I have a place about 45 southwest of Fort Worth that is covered with grass burs. The overall place is about 25 acres but this one 5 to 7 acre tract is growing nothing but stickers. The land is unimproved pasture land with sandy soil (on a river bottom). There are no good grasses that I am trying to save. I am trying to get the place in condition so that next year I can hopefully put in improved grasses such as coastal or some other type of Bermuda grass to support a couple cows, goats, etc.

Last year I put out an application of Prowl H20 around the end of February but it didn't really seem to help and the place all year was covered with stickers as I mowed.

I was going to put out Prowl again tomorrow but then I talked to the feed store and they said they were out until next Tuesday but that they have Plateau. They said that Plateau can be used as a pre-emergent or post-emergent and that a couple of farmers used it last year for grassbur control and thought it was better than Prowl. Another advantage they said is that Plateau is much cheaper than Prowl.

Anyone have any experience with Plateau? Will it harm trees as I have several large pecan, oak, post oak trees that I don't want to harm.

I know one application is not going to be enough, so once the stickers start coming back up, anyone have any recommendations for post-emergence to knock them out. I was thinking of just killing everything with round-up as there is no good grasses to save and starting back over but I don't want to harm the trees.

Thanks for the help.

I believe Prowl is a preemergent (pendimethali) and will not do anything to existing weeds. I'm not familiar with the Plateau label, but I know it is broad spectrum. I've always used Image (Imazaquin) for Sand burs. Can you post a pic of the weed so we can verify it is sand burs?

Also, if you aren't protecting grass, apply RoundUp. If you spray at a moderate rate (15oz/acre) it won't kill Bermuda grass.

Trout- sorry, I don't know how to post pics but I can assure you it is sand burrs. My dad jokes with me and says it is so thick that it looks like I am purposely trying to grow them.

My main objective is to get rid of them to plant new improved grasses next year and to not damage my trees.

We use Surflan at the ranchito, works well but may take a couple applications. And its $$$

I also use Surflan and apply around Valentines Day & Halloween..(just so I can remember).

The problem with grass burs is that its not a one time application to wipe them out. It takes multiple applications and several years.

I recently applied Dimension that I got from the feed store but they said apply 3 times per year (Valentines, Memorial day, Labor Day). Its not cheap either, about $100 per application (for one acre).

Herbicide control of grassburs is both $$$, and likely ineffective. MSMA is again available in many areas, and if livestock is not involved, would be my recommendation.
Some discussions go towards the "choke them out" approach, where your $$ is spent on grass improvement.

Establishment of permanent grasses and fertilizer are probably the most effective.

I have had good luck with fire.

If you plan on doing this treatment in the future, you might be better off just buying the liquid formulation. Apply it with a sprayer if you have one. If you don't have one, they have some at tractor supply for a couple hundred dollars.

https://www.domyown.com/dimension-2ew-herbicide-p-1494.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1qTA1Y6U4QIVSZ7ACh0N5wDwEAQYASABEgINqPD_BwE

I'm like you though, I prefer the granular, but it is for a residential yard. Love Dimension!

Cowtown

I use Plateau for control of 'cheat grass' - I think the proper name is Downey Brome. I have to apply it in the fall for control when everything comes in the spring. If I understand the mechanism correctly, it prevents the cheat grass seed from germinating. It is a good product for me. It took me several years to recover infested pasture as there was evidently a large seed inventory on the ground.

My use is not around trees so I cannot comment on that, but suggest you run your issue past your county agent, county weed and pest or SCS folks. Sometimes (not always) getting advice from the feed store is like asking the shoe salesman if you need new shoes.

....just my $0.02......

Do you plow or disturb the ground at all? How hard do you graze? What is the base grass? Grass burs, like Johnsongrass, are opportunists that die by themselves over time. No disturbance and no overgrazing (johnsongrass can be hammered), and no problem. Do everything to encourage your base grasses.

I'm pulling all of this either off the label for plateau or out of MP-44.

Plateau will suppress grass burr when applied as a pre emergent, but will not control it. That goes for the lighter application at 4-6 oz per acre and for the heavier dose at 8-12 oz per acre. It will control grass burr as a post emergent.

MP-44 recommends Pastora at 1.5 oz per acre, Roundup Weathermax at 11 fl oz per acre, or Panoramic (imazapic) at 6 fl oz per acre after the first hay cutting. Any of these will set your bermudagrass back by about 30 days.

The best weed control is a good stand of whatever you're trying to grow, as others have said.

Remember that the label is the law.

Thanks everyone, lots of good information.

I have not plowed the ground or turned it over. My original plan was to plow the ground and plant bermuda and then fertilize the heck out of it to try to choke out the stickers. My experience with my yard is that when the grass is thick and full that it chokes out all of the weeds.

As for this pasture land, all of the grasses are nothing but weeds and nothing desired. I was going to plow the ground and plant Bermuda but I was told if I put newly planted Bermuda down that I couldn't apply a herbicide to kill the stickers. They recommended that I kill the stickers first and then once those were gone then plant the grass.

As such, my plan was to spend this year getting rid of the stickers through pre or post emergent herbicides and whatever other options work to get rid of those darn things so that I would be ready next spring for grasses. I know I am in for years of work to get rid of the stickers but I have to start somewhere.

I am new to all of this and just trying to figure out to get rid of my 6 acre sticker patch so that I can start growing improved grasses so that I can put some animals out there. My number one concern is that I don't do anything to harm or kill my trees as many of the trees are large, mature oaks and pecans and that was the whole reason I bought the property initially.

I would do a tank mix of RoundUp and Plateau.

Unless you plan seeding in Bermuda. If that's the case spray Roundup only. You don't want any preemergent if you plan on seeding afterwards.

Troutslime said:

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Unless you plan seeding in Bermuda...spray Roundup only. You don't want any preemergent if you plan on seeding afterwards.

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Agree with this

what micro said. Sprigging can be had for about $140-$170 per acre. Kill it all with glysophate, disk, amend soil (mainly lime, if needed) per soil test and sprig in May. Apply post emergent lightly in summer. Fertilize at least once each year (also per soil test) ahead of rain. Preemergent hard year one and two. By end of year two grass will do most of the weed control work.

In other words, probably too late to get a big bang for buck on preemergent so sprig first and control later.

Where you are and with sand I really recommend tifton 85. Costs a little more (in 2017 was $165/ac in east texas from Mr. Wallace in Canton) and havent priced this years yet) but worth it especially on small tracts where you may want to push traditional thinking on carrying capacity. It aint magic but is drought tolerant and loves sandy soil. Be aware though to really get its full potential you need to feed it. We get a substantial premium for our hay over coastal mainly to horse folks but we fertilize between each cutting and lime and chicken manure every other year. This gets us upper teens in protein and fantastic digestible solids percentages. High input for a hay operation but its also a great grazing grass. Stems stay high through winter and cows will eat on it till rye comes on.

finally the only mistake you can make when sprigging is to plant sprigs in dry soil. sprig after a good rain and soil is wet. If you get any normal seasonal rains after that it will make. Also dont sprig dormant tifton 85, that was a total loss when we tried it.

Most sprigging guys will come out for a minimum of 10 acres. On small tracts be sure to trim trees up as their equipment will probably be bigger/taller than yours and if you have a bunch of trees you wont end up with grass everywhere you want it. Ask me how I know

getting ready to sprig again now. It is a fun project. get to use tractors, plant stuff, and make it grow. of all the ag projects us guys fool around with, turning a fallow field to a productive field probably returns the most on investment and gives me the most satisfaction.