Tips and Tactics: Emerging Weed Threat: Button Grass

Key Points

• In a fallow, button grass reduces yields by taking up water and nutrients that would be available to the subsequent crop.
• In a summer crop, direct competition from button grass can significantly reduce yield.
• Button grass can be a valuable pasture species in arid areas, although overgrazing (especially in stockyards) can result in nitrate-nitrite toxicity for sheep and cattle.
• An integrated weed management plan, including prompt use of herbicides when button grass first emerges, is crucial for effective control and to reduce the risk of future herbicide resistance.
• There are few registered herbicides for button grass management in crop; so careful use of non-selective herbicides in fallow is needed for good control.

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