# Dallis Grass



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I have a healthy population of Dallis grass in a 18 acre tract that I will be soon preparing for a new stand of Timothy and Orchard grass. So... I was reading the label on my glyphosate container and it said that it took 3 to 5 quarts per acre to kill dallis grass.....sheez, won't be cheap to burn that down. Plan on mowing close and rolling this field to get off as much of the seedheads that I can. Then let it have 3-4 inches of new growth before I do the burndown. I am wondering if the seedheads that have and will fall on the ground will be effected(killed) by this heavy dose of glyphosate. I will be applying 25 gallons of water plus herbicide and surfactant per acre.

Regards, Mike


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

No response so I thought I would add that Dallis grass is a first cousin to Bahia grass. Very similar in all regards.

Regards, Mike


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

Mike, glyphosate does not have any real residual effect. In my Bermuda fields, I use Clean Pasture DF in with the Grazon to get the Bahia. Check with your extension agent for TN. U of TN has some data sheets on Dallis Grass control but they seem to like MSMA which I won't use. Once it gets established, it's hard to get rid of as it's a prolific seed producer. Good luck!


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Yes MSMA worked well on Dallis grass but the feds stopped use and production last year so it is no longer available. You are right about Dallis being a prolific seed producer. I was hoping that the seeds(on top of the ground) would absorb the gly and that it would kill the embryo. Wishful thinking I suppose.

Regards, Mike


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

round up has no effect on the seed bank unless they have just germinated as I understand it.

Might try doing the first burndown then come back with a much lower rate soon as it looks a little green from the road.


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## scrapiron (Mar 10, 2010)

Mike: If your Dallis grass is kin to my bahia you are going to be in for a long hard fight to get rid of it !!!! When using glyphosate on our bahia, at 4-5qts per acre, I use a pool ph test kit to get my sprayer water to a ph of <3.5 using ammonium sulphate before adding the glyphosate. I have also switched to a 90-10 nonionic surfectant used at a rate of 2qts per 100gl water. Most of the time this combo will kill 90% of the bahia on the first spray if the weather is almost perfect.

The fun part starts after this. Any seed is not touched by the glyphosate and given some moisture and warmth will sprout and grow, so you start over again and again and again. After my second gly spray on this last field I am doing I got out the old bottom plow and turned the ground over, 12in deep, in an attempt to burry the seeds to deep to grow. I don't know how it is going to work, it was worth a try.

I have discovered that bahia grass seedlings are easily killed by 1qt of 2,4,d per acre if they are under 2in tall and the weather conditions are perfect. It may also work on dallis grass. It also helps that on Sunday morning that you just empty your pockets into the plate. LOL

scrapiron


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

Extension personnel with the University of Alabama evaluated Panaramic, Pastora, and Roundup Powermax for Dallis grass control in bermudagrass. Best control, though not total control, was with Roundup Powermax. Their test rate was 64 oz/ac. Perhaps you've seen their report:

http://www.aces.edu/anr/crops/documents/Dallisgrasscontrolinbermudagrasshayfields.pdf

Mature, dry Dallis grass seeds likely will be unaffected by Roundup.


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## jdhayboy (Aug 20, 2010)

Off subject:
Last year I had about 15 acres I wanted to do a lil experimenting with. It had gotten quite a bit of goose grass in it (bad stuff) due to wild rye choking out the bermuda. So I tried 3 different mixtures 5 acres each 1. one quart of glyo 
2. one oz of pastora and 16 oz of glyo 3. 1.5 oz of pastora and 16 oz of glyo. All with surfactant

1. only burned it down maybe killed a little
2. did a real good job 
3. really no difference between 2 and 3, not really worth extra money for extra .5oz of pastora

I was looking at the field today thinking about my lil experiment. Seeing the difference where the goose grass is now, almost where I only put glyo on. 
May or may not help you but i bet it would work on dallis grass.
Another IMO Pastora alone does not work very well.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

[quote name='vhaby']Extension personnel with the University of Alabama evaluated Panaramic, Pastora, and Roundup Powermax for Dallis grass control in bermudagrass. Best control, though not total control, was with Roundup Powermax. Their test rate was 64 oz/ac. Perhaps you've seen their report:

It did look like in the before and after pictures that the roundup worked well. One other thing Vincent, you are going to make some Auburn folks madder than hades giving the Univ. of Alabama credit for this study.









Regards, Mike


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

It seems like that some enterprising University could come up with some kind of device that would sterilize the ground 3"-4" deep or deeper.....something like a microwave device that was maybe 10'-16' wide that you could drive or pull over prepared ground that would cook(heat) the life out of seeds and roots, thus giving you a pristine seedbed. I know these devices would be of great expense, but many producers that have noxious weeds or plants in their production areas would be more than willing to have their acreage "treated" on a say 10 year basis(or less). Depending on device expense, these "sterilizers" could be rented locally or regionally or if prohibitively expensive for renting they could be operated by entreprenuers that traveled the countryside much like combine operators. Maybe we need to form a start-up for a device like this......or maybe I got up too early and need to go back to bed.









Regards, Mike


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## Nitram (Apr 2, 2011)

Wonder if it would sterilize the driver? Double purpose machine could find cheep labor to run it...have a few people in mind!


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## hay wilson in TX (Jan 28, 2009)

Yes dallasgrass is tough to kill. It is like common bermudagrass, plan on up to 5 qt's at least one time.

It does have it's weaknesses though.

It prefers moist conditions & wet feet. 
Solution #1, make sure you do not have any ponding in your field.

Dallasgrass does not respond to fertilizer as well as some other grasses including bermudagrass. 
Solution #2, fertilize the hound out of your desired grasses.

Solution #3, be sure to use a preemerge after RU and every year there after.

After a number of years working on drainage and 400 lbs/A of Nitrogen the form of 500 lbs of 82-0-0 anhydrous, dallasgrass is not a problem, for now anyway. 
Top dressing that is 1,200 lbs of nitrogen fertilizer. *Warning*, Do Not neglect the other essential elements. 
If you will top dress figure one application and after each cutting for hay every 30 days for grazing. 
Grazing Dairies in East Texas like to fertilize every 21 days.

Bahiagrass and dallasgrass are brothers. Bahiagrass is Paspalam notatum, & dallasgrass is Paspalam dilitatium. (I am not confident of the spelling)
Dallas makes for ugly hay bales but cattle like to graze it. Just be sure to keep the seed heads mowed off as the ergot on the seed is a bad poison.

MSMA has not been labeled for hay and pasture for a long time now. Some folks get excited about using arsenic.

TN Forage Specialist, Gary Bates should be of some help.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Hay wilson says, "Solution #3, be sure to use a preemerge after RU and every year there after."

Bill, what type or kind of pre-emerge do you have in mind?

Regards, Mike


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

Vol said:


> It seems like that some enterprising University could come up with some kind of device that would sterilize the ground 3"-4" deep or deeper.....something like a microwave device that was maybe 10'-16' wide that you could drive or pull over prepared ground that would cook(heat) the life out of seeds and roots, thus giving you a pristine seedbed.


Here you go Mike: Red Dragon Alfalfa Flamers - Control Weeds and Weevil with ONE application!

I've got one of their handheld units that I use on fence lines......Always wanted one of the big ones! Of course, right now I could flame my fields with just a cigarette.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Mike120 said:


> Here you go Mike: Red Dragon Alfalfa Flamers - Control Weeds and Weevil with ONE application!
> 
> I've got one of their handheld units that I use on fence lines......Always wanted one of the big ones! Of course, right now I could flame my fields with just a cigarette.


I'll be dang. Just watched the video and was surprised to hear that it could work up to 4" deep plus the added benefit of insect eradication. Thanks Mike. I will call them Monday to learn more.

Regards, Mike


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

I had looked at their chicken coop cleaner as a model for a quick arena dryer, but figured that the heat would damage the arena sand too much. Once you had the tank and regulator the rest would be pretty easy to fabricate. With Shale Gas being developed (especially Marcellus) the price of propane should be pretty stable and might even go down. I expect it would be cheaper than chemicals. The concern would be the recovery of the microbial population in the soil.


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