Is this rye grass?

[Cedar Ridge]

I’ve got a field where the grass pictured has absolutely exploded with all the rain we‘ve had in KY this Spring. I went from having a nice stand of winter wheat to this disaster in about 3 weeks. I’m thinking it’s rye grass and that I need to get it mowed before it matures further and then burned down with gly but I’ve already seen a fawn or two on camera and I’m terrified of hitting one with with bush hog. Any input on what I should do? I’ve never seen anything as aggressive as this and I shudder to think what the impact would be if all of this seed matures and hits the ground.

 

[Native Hunter]

Hey Cedar, the photo is hard for me to see well, but I think I'm mostly seeing Annual Brome. It has exploded here this year as well. Since it's an annual, it has to come back from seed each year, so stopping the seeding is a good thing.

With mowing with a tractor it is hard to get all of the seed, because the tires mash a lot of it down. Gly is very effective, but you have to spray before the seed have become viable. I had one spot like yours this spring where I wanted a plot this year. I sprayed a few weeks ago and have since planted some clover and mowed the dead brome thatch over it with my Grasshopper. See below where I'm currently waiting for my clover seed to grow.

PS- This spot had so much brome there was too much thatch. I chopped the Dickens out of it with the Grasshopper and pushed the excess off of the plot. I tried to gauge just how much thatch I wanted left and kept that much to spread over my seed. Good Luck.

 

[T-Max]

That is what we call downy brome or cheat here. It spreads so efficiently. Like Native said, spraying is the key. In my experience, mowing won't get it done.

 

[Cedar Ridge]

Thanks for the replies guys. I've been blown away by how this stuff just showed up and took over multiple fields honestly. Like completely covered. No idea where it's been hiding for the 9 years I've been planting these fields but it's here in full force and I don't think I've seen a stalk of it previously. I'm kicking myself that I didn't recognize it as something invasive a few weeks ago when it was just getting started. I could have just nuked it with gly then. What a mess.

 

[T-Max]

My garden got taken over with it a few years ago and i have been fighting it ever since. The only thing there is I won't use herbicide so I have been pulling it by hand. When it is in a field environment I am willing to sacrifice productivity for a year to get it under control. It lurks...

 

[Native Hunter]

Here is another hateful annual grass that’s as bad or worse than brome. It’s called Sweet Vernal Grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum). It just appeared in the last few years and is like a plague. When I started researching it, a county official who didn’t want to be named said that seed companies had started secretly adding it to pasture grass seed to make hay smell better. I smell something but it isn’t hay.

 

[T-Max]

Here is another hateful annual grass that’s as bad or worse than brome. It’s called Sweet Vernal Grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum). It just appeared in the last few years and is like a plague. When I started researching it, a county official who didn’t want to be named said that seed companies had started secretly adding it to pasture grass seed to make hay smell better. I smell something but it isn’t hay.

View attachment 27979

Am I being naive? Or do you think they would really do that?


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[Native Hunter]

Am I being naive? Or do you think they would really do that?


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The border is secure too!

 

[Native Hunter]

Here is one more pain in the rear end. This one can grow as either annual or perennial depending on conditions. It’s a useless invasive called Velvet Grass.

 

[Cedar Ridge]

Well whatever it is that’s taken over my place has been whacked with the bush hog. Made it through everywhere that needed mowed and didn’t hit the first fawn or turkey nest. Thank the Good Lord! Did see one little bitty one running off through the woods with momma but it was safe and sound. Sitting in a shooting house now to try and take advantage of the freshly mown field and take out a fawn killer. Appreciate all the insight into these grasses I’m going to burn this down when it greens back up a little and then plant some buckwheat

 

[Native Hunter]

Well whatever it is that’s taken over my place has been whacked with the bush hog. Made it through everywhere that needed mowed and didn’t hit the first fawn or turkey nest. Thank the Good Lord! Did see one little bitty one running off through the woods with momma but it was safe and sound. Sitting in a shooting house now to try and take advantage of the freshly mown field and take out a fawn killer. Appreciate all the insight into these grasses I’m going to burn this down when it greens back up a little and then plant some buckwheat View attachment 27981

Awesome - good luck Cedar Ridge.