# Johnson grass



## middleTn

My soil sample results in March 2010 were low phosphorus and potassium with a need to lime 2 ton per acre.

well believe it or not doing anything (due to money) we produced the best hay as rain was consistent and temps where good. so our July 1 harvaste was very good

well here it is Sept and we are ready to cut, we have had little rain and the the fields are full of Johnson grass, (tall, very bright green thin stalks)

we square bale for horse hay, so I dont want to bale this junk..

so how do I treat the johnson grass areas and is this while the stuff is still standing, or down on the ground after mowing it, should it be bush hogged or disc cutt

what do i treat it with thanks


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## rjmoses

Around here, it's a little late to be treating Johnsongrass--it's already gone to seed. But, for the standing plants, kill it off with roundup. Plants hereabouts are pretty tall, so a weed wiper might be a good choice. Don't cut before treating--you need the leaf surface to catch the roundup. It is a good time to kill the roots as the plants are taking everything down into the ground.

And, believe me, you need to kill the roots!

Mowing it just seems to p--- it off.

Ralph


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## Mike120

You can also spray with Maverick, but it's expensive. I agree with Ralph, use a weed wiper.


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## middleTn

ok thanks guys, here a question what is a "weed wiper"?

can you give me a brand or something more specific, something i can get at my local coop....or can i use the same stuff i spray my fence lines with...i forget the brand but it works a lot better then round up...it comes in 2 gal and i mix it ...its like 50 bucks for the 2 gallons..works well


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## Mike120

I built mine using two "string wings" from Green Leaf: Weed Thief and String Wing Applicator

Mine are strapped to a 10' piece of square tubing that I mount on the FEL. You fill them with Roundup (I use a generic Glyphosate) and drive through the tall Johnson Grass. They wipe the Roundup on. There are quite a few other variations of weed wipers including a very expensive model that you pull behind your tractor. A friend of mine has one, but I don't like it because it misses the weeds in the tire tracks. The problem with my method is that you can get roundup on your tires and track it into the good grass. I've never seen any real damage so I don't see that as a problem.


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## middleTn

could i spray it on with a large sprayer with a wond


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## Mike120

middleTn said:


> could i spray it on with a large sprayer with a wond


Certainly, if it's all JG in an area you can spot treat it. That's the most efficent way to get rid of it. Where it's difficult is when they are scattered with "good" grass in between.


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## rherington

A weed wiper is the best method it would seem. We had one one it attached to the front of the tractor and used a hydraulic cylinder to raise and lower. We pressurized it with an air tank. If we wanted to apply more we just raised the amount of airflow through the ropes. You could probably pick one up really cheap in cotton country around Lubbock. Yeah i know it is a long way, but once you get Johnson grass, you will be fighting it for a while. It would be unrealistic to expect to spray it once and it be gone forever. Johnson grass is tough to get rid of. I spent many a hot summer day on the spray rig as a boy trying to kill it out of our cotton.

Spot spraying with roundup will work as well. But realize roundup will kill the grass/alfalfa/nearly anything else growing there. So if you spot spray it with roundup expect a barespot early next spring.

Now if you wanted to try to make some money off it round bale it and sell it for cows or goats. Johnson grass is actually good cow feed. It is not high quality, but cows do like it. Then wipe it early next spring before it gets big.


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## middleTn

thanks just what I needed to know, what is so funny is I have had very small and just a couple of areas, we have been square baling and doing well.

well dry weather for the last 2 months really brought this stuff to life and in more areas and in larger size.

now this fall I cant square baler it, as you keyed in on, this stuff mixed with the rest is not worth square baling, and I dont own a round baler as again all my customers like square as the feed to horses.

I want to wipe this stuff out so I can go back to square this spring. I just got to find the fastest and best method for killing it.

should I atleaset cut it to the ground and then spray or should I leave it stand and just spray, then cutting just after the 1st frost,

I am really trying to get someone in the area to come bale it and get it gone.

this stuff sucks


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## Greyhorse

Roundup as others have said and the more leaves you can get it on the better so don't cut it first, try not to kill the grass around the patches if you can. Around here TXDoT sprays it in the ditches with roundup from their trucks, kills it off just fine but it kills everything near by also so the next Johnson Grass seeds that germinate have no competition and the patches get bigger and bigger in most places. If it's just a few patches you might also want to go cut the seed heads off by hand so they won't drop the seeds, sounds like that would be too much work from what you describe.


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## Mike120

If you can get some one to round bale it, go ahead. Then you can wait until the spring to get it. It will green up long before anything else. You can hit it with roundup then and not worry about the good grass because it will still be dormant. Good Luck!


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## mikesmith1859

Anyone got any ideas on how to make a weed wiper.


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## NDVA HAYMAN

See Mike 120's post. Post #5. and click on that. Mike


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