Brush Hogging Cogon Grass. Advice and guidance needed.

[Brumm]

Brush hogging Cogon grass

Any experience and advice to share rotary brush Hogging cogon grass. I rotary slashed it many times but the grass won't get cut. It's bulletproof and it's very stressful to work. I used a Massey Ferguson 240 Perkins diesel with a 5 rotary cutter I built myself. I was thinking of increasing the blade speed by upgrading to a 1: 2.83 ratio gearbox and borin steel blades. Any suggestions?

 

[MSU 21]

Spray it. Cutting it only spreads it

 

[Brumm]

Spray it. Cutting it only spreads it

Thank you for your valuable advice. I'll do some research on herbicide. Thank you very much

 

[old and tired]

Once cogongrass is established, chemical control is required. Glyphosate, imazapyr, and combinations of the two herbicides are most effective, but eradication requires multiple applications. Good luck....

 

[etpm]

Living in WA state as I do I had never heard of Cogon grass as it apparently has not made it here yet. So I looked then stuff up and found out that its roots can go as deep as 4 feet! No wonder mowing is of no use. Though I never use pesticides or herbicides on my land if I had Cogon grass I would probably make an exception because it is so invasive. We have Scotch Broom here and it is one of those invasive and hard to get rid of plants, so I can understand why a person would want to get rid of Cogon.
Eric

 

[Brumm]

Once cogongrass is established, chemical control is required. Glyphosate, imazapyr, and combinations of the two herbicides are most effective, but eradication requires multiple applications. Good luck....

Thank you for your informative advice

 

[Brumm]

Living in WA state as I do I had never heard of Cogon grass as it apparently has not made it here yet. So I looked then stuff up and found out that its roots can go as deep as 4 feet! No wonder mowing is of no use. Though I never use pesticides or herbicides on my land if I had Cogon grass I would probably make an exception because it is so invasive. We have Scotch Broom here and it is one of those invasive and hard to get rid of plants, so I can understand why a person would want to get rid of Cogon.
Eric

Thank you Mr. Eric for your input. Yes this invasive plants are taking over pasture land and this Cogon grass has a blade edge causing injuries to the mouths of cattle. I hope the scotch broom goes away too.

 

[paulsharvey]

Spray, burn, and dig up root balls works if eradication is the goal.

 

[LD1]

I dont think it would be safe to go to 24,000 fpm blade speed.

The FASTEST blade speed you see any MFG use for a rotary is only around 17k. Which is a 2:1 box on a 5' cutter.

What did you use? Whats current blade speed? And why isnt it cutting?

Sorry I am unfamiliar with that grass, but steel blades swinging at 15k fpm should cut just about anything. Is the tractor/mower laying it down and it just isnt coming back up to be cut?

 

[LDR812]

Will goats eat it?

 

[oosik]

Like etpm - never heard of Cogon grass. From what I've read - pretty nasty stuff. I don't use pesticides or herbicides.

I could make an exception........

 

[John0829]

Sorry I am unfamiliar with that grass, but steel blades swinging at 15k fpm should cut just about anything. Is the tractor/mower laying it down and it just isnt coming back up to be cut?

I too am unfamiliar with that grass but then I don't know grasses to me grass is that green stuff I have to take time from other things to cut. However I do know that several years back we ended up with some kind of grass (was told it was goose grass, whatever that is) that even with fresh blades razor sharp it would not cut, it would just shred it off like you were trying to cut with extremely worn out blades. Between Roundup and reseeding we finally got it beat.

 

[diesel85]

Cogon grass has high silica which dulls blades.

Glad I don't have it around where I live, but in certain areas of the US, I've heard it is nothing but a pain.

 

[paulsharvey]

For ROW stuff, it is sprayed, but with a more aggressive herbicide than Glysophate. For small scale, spray/burn/dig; and respray on first sign of fresh growth. It's like tropical soda apple and many others; if you get it early, it's easier; but in the end, you treat everything that comes up, eventually the root structure dies. I dont think it typically spreads primarily by seed, mostly by runners.

 

[oosik]

Cogon grass sound a whole lot like the Horse Tail grass we have around here. Very high silica content. Tough on mower blades.