WEED GRASS PROBLEM

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29342, 22 October 1960, Page 8

WEED GRASS PROBLEM

Use Of Plough

An attempt is being made to cultivate barley grass out of a paddock on Canterbury Agricultural College’s Ashley Dene property.

Growing of lambing greenfeed in a few paddocks that can be cheaply cultivated has resulted in a build up in fertility, but it has also allowed barley grass in and the weed grass comes up in profusion in the' autumn with short rotation ryegrass. It can be grazed at this stage but by the spring It is rather tough and unpalatable and at that time of the year it cannot be punished by ewes and lambs. The result is that the infestation builds up. Gateways and along fence lines have been sprayed with Dalapon over the last two years and for the first time an attempt is now being made to cultivate the weed out. The idea is to kill the plants with the plough beford .they strike seed heads. When farmers visited the farm this week pn the occasion of annual field day part of the paddock was under cultivation. A few seeds have been found but plants from what seeds strike before December will be cultivated out