses and weeds that we are all blessed with I guess a picture is worth a thousand words!
 
Little Blue Stem is a warm season native grass, leaves are less the 1/4 inch wide. Tall Prairie bunch grass. Grows normally 16-24 inches tall and is a desirable species. Can be shorter or taller depending on soil conditions. The redish purple color of Little Blue Stem increases as it matures.

Kenojoe, I'm going to wait for a pic for my guess
 
Jogeephus":1fr1ks04 said:
I just looked up foxtail and here is one that resembles it and does have the purple on the leaves at all times. Base also has purple on it. For your sake, I hope it is not vassey grass as it is a scourge here.

http://jackson.ifas.ufl.edu/stockman/images/new_pa3.jpg

I just sprayed some Vassey Grass in my hay fields while spraying Johnson grass so I can let you know in a week or so if Outrider will kill it. However, I have not noticed any Vassey grass in my pastures. Do you have it in pasture?
 
alabama":3dfiudsh said:
Jogeephus":3dfiudsh said:
I just looked up foxtail and here is one that resembles it and does have the purple on the leaves at all times. Base also has purple on it. For your sake, I hope it is not vassey grass as it is a scourge here.

http://jackson.ifas.ufl.edu/stockman/images/new_pa3.jpg

I just sprayed some Vassey Grass in my hay fields while spraying Johnson grass so I can let you know in a week or so if Outrider will kill it. However, I have not noticed any Vassey grass in my pastures. Do you have it in pasture?

A little in pasture but mainly in one hayfield. It is a scourge. I detest it but it is very easy to kill. Problem is the seed load. I got a cheap off label prescription to kill it if you ever have a problem with it. I also have another idea I'm going to try on the seeds.
 
LaneFarms":qsv7wjzw said:
To kill Vasseygrass I spot spray it with round up. Is there any other cheap options?

I lost the battle spot spraying so a friend of mine at experiment station suggested broadcasting 8 ounces of roundup as soon as you get the hay off the field. They did experiments on this but I don't know if its labelled yet. This does little to no damage to your bermuda and a lot less damage than cadre or plateau.(there is some lee way on the rate but unless you want it to look like a cadre sprayed field don't excede a quart and a half - 12 or so ounces is safe) If you are leary of this, then wait till frost and you can do it then or do it just before greenup in the spring. After frost you will notice that vasseygrass is more cold tolerant than bermuda and will still be green and the roundup will work well. I will say this, vassey grass is extremely susceptible to roundup.

As for the seed problem, I'm going to keep this one to myself for now - at least until I test it good - as I'd rather screw up may land rather than yours with one of my hair-brained ideas.
 
Here are the pictures:

farm_switches_066.jpg


farm_switches_068.jpg


farm_switches_067.jpg
 
1982vett":12o05va5 said:
Crabgrass

Or if the seed spikes are big it could be goosegrass. But from the one side spike it looks like crabgrass to me.
 
alabama wrote:
Jogeephus wrote:
I just looked up foxtail and here is one that resembles it and does have the purple on the leaves at all times. Base also has purple on it. For your sake, I hope it is not vassey grass as it is a scourge here.

http://jackson.ifas.ufl.edu/stockman/images/new_pa3.jpg


I just sprayed some Vassey Grass in my hay fields while spraying Johnson grass so I can let you know in a week or so if Outrider will kill it. However, I have not noticed any Vassey grass in my pastures. Do you have it in pasture?


A little in pasture but mainly in one hayfield. It is a scourge. I detest it but it is very easy to kill. Problem is the seed load. I got a cheap off label prescription to kill it if you ever have a problem with it. I also have another idea I'm going to try on the seeds.


The Outrider is not having much effect on the Vassey grass but then I only used 1.5 OZ per acre. It has killed the stew out of johnson grass though. The lable says use 2 OZ per acre and you maye need it on the vassey grass but 1.5 OZ did not even make it sick.
 
Looks like crabgrass to me too.

The vassey grass is a scourge. To bad its not nutritious to cattle. Seems like its achilles heel is its cold tolerance and will stay green much longer than bermuda. Also, it is very sensitive to roundup I suspect because it grows so fast.
 
1982vett":237ddyfy said:
kenojoe":237ddyfy said:
Here are the pictures:

farm_switches_066.jpg


farm_switches_068.jpg


farm_switches_067.jpg

Crabgrass
Thanks for fixing the size of my pictures. I keep thinking this is some kind of crabgrass, if you look at the bottom of one of the pictures you can see my boot to give you some idea of the plant size. This stuff seems to hug the ground more than growing tall. Still at a loss as to what it is. Thanks for all the replies. Joe
 
I've got the same stuff, I call Crabgrass. Not a problem in the pastures, but in annual crops it's a pain. Easy kill in the corn fields.
 
I think we have a winner. I looked at the link for Dallisgrass and that looks pretty much like what is taking over. The bad thing is it looks like it is hard to get rid of. Any ideas on how to eradicate it out of a field?
 

Latest posts

Top