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Mowing Any Time after Midsummer Can Manage Japanese Stiltgrass

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Angela L. Shelton
Angela L. Shelton*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405
*
E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Japanese stiltgrass is one of the most aggressive, rapidly spreading invasive plants in the eastern United States. Management guidelines state that mowing can help manage Japanese stiltgrass but that mowing is most effective when done late in the season after the plants begin to flower and before they set seed. In this study, I tested the effectiveness of mowing at three different times between mid-June and early September in 2009 and 2010, as well as mowing twice in 1 yr and for two consecutive years. The effectiveness of mowing Japanese stiltgrass was determined by measuring percentage of cover, biomass, seed production, and the number of stems in the summer following mowing. All mowing treatments significantly reduced percentage of cover, biomass, seed production, and the number of Japanese stiltgrass stems the following year. In 2009, all of the mowing treatments significantly reduced biomass, percentage of cover, and seed production. The latest mow, at the end of August, resulted in a slightly greater reduction of cleistogamous seeds. In 2010, the earliest mowing treatment, in mid-June, did not reduce cover and biomass as much as the other mowing treatments. Overall, these results suggest that mowing can be an effective control method for Japanese stiltgrass and that mowing any time after June should be effectively equivalent, although later mowing may provide some marginal advantage.

Keywords

Japanese stiltgrass, Microstegium vimineum (Trin.) A. Camus var. imberbe (Nees) HondaMowingmechanical controlinvasive plantmanagement
Type
Research Article
Information
Invasive Plant Science and Management , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , June 2012 , pp. 209 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © Weed Science Society of America 

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