Iowa | I've got cheat grass in my new stand of alfalfa. The cheat grass has come in where the ground is lighter. Anyway the cheatgrass has just started to head out. Any good ideas on how to get rid of it in my alfalfa before the seed becomes viable? I also have cheatgrass in my pasture. My pasture is a mix of brome, timothy, clover, warm season grasses and some alfalfa. I have looked into the grazing option, but the areas are so small and spread out that I'm not sure I can graze all of the spots out efficiently enough to be effective. |
| Cheatgrass is a winter annual weed, at least around here. That means it germinated in the fall. In your new alfalfa, the best thing would be to just mow it - if the field is fit to get on. Since it is started to head out, it will probably be harder to kill with chemicals. Mowing now will help prevent spreading more seeds. and then plan on an herbicide program in late fall - probably as late as you can - to get cheat that germinates next fall. In your pasture, again, let it head out, and clip those spots with cheat. BTW, if you don't let it shoot heads first, you will be defeating yourself. If you try to clip it before it shoots head, it will just try again. So, let it shoot heads, then clip it. Finding an herbicide to use in a pasture to kill cheat without hurting other grasses is going to be difficult, if not impossible. So, plan to manage it with a cutterbar. Prevent more seed for spreading. That should be your goal. |
Scott City KS | Cheatgrass sucks. A lot. Talk to your rep about what herbicide options you have in alfalfa. Since it has kicked a head, you're going to have seed out there, so count on doing it again next year. Mowing it will help reduce the amount of seed that will be out there. But it will kick another head right after you mow it. It will be smaller and have fewer seeds. I have no idea what you can put on alfalfa, but surely there is something. Don't let it head next year.
Pasture is in the same boat. Out here, the cheat comes out of dormancy before the pasture grass, so a shot of glyphosate when the cheat is up but the pasture grass is still dormant has been effective for us. I have no idea what you have in your pastures in Iowa, so keep that in mind. |
se montana | one pint of gramoxone inteon in the fall or spring. Kills cheat dead, hard on perennial grass, but harmless to alfalfa.
It will turn field yellow for a week, and then its over.
In this country, cheat germinates all fall, all winter, and it still germinates in the spring. It really sucks. We have lots of it everywhere.
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Cheatgrass Control in Alfalfa and Pasture
