What to do about monkey grass?

sooo....lots of this crazy stuff growing here and there when i moved here...any suggestions on what to do with that? is it poisonous to horses? border ideas? fence row line as a ground cover? (as it does not grow tall)???

or should i just not even worry with it?

any help on the topic of integrating monkey grass into my little neck of the woods or eliminating it (things have to have a use and work around here) would be very useful

Welcome Teri!!

Sorry for the delay in responding, but I don't have monkey grass growing on my farm. But I knew of someone who had a lot of it, so I went and asked her.

She said that ridding an area of monkey grass without using a herbicide can be a long, slow process without resorting to bulldozing the area. The plant spreads underground, making removing it by hand difficult. Just as with bermuda grass, the plant needs to be dug up and the underground pieces picked out and removed. Little pieces left behind will resprout. As they resprout, immediately pull them out while it is still easy to do so.

I don't know if monkey grass can be smothered. From experience I can confirm that it doesn't work well for bermuda grass.

I asked if livestock will eat monkey grass, but she didn't know. So I don't know if it is toxic to livestock. It isn't a grass in actuality.

The problem with common names rather than Latin names is that common names are often used to describe several different plant species. In trying to answer your question about “monkey grass” I found several different species all called by that name. So it is really not possible to answer your question accurately without a good photo of your plants or a Latin name. It might also help to know where in the world you are, as that might help narrow down species. None of the species I read about appear to be poisonous. Indeed, at least one species is edible. Before you eat yours, though, please learn more about the actual species you have.

for myrth:  O clamitet! fortasse Liriope minor septem zona

for su:  before i destroy it...i was trying to find a use for it...i don't want it in my yard because of the spreading and well...i really can't find a use for it in my yard...BUT...maybe in my forest there is a use for it...or even in my planting spots...for instance...i have a couple of fruit tree guilds that i watch pretty closely...would love to have a ground cover about 4 ft out that i wouldnt have to maintain...but my thought is...that i would have to maintain this stuff no matter where i put it...uggh... :)  and that is fine...except for when i choose to maintain something not beneficial then it takes time away from those things that are :)  so, im giving it every chance in the world before i eradicate it...and i will :)  thought maybe someone out here would have found a beneficial use for it...

It is not a completely useless plant, but definitely less useful than many one might choose to plant. Here's what one of my favorite plant sites has to say about it:

https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Liriope+minor

teri morgan wrote:sooo....lots of this crazy stuff growing here and there when i moved here...any suggestions on what to do with that? is it poisonous to horses? border ideas? fence row line as a ground cover? (as it does not grow tall)???

or should i just not even worry with it?

any help on the topic of integrating monkey grass into my little neck of the woods or eliminating it (things have to have a use and work around here) would be very useful

I've used it for flower garden borders and currently use it for rain runoff control, it works really well planted in a three row staggered pattern along the rim of our driveway. (up hill from 230 ft. elev. to 480 ft. elev.)
I may even divide it next year and plant some along the edge of the driveway to help contain the gravel.

Redhawk

Bryant RedHawk wrote:
I've used it for flower garden borders and currently use it for rain runoff control, it works really well planted in a three row staggered pattern along the rim of our driveway. (up hill from 230 ft. elev. to 480 ft. elev.)
I may even divide it next year and plant some along the edge of the driveway to help contain the gravel.
Redhawk

hmmmm....hmmmmmm......kk......that might look pretty...coming to the cabin....hmmm...thanks bryant...three row...staggered pattern...

i like that!!! :)