Pilot Program Tests Possible Solution to Cheat Grass

Cheat grass, medusa head and jointed goat grass are persistent and invasive annual grasses that displace native range land perennial grasses.
USDA Agricultural Research Service Dr. Ann Kennedy has a possible exciting solution to diminish these noxious weeds — a naturally occurring microbe. Dr. Kennedy has shared this microbe with several different test sites to see how it will react in different geographic areas
Oregon State University Extension Rangeland Scientist Dr. Sergio Arispe shared at the Oregon Cattlemen’s Mid-Year meeting more about a pilot program happening in Malheaur County
Arispe: “We’re spraying it on different types of landscape — rocky landscapes and clay landscapes. We’re going to be tracking it over time to look at the effectiveness. This particular bacteria can actually decrease the root elongation in these annual grasses and it is particular to annual grasses which is important because we want perennial grasses to outcompete those evasive grasses. This bacteria that she has isolated can be sprayed and applied to the land. What she has published is that it can take about three years to reduce the annual grass foliage to about 50 percent. If we can do that it has a lot of implications on restoring and rehabilitating that land and also decreasing the severity of mega fires.”