Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living Cheat grass killing

So found cheat grass growing along my back fence. Maybe 50 yards of it. After some googling found a few herbicides that will kill it. Most of the stuff I am reading says to kill it in the fall. So will mow it a few times and plan on a late Sept or Oct spray.

Anyone killed this stuff and if so, what worked best for you?

I kill it year round with glyphosate.

Doesn't matter when I spray it.

I've got enough other natives growing around it that I am thinking about using a preemergent in late August and again in early October.

If not, they are saying since it greens up first in the spring that glyphosate is good then and won't kill the other stuff that is dormant.

Seeing a lot of it around the neighborhood when walking the dogs so figure this will be an ongoing thing.

After further research about how nasty this stuff is, think I am adopting your approach rockinbbar. Got rain moving in for a few days, but going to mix up the glyphosate and go after it now and whenever I see it.

Yeah, it can get pretty bad if you let it.

About the time you think you have it all knocked out.... you don't.

Yeah, I hate that chit.

doesn't take much glyphosate to kill it either. I use 7-10 oz in the early spring or late fall and it works really well. It takes 2 weeks to kill it, but it is a lot easier on other stuff around it, especially if you can hit it late fall. I've sprayed in november before when it hit 55 one day, the cheatgrass was the only thing that died, everything else was dormant. it was in a native grass seeding too.

They say the seed only stays viable for 3 years so if you stay on top of it, you can see the difference quickly.

7-10 ounces per acre? Going to spray some areas this summer yet, but late fall or early spring glyphosate sounds like it has potential.

Read somewhere that you want it to die a slow death when using this stuff. If it kills fast, it might not get all of the root system. Slow where it gets to all the roots. Just a warning to not mix heavy to ensure a good kill. I have friends that have that mindset, instead of following directions. miles

Okay, got that stuff sprayed down. Going to use a good pre emergent in mid Sept and again in early April. That should be less toxic on the other grasses and thinking I'll be getting rid of it eventually.

yup, works great when it's still short like turf grass.

+1 on the slow death

Thinking I want to try to spray a pre emergent this fall or late summer to try and prevent the cheat from sprouting at all. Panoramic seems to get good reviews and 6-8 ounces should cover an acre. So will give that a run in mid Sept or maybe a bit earlier depending to see if I can stop a bunch of it from sprouting.

Then will do the thinly mixed glyphosate in the spring for any I miss.

Just discovered I have foxtail on the place too. So guess next spring I'll be getting after that stuff. On a brighter note, my prairie grass planting has gone well and have a good weed free stand going on the acre I worked on.