Herbicide trials for the control of buffelgrass (Pennisetum cilare) were conducted at Arizona State University Tempe in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The first two trials were broadcast sprayed. In 2010 the plants were sprayed to “canopy†wet. Some of the herbicides applied in 2008 and 2009 initially looked promising, but within about a year, the majority of the buffelgrass plants had returned to normal growth status. In September 2010, herbicides that previously showed some effectiveness for buffelgrass control, were applied in a 2 % herbicide solution sprayed to a foliage wet condition, with 1 % seed oil as a surfactant. Fourteen months after the 2010 treatment, several herbicides are showing excellent buffelgrass canopy mortality. Those herbicides include; glyphosate, imazapyr, nicosulfuron, sulfometuron, and a combination of nicosulfuron plus sulfometuron. Nicosulfuron and the treatment combining nicosulfuron plus sulfometuron had scores of 100 % mortality, compared to 89 % mortality from glyphosate. At 760 DAT from the 2010 herbicide applications, sulfometuron, imazapyr and sulfometuron plus nicosulfuron provided 100 % buffelgrass mortality. The treated plots had no live plant material, dry plants parts persisted on the plots. Untreated plots yielded 3,889 lbs/ac of plant matter, a significant fuel load. Future research needs to evaluate gramicides for buffelgrass where native desert plants are present.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.