eNews
Vol 6 | No 3 | December 2013
Bahia Grass Control Project
By Eric Staller, Land Manager & Natural Resources Coordinator
Due to common management practices of thinning forests, cutting fire breaks, blocking and others, Bahia grass that is planted on the woods roads for stability often ends up in the forest. Bahia grass can be invasive and out-compete many native grasses and forbs reducing the quality of ground cover. The goal of this project is to use selective herbicides to control Bahia, while maintaining as many of the native grasses and forbs. We applied 21 different treatments using 8 different herbicides. Spraying occurred in May, June and July of 2013 on three different sites. Five photo points within each treatment will be taken pre-application, at 3 months post, and 1 and 2 years post application. We hope to have a good understanding of the efficacy of these treatments by May 2014. The 3-month post application photos below suggest that each herbicide mix has an apparent threshold at which it can control Bahia grass, and that Escort® >1oz + >8oz Plateau®, > 16oz Clethodim®, and >24oz of Sethoxydim SPC® per acre appear to control Bahia grass.
At left, 1.3oz Escort® + 6.5oz Plateau®+24oz Sethoxydim SPC® + 21oz Surfactant + 36 gal H2O/acre 3 months post spray. At right, 24oz Sethoxydim SPC® + 21oz Surfactant + 32 gal H2O/acre 3 months post spray
