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06/22/14, 03:59 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Kansas
Posts: 14
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Getting rid of Johnsongrass
Any advice on getting rid of Johnson Grass for good?
We've got about 10 acres that have been totally taken over. We mowed it once this spring, and we'll mow it again before it goes to seed, but it's still spreading through rhizomes...
I'd rather not use herbicides (and it might be resistant anyway), but at this point I'd do anything to get rid of it...
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06/22/14, 04:26 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: NW OK
Posts: 3,479
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Mow it or eat it off but keep it under 3 or 4 inches tall.
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06/22/14, 04:42 PM
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Retired farmer-rancher
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: north-central Kansas
Posts: 2,897
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In my humble opinion, if you don't want chemicals, forget it.
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* I'm supposed to respect my elders, but its getting harder and harder for me to find one. .*-
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06/22/14, 06:23 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 16,334
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I agree with the other Kansan lol.
One year 2 yr ago, I plowed my big garden which had got it in it. Then I disced it every week. This is in NE Okla. I disced it through to frost. ALL the moisture was out of the ground. NOTHING was growing, including the JG> Come next spring it came up about as well as it had the year previous. I gave up and just sowed it in hay grazer.
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06/22/14, 07:01 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Whiskey Flats(Ft. Worth) , Tx
Posts: 8,749
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Piper_Scout
Any advice on getting rid of Johnson Grass for good?
We've got about 10 acres that have been totally taken over. We mowed it once this spring, and we'll mow it again before it goes to seed, but it's still spreading through rhizomes...
I'd rather not use herbicides (and it might be resistant anyway), but at this point I'd do anything to get rid of it...
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..............Try herbicides on an acre and see how effective it is ! You might decide to apply the other 9 next year . , fordy
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06/22/14, 07:27 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 503
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Fence it in and graze from frost to frost, 5 years is reccommended.
COWS
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06/22/14, 08:09 PM
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Living the dream.
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Morganton, NC
Posts: 1,982
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Yep, graze it. My goats and sheep eat it to the ground...
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06/22/14, 08:33 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Hondo, TX
Posts: 1,458
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I'd have to say it would be easier to learn to like it and live with it.
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" Do or do not, there is no try. " - Yoda
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06/22/14, 08:56 PM
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Join Date: May 2014
Location: westcentral Georgia
Posts: 72
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COWS has it right. Graze it and in about 5 years you will miss it because it's a good forage crop.
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06/22/14, 09:11 PM
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Dairy/Hog Farmer
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Catlett Creek Hog Farm Unit 1
Posts: 508
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Fertilize and bale it. With plenty of rain, you could get 2-3 cuttings.
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Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man,but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.
Proverbs 20:17
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06/22/14, 09:26 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 16,334
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yep, same as my Sudan Grass. BUT DONT let it go to head. IF IT DOEAS, wherever the cows who ate those heads drop, there be another start of JG.
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06/23/14, 05:28 AM
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Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Frederick, MD
Posts: 1,495
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Yep we just keep it mowed and bale it up here as well...
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06/23/14, 06:59 AM
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Join Date: May 2014
Location: westcentral Georgia
Posts: 72
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let me add that if you want to rid your self of JG you need to overgraze the pasture. simply putting 2 cows on ten ac might not be enough.
don't just graze but over graze.
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06/23/14, 10:02 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 16,334
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It occurred to me last night, that, on the 5 yr thing. IF I started this year, keeping it down, and went for 5 yrs doing so, That, whatever birds that brought the original seed aren't going to go away, there going to be back every year thereafter, and doing the same thing. So it seems to me that once you get it< IF sprays wont kill it, it will be a never ending battle to fight it.
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06/23/14, 11:44 AM
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 2,375
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Makes for pretty cheap meat if you graze it with sheep or goats. As long as you don't have drought. Then it can get pretty high in ??prussic?? acid which can be very dangerous to the animals grazing it.
Mary
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06/23/14, 11:55 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 16,334
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AND grazing on it after frost causes the same.
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06/23/14, 03:52 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: SE Oklahoma
Posts: 2,005
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If you graze it for five years, you will pretty much eliminate the JG. However----
if you till the soil after that, expect it back bigger and better than before. Fence it hog proof and till it at least every spring for several years. The hogs will eat the rhizomes and any seedling growth. Won't look pretty, but---------------------
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06/23/14, 06:13 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 16,334
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now that should work. Wonder how many hogs youd need to cover 5-10 acres.
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06/24/14, 12:32 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Kansas
Posts: 14
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Well, only ~2 acres are fenced, and we've got 6 Pygmy goats in there. They keep the JG right outside their barn about 24", but they'd rather eat the stuff it hasn't taken over (brome mostly). I don't think we could get permanent fencing around the rest for another couple years at least... Maybe temporary electric fencing, let a couple cows graze it down, then move it every other day or so? It would just be a lot of time and labor..
If you just kept it mowed really short for a few years, would that stress it enough to kill it?
Could you reseed really heavily it with something that would push out the JG?
As far as using chemicals, what's most effective (Roundup?) When and how would you apply it?
The prussic acid kind of worries me, the drought here just keeps getting worse, but some people do graze it fine so idk
I didn't even think about birds, Bill, but you're probably right they would just keep bringing it back...
I appreciate the advice, and patience lol
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06/24/14, 07:52 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 503
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It is not neceessary to overgraze it. Cows, and AFIK horses will search it out to graze, the love it when it is small. If it is tall and headed out they will eat the leaves and then graze new growth, leaving the stems. Seeds remain viable in the soil for a long time, not sure how long.
If you have surrounding property with JG you will always have problems. If you have some on your road frontage, spot spray it with Roundup, mopre than once.
COWS
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