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WJKEIGER

Posted 10/14/2025 21:02 (#11400451)
Subject: Johnson grass in sorghum-sudan

nw NC

Nearly every time Sorghum-Sudan is planted here, I find some Johnson grass growing in it. (There is no Johnson grass on this farm, never has been.) It is always found growing in the row planted by a grain drill or a row unit of the corn planter, so I know it has to be in the S-S seed. I found some today while chopping silage. When the corn had emerged, I was disappointed with the stand so I got some S-S seed and planted a light seeding rate of S-S just beside the emerged corn rows. Corn was not damaged and S-S grew nicely with the corn.

Pictures below are of one plant of J-grass. This one stalk of J-grass was taller than anything around it. I've seen other farmer's crops of corn with J-grass in it. It does not matter how tall the corn can grow, J-grass will grow taller. Pictures are of the stalk standing above anything else, the stalk at the ground showing new shoots emerging from rhizomes and close-up of the seed-head.

Some years ago I planted Forage Sorghum and it too had a few J-grass plants growing with it. I contacted the seed company and told them . A rep telephoned me and said that what I was seeing was not J-grass but an off-type of sorghum, that there was a small % of the off-type in the crop. I told him that I can see a small % of different looking sorghum , but what I am calling J-grass, IS J-GRASS because I for darn sure know what J-grass looks like! I sent him pictures of the plants directly in the row, close-up views of seed-head and root balls with rhizomes. He then agreed that it was J-grass. He later called and told me that he had spoken with the seed grower in Texas. The grower said there was not J-grass on his farm. I know that there is much J-grass in Texas so I asked the rep wouldn't it be possible that the grower or his employee failed to see one J-grass plant in his many acres of the crop that he harvested for the S-S seed? He said,"yes". Seed rep called and told me that the company wanted to make things right, so they gave me two bags of a very good hybrid corn for next year. I cut off the seed-heads of J-Grass and dug out the rootballs and rhizomes. Next year the field was in no-till corn planted in the same rows as the year before. I found a few J-grass plants as corn was growing but I eliminated them with some hand applied Glyphosate.

Edited by WJKEIGER 10/15/2025 02:12