Getting rid of canary grass?

cyclonenation10

Active member
Any experience succesfully getting rid of canary grass, or atleast turning it into more productive upland habitat for a few years? For example, I've heard of the IA DNR mowing/burning, spraying (after the grass starts to come back in), then running a disc through the ground to promote the growth of new plants ( ragweed, forbes, other grasses, etc.). Anyone ever tried this? Any tips? I was also thining about trying to spray the troublesome areas at our farm and try seeding a switch grass mix, since most of the problem areas are relatively wet and do flood on occasion.
 
I usually check with the Iowa State Ext Office or your local NRCS. They can be helpful sometimes with this.
 
I have some low ground on my farm in South Dakota that sounds similar to yours (wet/floods, probably claypan soils) To control the reed canary grass I spray it with a grass killer (clethodim, same stuff I use to kill grasses in sunflowers). I spray in strips, to keep some cover. I tried disking it after spraying, but the only thing that came up was Canada thistle. I have started planting a cover crop mix (sorghum/Sudan grass/turnips/sunflower/etc.) in the sprayed-out strips with a no till drill.
Switchgrass is awesome cover, but it does not like "wet feet". Any flooding or prolonged wet soils will kill it. I have used tall wheatgrass in some areas, seems to withstand wet soils fairly well and it reestablishes itself quickly.
 
I've sprayed it with glyphosate before hoping to just get some annuals to replace it then disked. Bear River NWR uses a giant Marsh Master to spray Phrag and uses a quad track and disc afterwards to tear up the roots. It works but costly and labor intensive.
 
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