# Quack grass



## Hawk40 (Jun 28, 2015)

This field is ready to seed OG but has a lot of quack grass cut up in it.
Planning to round up it first than seed OG.
There are a lot of stems not sprouted yet.
Will the OG compete well with the quack grass?
If I end up with a mix, is that so bad?
Kinda in a hurry as usual but could move on to other things and come back to this later if I have to.


----------



## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Personally, I hate quack grass in my hay. Have tried multiple approaches to get rid of it but the best way is not to start with it. You might want to consider waiting to the end of summer to seed OG and nuke the quack grass before you seed.


----------



## Hawk40 (Jun 28, 2015)

Thanks
I think I'll grow it back out and kill it and go from there


----------



## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

I agree with Hayman1, let it grow back kill it and then let the seeds sprout and grown and kill it again. I also hate quack grass (I use to call it 'naïve Michigan grass' cover crop in the CSC office).

As far as feed value, cut at right time could compete with OG, but not even close in tonnage per acre.


----------



## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Quack grass is very tough to kill and will crowd out the orchard grass. I wouldn't consider planting orchard grass in the field until the quick grass is killed. I had a field infested with quack grass and I sprayed 3 quarts of roundup with extra surfactant per acre to kill it......a few months later I had to spray again with 2 quarts an acre to take care of a few patches that came back.

It looks like the field in your picture has had the ground worked.....that makes the quack grass spread even worse since it will sprout from every little piece of cut root. Maybe plant the field in an annual crop until you get the quack eliminated? Or maybe roundup ready alfalfa?


----------



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I think the only thing that would kill Quackgrass here in one year is Spike.....here it takes years of repeated roundup dosing to starve the fibrous root mass. That's where RR alfalfa comes in for me. Pastora will allow you to treat your Orchard grass one time a year.....but it does not kill the Quack....it may eventually though. But it also sets the Orchard grass back a little, but that could be a good thing to get one to a warmer/dryer time of year for baling.

Regards, Mike


----------



## 5050racing (Apr 20, 2012)

I do 18 ac piece for a guy that's mostly quack and it makes nice fast drying hay equal to OG almost on feed value and this piece out performed most of my pure OG fields in last years wet late cutting 63 small but 45/50lb squares / acre if fed properly,I didn't plant it but don't mind doing the hay there,2nd wasn't to bad but is less in yield compared to OG ,the horses love it and I mean it drys fast most times cut bale next day.


----------

