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What is this—its taking over my tall grass area.

Eric Hanson

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posted 1 month ago

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Hi everyone!

Title pretty much says it all. I have some grass(?) growing in my tall grass area and it is choking out my tall grasses. I have noticed small patches hear and there but this year it really spread out and I am a little concerned about my tall grasses turning into whatever this is.

Whatever it is, it spreads laterally and the total pile is perhaps a foot or so off the ground, but that is not grass growing up, but sideways over other grass stems of the same species growing sideways.

Is there any Permies acceptable way to rid myself of this? Or at least can I give my native grasses a leg up? I eagerly await your responses!!!

Eric

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Some places need to be wild

Ulla Bisgaard

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posted 1 month ago

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It looks like Bermuda grass

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Hugo Morvan

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posted 1 month ago

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Hi Eric, nice mulch mat! A shame of those beautiful grasses growing there. I guess you want to control it that it stays as it was? I wouldn't know if that is doable easily. We have something a bit similar to you which has a taproot and will pop back the next year. Check out if it has a deep root. Then you'll need to take them all out and remove the mulch. Hoping there's no seeds in there of it. And hot compost it.
Or do the 'lazy' way and plonk a lot of more grasses on top, hope it surpresses the evil colonizer enough and grow something that really covers it over summer. Like pumpkins or potatoes for a year.
Maybe another giant mushroombed will keep it down?
Or sowing a winterrye into it, which will shade it out over summer.
Just some ideas for this. Good luck!

Creating edible biodiversity and embracing everlasting abundance.

Anne Miller

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Eric Hanson wrote:Is there any Permies acceptable way to rid myself of this? Or at least can I give my native grasses a leg up? I eagerly await your responses!!!

Do you feel it is a grass or a vine of some sort? Have you tried some of the websites to Id plants?

It looks like Zoysia more than Bermuda to me though Zoysia is not usually aggressive like that. St. Augustine grass has a wider blade like that though it doesn't do well in sun as it is a shade grass.

My suggestion would be to mow it down, cover with cardboard and 6 inch to 12 inch of wood chips and maybe the frost will get it, though doubtful.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

Anna Hutchins

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posted 1 month ago

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I'd put money on it NOT being Bermuda. Bermuda doesn't have wide leaves like that. But I'd agree that it's probably an aggressive perennial grass. The only luck I've ever had with perennial grasses like Bermuda is to go scorched earth and dig them out. Of course I've never successfully made a hot compost pile in my life. That's probably a better solution if you can manage it.

Edit: Google lens seems to think it's Japanese stilt grass but that doesn't look right to me either. I think the leaves in your picture wrap around the stem more so maybe it is St. Augustine grass?

Anne Miller

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I like the suggestion that Anna made about scorching that grass. Maybe a flame thrower might be easier than mowing though that would be a loss in some mulch under the card board.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

Judith Browning

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Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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posted 1 month ago

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Have there been any blooms?

We both thought smart weed or dayflower at first look...especially seeing the mound of plants....and on second look neither of these are likely.

Maybe you could pull a plant and post a photo from the roots up?

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Eric Hanson

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posted 1 month ago

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WOW! Hey, thanks for all the great responses.

From what I can tell, it seems like some sort of grass that starts as a clump and then spreads by stolons. It might also be spreading by rhizomes, but I am sure that the stolons are the part making the aggressive leaps.

I have been mowing, but only once per year as per local covenants. And my mowing really means bush hogging so the stubble might well be 6”-12” as I see no need to mow right to the ground when bush hogging. But that might change now.

Maybe I will start mowing VERY low using my lawn mower, and in the near future I plan to have a flail mower (as in sometime spring-early summer 2026). Maybe I will use that to really scalp that section.

On the other hand, maybe fire is my friend! IF it is Japanese stilt weed, or similar, fire might really damage it.

I attached a couple of other pictures that wouldn’t attach on my first post.

Eric

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Some places need to be wild

Eric Hanson

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And two more because my connection has been stubborn.

IMG_3479.jpeg

IMG_3480.jpeg

Some places need to be wild

Eric Hanson

Steward and Man of Many Mushrooms

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I don't know if this would be helpful for anyone in their searches or thoughts, but I would be willing to bet that the weed grass that I have is a C4 grass based on its rapid growth and its immunity to drought.

Just a thought,

Eric

Some places need to be wild

Anne Miller

steward

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posted 1 month ago

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I think it maybe Buffelgrass, pennisetum ciliare. Not the native buffalograss that I post about.

My grass book says Dense clumps become rhizomatous.

I found this which I feel might be the same grass:

https://www.myhometurf.com.au/lawn-tips/runners-on-top-of-buffalo-lawn/

A seed-head would be very helpful if you can find one.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

Eric Hanson

Steward and Man of Many Mushrooms

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Judith--I have seen no blooms, and I have been watching this stuff for about three years.

Eric

Some places need to be wild

Eric Hanson

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Anne,

Maybe it is the buffalo grass you mention, but the leaves on my stuff are very wide and far spaced. On the image you provided, there appear to be a lot of short, almost needle-like leaves attached to a stem. And there are a lot of short, fine, narrow leaves on those stems. On the stuff I have, the leaves are much broader and further spaced between. Maybe it is a difference in age? I don't know.

Maybe compare it to a picture I have above. I think it is labeled "Oh Pretty PRETTY Please HELP!"

Eric Hanson

Some places need to be wild

May Lotito

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posted 1 month ago

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Do you have close up picture of the leaves with a ruler. The Illinois Wildflowers website has a very detailed page about the Japanese stiltgrass:https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/grasses/plants/jp_stiltgrass.html
It might look a bit different because yours are in full sun.

Carpgrass also looks similar:https://weedid.missouri.edu/weedinfo.cfm?weed_id=28

Maybe you can contact them for an ID.

Zone 6, 45 inches precipitation, hard clay soil

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Eric Hanson

Steward and Man of Many Mushrooms

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Location: Southern Illinois

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posted 1 month ago

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May, you might have the winning answer. Not Japanese stilt grass, but the carpet grass looks almost exactly like what I see in my field area. Congratulations for finding the answer!!!

I will still look to further pin this down, but I think you got it!!

Eric

Some places need to be wild

Eric Hanson

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posted 1 month ago

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May, oh gosh, they all look so close. Are they all variations of the same genus?

Eric

Some places need to be wild

May Lotito

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posted 1 month ago

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I am not good at identifying grasses. Given the aggressive nature of the grass, I suspected it is not native and refined the search for invasive species and the carp grass came up. I've never heard of it.

I am wondering if there's something special about the spot where it is dominating. Part of my yard used to have a nice mixture of clovers and other low growing species. I took several cuttings out of there and the next year, the area was taken over by noxious weeds, mostly the prostrate types with shallow roots and spreading habits. So if you are able to mow the carp grasses down, maybe it will to helpful to sow native seed mixtures to out compete the weeds.

Zone 6, 45 inches precipitation, hard clay soil

Les Frijo

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posted 1 month ago

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Deer tongue witchgrass may deserve a look as well. dichanthelium clandestinum.

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/dichanthelium-clandestinum/

Eric Hanson

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May,

Regarding the spots: at the moment, all of them are pretty high, relatively dry compared to other places where they might grow. We did have a very dry late summer, having about two months of no rain starting about the end of July. However, the preceding months were pretty wet. Actually, by the middle of July I was surprised that we had gotten so far into the growing season without having a drought yet.

So this is surprising when I read the some of the descriptions that said these grasses like wet areas--I would have thought they would have shown up near my pond, but my pond area is clear of them.

Intriguing!!

Eric

Some places need to be wild

Eric Hanson

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posted 4 weeks ago

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Oh, and May, you say that you are not good at identifying grasses, but we are all MUCH closer to getting an ID on this grass in just a few posts from you so congrats again!!

Eric

Some places need to be wild

Jimmy Jo Bob

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Location: Tennessee, Zone 7a

posted 4 weeks ago

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Its not bermuda or zoysia I can confirm.

I too would like more insite on this one though as its a problem for our property as of recently. I have heard it called river cane but my research tells me that stuff gets tall. We are on a new property that was heavily graded for new construction. We have alot of nice wildflowers and grasses coming up after our first year on clay. Unfortunately this stuff is showing up everywhere and I would consider it aggressive. Its more like a bamboo like growth and appearance. Stems are woody. Colonizes quickly. Curious to see if it survives harsh winters. If it doesnt and this stuff gets tall like that, it will be a problem. Fortunately its in our 'wildflower area' which we dont mow vs the pasture area. I have yet to seen it spread in regularly mowed areas at this point.

Rico Loma

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posted 4 weeks ago

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It looks a bit like Johnson grass, spreding by seed and rhizomes , but I'm no expert
Part of the sorghum family
We have plenty of it here in GA, in bad droughts it still grows and some folks make a tolerable hay with it

Screenshot_20251024_084832_Photos.jpg

Priscilla Smith

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posted 3 weeks ago

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I ran a close-up of the plant through Picture This plant id app. I got this:

mystery-grass.jpg

PictureThisMysteryGrass.jpeg

Les Frijo

Posts: 67

posted 3 weeks ago

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Priscilla Smith wrote:I ran a close-up of the plant through Picture This plant id app. I got this:

I agree. I see my photo links went away above but here's a close up from one of Eric's photos and one of the photos from my link above...which also says it's a native for what it's worth.

Screen-Shot-2025-10-24-at-10.35.33-AM.jpg

Dichanthelium_clande_s.jpg

Eric Hanson

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Location: Southern Illinois

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posted 3 weeks ago

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Rico, Les, everyone,

I can confirm that it is not Johnson Grass. We have plenty of that stuff too. At one time Johnson Grass was thought to me the next kudzu, but while I do have patches of it in my field area, it just does not choke out all competition the way we once feared.

As for the Deere Tongue Grass, it looks like a possibility. I certainly have many, many deer in the area and maybe they love it!

Whatever the case, I just don't want huge swathes of my field crowded out by whatever this is. All control options are welcome!

Eric

Some places need to be wild

Les Frijo

Posts: 67

posted 3 weeks ago

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Eric,

I guess I would ask what do you want there?

Deer tongue grass is at least is native so beneficial to something most likely.

Mow it. Plant something else. leave it alone and see what happens. Those are the acceptable options for me.

Whatever the case things generally don't seem to stay the same. It will do it's job and something better (or worse) will be there eventually if nothing at all is done.

Stinging nettles are edible. But I really want to see you try to eat this tiny ad:

heat your home with yard waste and cardboard

https://freeheat.info