Monument herbicide has been used - probably for the first time in the NT - as a control option for sedges, carpet grass and annual grasses - on the main oval of a private school, and it has been very successful, so far.
Conditions for spraying were excellent, about 48 hours after mowing, with good soil moisture, and about 48 hours between spraying and first rain. The Monument was followed up by a DSMA spray in about 12 days. After three weeks carpet grass control was over 85%, although some was suppressed rather than killed outright. What remained was a few plants in formerly large patches, suitable for spot spraying or sprayed with a overall spray of further DSMA in a few weeks. Almost all sedges, annual grasses and many other perennial grasses including Chrysopogon acidulatus have been mostly eliminated. A follow up is often used, but may not be needed.
Because of the regular emergence of Mullumbimby couch, almost all year round, periodic use of DSMA will be needed to continue to reduce infestations to a lowered level, and so this will also continue to provide a good option to further reduce the carpet grass "spots" remaining, and any remnant grasses. Hopefully this will be able to be discontinued by the early dry season.
So........Monument may be a good option. Trials locally [ see photo - 8DAT showing the damage to narrow leaf carpet grass, the yellowish patch] have been impressive as a single pass option for weedy grasses in couch, as well as sedges. Locally, it is true that sedges tend to emerge most months of the year on irrigated areas, although peaking in the wet season. Get those wet season weeds, and big improvements can be made to reduce sedge levels, as there is much less emergence after April.
While not a perfect solution, using Monument has made a fantastic improvement to carpet grass in couch on this oval!
Conditions for spraying were excellent, about 48 hours after mowing, with good soil moisture, and about 48 hours between spraying and first rain. The Monument was followed up by a DSMA spray in about 12 days. After three weeks carpet grass control was over 85%, although some was suppressed rather than killed outright. What remained was a few plants in formerly large patches, suitable for spot spraying or sprayed with a overall spray of further DSMA in a few weeks. Almost all sedges, annual grasses and many other perennial grasses including Chrysopogon acidulatus have been mostly eliminated. A follow up is often used, but may not be needed.
Because of the regular emergence of Mullumbimby couch, almost all year round, periodic use of DSMA will be needed to continue to reduce infestations to a lowered level, and so this will also continue to provide a good option to further reduce the carpet grass "spots" remaining, and any remnant grasses. Hopefully this will be able to be discontinued by the early dry season.
So........Monument may be a good option. Trials locally [ see photo - 8DAT showing the damage to narrow leaf carpet grass, the yellowish patch] have been impressive as a single pass option for weedy grasses in couch, as well as sedges. Locally, it is true that sedges tend to emerge most months of the year on irrigated areas, although peaking in the wet season. Get those wet season weeds, and big improvements can be made to reduce sedge levels, as there is much less emergence after April.
While not a perfect solution, using Monument has made a fantastic improvement to carpet grass in couch on this oval!
UPDATE - 24 February 2012
Carpet grass is Axonopus compressus or broad leaved carpet grass; narrow leaf carpet grass is Axonopus affinis just to ensure readers understand the issue.
Many curators / superintendents in north Australia still use glyphosate as a solution; metsulfuron may also be useful, especially on couch which is very tolerant of higher rates. It is a REAL issue in the wet tropical regions and especially broad leaved carpet grass thrives in wet soil / higher rain conditions, so better controlled irrigation management at a lower but adequate level can be part of the holistic management needed to get it under contol.
4 comments:
Very useful -thanks. Lets see if it will work in Sydney NSW
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Thanks for the information.
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At my course we started seeing carpet grass last year in our fairways, which are 419 Bermuda. Didnt have very good luck controlling the carpet grass, which spread rapidly. I have been doing extensive research this year so maybe we can control it in the coming year better than last. Thanks for the help with the moment 75 info, will have to look into this and see if it will work for me. I have been told by several agronomist to try Trimec 992 that they have seen great results using Trimec after temps of 85 degrees on carpet grass. Has anyone tried the Trimec on the carpet grass?
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