Thread: Extension Agent Warns Homeowners About the "Grass From Hell"

AUBURN, AL---First, there was kudzu, then fire ants. Now, residents along the Gulf Coast may be up against the mother of all invasive species: cogongrass.

"We call it the grass from hell," says Sonya Wood Mahler, a Baldwin County Extension agent actively involved in efforts to contain the weed’s spread.

Ironically, cogongrass shares much in common with kudzu and fire ants, the invasive species most commonly associated with the Deep South.

Like kudzu, cogongrass originated in Japan.

Like imported fire ants, cogongrass was unintentionally introduced into the Port of Mobile in the 1930’s when the weeds, used as packing material, were emptied out of shipping crates and thrown along the edge of the port.

While the grass may have appeared dead, the roots were still active.

"The rhizomes (roots) in cogongrass are very prolific," Mahler says. "You can cut them up and they just multiply like starfish."

And multiply they did. More than 60 years later, the grass can be seen "as far east as Tallahassee and as far west as Baton Rouge," Mahler says.

Highway maintenance workers mowing along highways have unwittingly contributed to the weed’s spread.

That is why Mahler and other experts are urging highway departments to adopt strict practices to contain the weed’s spread, such as soaping and washing mowers after exposure to the weed or designating mowers that can only be used on cogongrass.

Unlike kudzu, which can be removed entirely after several applications of Roundup, cogongrasses never go away completely after taking root.

"Cogongrasses spread radially – in a circle," Mahler says. "I’ve seen instances where a fresh line of the weeds are growing up just beyond a circle of cogongrass killed with Roundup only a few weeks earlier."

That, Mahler says, is why homeowners who spot cogongrass on their landscape should follow a take-no-prisoners approach to the problem.

"We’re advising them to burn and disk the infested areas after first spraying the weeds with Roundup," Mahler says.

While this may sound drastic enough, this is only the first step in a process designed to keep the weeds at bay, she says.

"The following fall, preferably in September, spray the area with Arsenal, and repeat the process once every year for the next three years," she says. "Arsenal is soil active and you’re likely to lose pine trees and oaks in that immediate area, but just remember that dealing with cogongrass is a lot like fighting a war that will produce some collateral damage."

Homeowners, she says, also should take care to soap and wash mowers that have been exposed to cogongrass before they are operated in noninfested areas.

Mahler is working with a number of local communities and businesses to warn residents about the risks associated with propagating cogongrass and other invasive species.

Through the Invasive Exotic Species program, operated through the Baldwin County Extension office and the Baldwin County Forestry Planning Committee, Mahler and other team members have identified 12 invasive species – the so-called "dirty dozen" that are wreaking environmental havoc throughout the coastal region.

Mahler and others involved in the program have held a number of training sessions for municipal employees in Daphne, Fairhope and Foley, showing them steps they can follow to reduce the spread of these plants.

They have also targeted educational efforts to reach nurseries and commercial landscaping businesses.

Warning people about the problems associated with cogon grass and other species is a tall order in Baldwin County, where the population and landscapes are proliferating as fast as cogongrass. But that hasn’t stopped Mahler and others from doing what they can to spread the word.

"If you see a tiny patch of cogongrass on your landscape, you need to do something about it immediately," Mahler advises. "Either spray it with Roundup or dig up the roots."

"You can’t say you’ll get to it next year because by then it will be too late."

(Source: Sonya Wood Mahler, Baldwin County Extension Agent, 251-937-7176.)