Thursday, June 05, 2008
Seek professional advice on weed identification
John Arbogast
Landscape consultant John Arbogast answers your questions every Thursday. Send questions about your lawn, garden, plants, or insects to:
Dear John
5102 Greenfield St. SW
Roanoke, Va. 24018
Or send an e-mail. Answers will be given only in this column. Please don't send pictures or samples.
Recent columns
Q: My father and I have a cattle operation in North Texas. The problem we are having or beginning to have is the taking over of what we call water grass or wire grass. This type of weed or grass grows primarily in the lower-to-flat areas of the land and chokes out all of the grass. I am not sure if the names we call it are correct, but it is a dark green, long needle type of grass that will eventually have a head of little seeds come on it. It also grows in a bunch state. We have tried to keep it cut down but that seems to do no good and doesn't kill it out; it steadily comes back. It is a hardy type of grass. I have read a couple of your articles and I am reaching out for help, assistance or advice on how we can kill this out of our pastures and increase our grazing area. Please advise as to your experiences and successes.
A: Most weed identifications require that a complete sample of the plant, including the roots, leaves, and seed or flowers if possible, be taken to a knowledgeable person or weed identification lab along with information about the location of the weed’s appearance, such as in an active beef cattle pasture, so that safe and effective controls can be recommended.
Your problem weed could be a nutsedge, which I have experienced in lawns, landscapes, and home gardens here in Roanoke. This aggressive plant looks like a grass and produces blades and seeds like you described. However, it is a sedge and not a grass. Sedges are difficult to control here in Virginia.
My best advice is to take a complete plant sample to your local Extension Office there in the county or area of your cattle operation or to an agricultural weed clinic specialist at your Texas Land Grant University. That local Extension Office phone number should be listed under “local government” or “state government” numbers in that local phone book.
Q: How late in the growing year is it safe to transplant plants here in the Roanoke area? The two-year old house that we just moved into has some nice plants, but they are in the wrong places.
A: The arrival of hot weather with daytime temperatures above 85 degrees makes transplanting even young plants risky. Two conditions must come together for successful transplanting conditions: the soil and air must be mild, plus the plants to be moved should be dormant. In Roanoke, these two conditions come together in mid fall and in early spring.
It’s not too late here in Roanoke to add splashes of summer color in places where you can water, by planting annual flowers now. Circle your calendar to transplant shrubs in October or early November if weekly watering can be done for the remainder of the growing season.
Q: Why did my Moonbeam Coreopsis dwindle away and finally disappear in two different places in my landscape? I loved the profusion of small yellow flowers on this perennial, but I’m afraid to plant some more. I live in Roanoke, so I know that Moonbeam Coreopsis grows here. Both plantings bloomed well when the plants were young. The areas get some sun and some shade, which I was told is OK. I did water some, but I read that this plant is tolerant of drought.
A: Even though Moonbeam Coreopsis is listed as adapted to sun or light shade, one possibility is that the spots in your landscape where this perennial was planted received too much shade for the plants to grow vigorously and produce enough sugars for the roots to grow well.
Other possibilities are poor soil quality with a significant amount of clay in those places you had Moonbeam Coreopsis and/or crowding or disturbance by other adjacent plants or care of those plants.
Unfortunately, here in Roanoke, Coreopsis can be a short lived perennial except in sunny places that get warm earlier in the spring and stay warm longer in the fall than elsewhere.
