Vasey grass and fox tail control

[StuartDK45SE]

Long story short, I am trying to get a couple of small jigs grass fields back into shape here on the Texas gulf coast. The vasey grass has been a problem for a while, especially in low spots. The fox tail is what caught me off guard. Holy cow, that stuff spread and covered one field in no time. My understanding is that Pastora may work on the vasey. Impose would be better, but stunts the jigs longer? Is pastora effective on fox tail?

My goal was for this to be a repair season. Back in April I sprayed straight 30 nitrogen mixed with Chaparral. There are still fair amounts of jigs left, enough to where I think I can salvage my late father's once beautiful fields.

Any suggestions for the vasey and fox tail?


Thanks

 

[kthompson]

I am in process of moving our small farm from row crops to hay with this being the first year of the process. With row crops had not paid attention to the grass as roundup ready seed allowed me to use roundup which kept it under control. Had never heard of vasey grass this July of this year. Have no idea what "jigs" means or is. I suggest you look at the Ag School in your state web site for their recommendation on herbicide. If you don't find that quickly go to Clemson's web site and at Forage Grass Weed Section of the Clemson Pest Management book. You can see what herbicides treat each of those weeds. Has worked well for me. I am sure many Ag Schools have such and if Texas does think it would be best to use as it would be more local.

 

[powerscol]

Fox tail here has a two year life cycle so if you cut and collect the seed heads before they ripen and do the same the second year the problem should be reduced. On my 3 acres I try and pull the fox tail out by the routs.

 

[StuartDK45SE]

Thanks for the replies. My feed store guy say basically nothing will work on the fox tail. We are going to try one quart of roundup per acre and see if that will knock it back enough and not hurt the jiggs too much. The vasey we are going to try plateau on.

 

[StuartDK45SE]

Updating for people that might do searches in the future. Per recommendation of my feed store, I did the following.

6 ounces of Plateau per acre
1 pint of round up per acre

This combination seems to be working the best in my area. They said 1 pint of roundup per acre will stunt my jigs, but certainly not kill it. I still have good patches of Jiggs here and there, I am hoping the herbicide will knock back the vasey and fox tail some to where the jigs will take back over.

 

[F3506]

I played with roundup some this year too. What I found was, waiting up to 2 weeks after cutting (depending on regrowth) affects the control. Coastal/Jiggs both seem to be stunted about the same with the round up, but waiting longer, until the undesirables are growing, really makes a difference in what survives. Spraying 3 or 4 days after cutting seems to have the least amount of control.

I've been fighting some Johnsongrass and Silver bluestem that took over when we had the drought. I see no reason the same thing won't work on foxtail. I used 12 oz per acre, with better results by waiting longer after a cutting.

 

[D2Cat]

I baled up about 30 bales of foxtail a few years ago to test out a baler I had just bought and had all my hay done. It was about 15" high, and I asked the neighbor if he mind if I cut and bales some. He said I was welcome and it would save him some spray.

My cows would eat that foxtail before any brome I had!

In Kansas Johnson grass is considered a noxious weed. In Texas they bale it and sell it!

 

[hosspuller]

The problem with foxtail is not its forage value. It's the barbs on the seed head. They get stuck in the ears, mouth or throat of the animal. Then you have an expensive vet bill or a sick animal.

 

[Texasmark]

Foxtail is permanent if you ask me. UGH but great if you need cheap ground cover.

Johnson grass is a main stream hay food around here. That's available when a lot of other things aren't.