Fighting Fountain Grass

One of the prettier ornamental grasses on the golf course is Fountain Grass.  These plants look beautiful when in seed, with the dew glistening off them in the early morning.

However, in many areas, they have become more of a weed, than a desirable plant, and have taken over areas.  We made another loop through the naturalized areas this fall with two selective herbicides to control Fountain Grass.

There's a saying that the best tool for weed control is a mower.  Most every plant has a limit as to how low it can be mowed and survive.  One of the challenges with Fountain Grass is that it can handle a wide variety of heights.  You can see in the picture below that Fountain Grass can persist even when cut as low as our primary rough, with a couple of plants next to a sprinkler.

The vast majority of the herbicide use on the golf course is in the naturalized areas.  These include selective herbicides for broad leaf weeds, sedges, undesirable grasses, etc.  While we only mow these areas a couple of times each year, referring to them as "low maintenance" is just not right.