Has anyone ever done this?
Did it work?

I have some small patches of cogongrass (about a dozen spots that might be 1/4 acre total) scattered along the roadsides and around the food plots on a piece of property that I just purchased.
I plan on cutting the timber soon, but it may be before the cogongrass comes out of dormancy.
I definitely don’t want to spread this shucks all over the place, so I’m trying to figure out a solution.

Any ideas or suggestions?

I don’t believe it will affect it very much, but we haven’t tried it necessarily. If you have a contact with Scotch, reach out to them - they’ve tried just about everything.

Never tried it but wanted too. In theory it seems it would work. Could you flag off the spots and get them to stay out of them?

Thanks for the replies.

I have contact info for a couple of those guys.
As a matter of fact, Scotch managed this particular property for the previous owners.


The theory sounds probable, I may try it and see what happens.
I have already flagged it off. My concern is getting it killed before the seed heads start blooming.

Maybe burn the spots and spray what emerges after the fire ?

Some good information on Cogongrass grass about 15-20 threads down.

http://www.aldeer.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=3516387&page=1

I'm concerned about keeping mine from producing seed heads too. I am sure I have it in the place I talked about in the other thread, but during deer season we found 2 more patches that might be it. It's hard for me to be sure with the tops dead in the winter due to my lack of experience. Will spraying it in March keep it from producing seed?

If the mid-rib is off center, it's cogon grass.

It was hard for me to be sure with them dead. There were switch grass heads sticking up in places, but it could be some of both. Here's another spot I found in the fall and was unsure about:




What do you think?

It's hard to be sure by looking at the picture, but I'm afraid that's Cogongrass.

I appreciate all the feedback.

RareBreed, unfortunately I have plenty of experience on how to kill it in the growing season.
But, I have never had a need to try and kill it while dormant, until now.

I have talked to a couple guys who have tons of experience and they say it's a crapshoot, at best, treating it while dormant.
I may do like KBush said and burn it and spray the new growth.

Here's an individual plant, but I'm not sure that they are all the same:

That's Cogongrass.
The offset rib is a dead give away.

The burn and then spray the new shoots would be my call too. I would not go too hot on my herbicide rate and would make sure that I had a good surfactant that had ammonia sulfate in it to improve uptake of prescription. I can't prove it, but I feel like the plant, especially when growing vigorously, has the ability to "shut down" temporarily when exposed to harsh environmental factors. I believe this to be the reason behind the "top kill" many see with hot mixes only to come back next year, and it is just as bad or worse. Helena has a product called Hel-Fire that is an outstanding surfactant for Cogongrass prescriptions, and I am sure there are others out there that are similar. In my opinion, surfactants are the lifeblood of effective Cogongrass prescriptions.

Thanks, I was afraid that it was some Cogongrass mixed it with other stuff. But that little patch has been there for 5 years or more and never had spread. The patch that got started this past summer in a field was growing faster than anything I've seen before. I guess it's just the difference in the sites. I'll spray it all.

I’m gonna go with the burn and spray method on my spots.
Gonna wait til after the rain next week to burn it. It’s too dry and the humidity is too low right now to be lighting spot fires.
The oil in the cogongrass makes it burn really hot and I don’t need any excitement.
I’ll post pictures of the process just to document how it turns out.

Spraying cogongrass while dormant is a waste of product and time. I’ve sprayed my share of it and have tested about all timings. Fall was generally the best, but I always say spray it as soon as you can get to it, and be prepared to spray it again (and again, and again…). After it goes to seed is my second choice for timing.

Seeds from cogongrass have low viability, but it doesn’t take much, Especially with the numbers it produces. Imazapyr and glyphosate are really the only choices.

Phase II is a darn good surfactant if you can find it. AMS+Methylated Seed Oil + silica

I usually use Class Act from the co-op if I don’t have the other

do not burn cogongrass. You are just making it worse. if it is somewhere where you can use arsenal/glyphosate mix, do that. If not, spray it in late April/early may with glyphosate, and again in early October. Repeat x3 for glyphosate only application. Deep tillage (moldboard plow) also works, but can spread if not done properly.