Latin Names:
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Common Name:
Harding Grass
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Phalaris aquatica is a perennial grass that almost certainly originated from the Mediterranean region of Europe (Culvenor 1993, Peterson 1988). It has been introduced in places as a forage plant for livestock (Culvenor 1993, Peterson 1988, Westoby 1980). Through tillering, P. aquatica has the ability to displace native species (Peterson 1988). Although seeds are abundant and easily dispersed, they are poor competitors, leaving germination to disturbed areas (Peterson 1988) such as roadsides, and to bare patches inherent in needle-grassland.
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Non-chemical control methods: Mowing and unearthing are the only non-chemical methods of control found in the literature search for P. aquatica (Culvenor 1993, Peterson 1988). As unearthing would have excessive soil impacts as well as excessive labor requirements, mowing (or brush-cutting with string) will be used in these trials. There is disagreement as to the number and timing of cuts to control P. aquatica (Peterson 1988). The stage of development using characteristics such as stem elongation and the number of nodes per tiller were used to determine cutting times in a laboratory experiment (Culvernor 1993), but this is impractical in field study. The seedling sprouting following control may be skewed in the first year. Seeds are very non-competative, so they need cleared space to germinate (Peterson 1988, Bossard 2000). The large amount of organic material that will be felled in this first year of treatment will most likely prevent germination, which may not be the case in subsequent years. It may become necessary to look into alternate methods for controlling the seed bank. The seeds could be suppressed by mulching until natives provide competition that will easily prevent Phalaris aquatica from germinating. It may be necessary to plant immediately following control to prevent P. aquatica germination.
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