Best way to Eliminate Quackgrass

Last fall I sprayed quackgrass growing on a small plot. I plowed and disced this spring and now I have almost more than I started with. What's the best way to eliminate quackgraas? I've read planting rye for a couple years will choke it out. True? Will buckwheat work also?

Larry

Spray Round-up when actively growing.
Brian(MN)

Spraying roundup is the simplest way to do it.

other than the round up, you need to be out on the hottest day and just keep cultivating over and over so the roots dry up. but round up is the quickest and cleanest kill.

An understanding of how the quackgrass grows will help avoid common errors in battling this plant. Quackgrass grows from underground rhizomes to an unmowed height of 1 to 4 feet. It has thin, flat, bright ashy green leaf blades. The seed spike grows from 3 to 8 inches long and appears in July. Quackgrass seed is often found in rye straw, so you may want to avoid using this as mulch in your garden. Each quackgrass plant produces about 25 seeds; they remain viable 3 to 5 years in the soil. It takes 2 to 3 months for a newly germinated plant to develop rhizomes. It is very important to eliminate the plants before they reach this stage.

Rhizomes (underground stems) are yellow to white, 1/8" in diameter, with distinct joints or nodes every inch or so. Each node is capable of producing fibrous roots, and sending a new blade of grass through the soil. The creeping rhizomes are so tough they can grow through a potato tuber, or push up through asphalt pavement. If left to grow, they will form a dense mat 4" thick in the upper part of the soil. One plant can produce 300 feet of rhizomes each year. Never use a rototiller where quackgrass is growing, because it amounts to propagating thousands of new plants from the chopped up rhizomes.

Chemical Control
The most effective way to eradicate quackgrass is by using a herbicide that contains glyphosate (Monsanto Roundup). It should be applied when there is no wind and when there will be no rain for 48 hours. The plant must be green and actively growing for best results. Glyphosate is a non-selective herbicide that will kill almost any green plant it contacts, and also can injure or kill woody plants. It is important to apply glyphosate only to the plants you want to eradicate.

One problem with using glyphosate on quackgrass is that up to 95% of the lateral buds on the rhizomes are dormant even though the plant is actively growing. Since herbicides are translocated from the leaves to actively growing plant tissue, after about 7 days the glyphosate degrades and the dormant lateral buds will start to grow new shoots. It may take more than one application to completely eradicate quackgrass.

One way to overcome lateral bud dormancy is to apply nitrogen fertilizer. This will break lateral bud dormancy, and the herbicide will be translocated to the now actively growing plant tissue and kill the entire plant. Repeat the application of glyphosate every 30 to 45 days; avoid cultivation for 2 weeks after each application.

Quackgrass usually thrives in unbalanced soil that lacks Calcium and is compacted.

Quackgrass is rhizonomus and also spreads from seeds. Glysopahate(Round Up) is the only way I know of to get rid of it but it is a tough competitor. If you have a minor infestation of it, spot treatment can help control it.

If you have a major infestation otr want togrow better forage grasses or alfalfa, spraying the entire area with Roundup, followed by a rotation into grain with subsequent treatments of Round Up between crops for several years can help get quack to managable levels.
The other possibility is to live with it. It makes good hay and grazing (no where near as good as orchard grass) and if you pencil out the costs of getting rid of it versus living with it, it might do to just live with it.

in sandy soil and 1 month with no rain (aint gona happen this year)a rotavater will dry the soil so bad it will die.As was said below cultivate or deep till when real hot out to dry it down.

Quackgrass is non-native to the Americas and was planted by the railroads during the 19th century to control erosion along the tracks.

It was highly recommended in the 1930s by the US Dept of Agriculture as a "hardy grass" to help control erosion. And that it is. We couldn't get rid of it until roundup came along. Now, it's beautiful for steep ditchbanks and roadsides in general as well as lanes and other non farmed areas. It's essential to be able to control it. It is an excellent mix with timothy for horses and, as my dad used to say,"A cow will never get sick from eating quack".

Spray it again and use more this time. If 1L/ac didn't kill it, go for 1.5... or more if you tried that and it didn't work.
Also needs to be done when the stuff is actively growing.

Rod

Biggest thing Dad always said was to never use a disc in quack. It'll cutr up the roots and then you'll have more coming up. This is where the old time Quack diggers came into play and now field cultivators as they will pull the roots up where they dry out, instead of cutting them and leaving them buried.

Round-up is about the only other way.

Donovan from Wisconsin

A good friend who worked for Eastern States did an article on quack grass/. barn grass/ witch grass.He had a lab tech test quack grass ,He found it was very high protein.He said that both of them almost got fired.Let grow and make it into hay.I had a patch of it in the hayfield and made hay for many years,my cattle never complained.

Buy Glysophate not necessarily Roundup, you may find a generic brand cheaper.