Texas Panicum (Panicum texanum)

About Texas Panicum:

Texas Panicum is a vigorous, annual plant that emerges in early summer and grows quite quickly. The difficult aspect about this plant is that it often misses pre-emergent herbicide application due to the fact that it germinates late in the season, after most of the herbicides have degraded. This strong weed is very competitive with crops planted in your filed; they grow fast and mature early.

Family: Grass family (poacaea)

Texas Panicum Scouting and Prevention:

Texas Panicum can grow up to 32 inches tall. It can also grow near the ground with ascending tips. On a mature plant, leaves have velvety hair on both sides and can grow from 3 to 11 inches in length and are about 20 mm wide. The inflorescence of the Texas Panicum is a spreading, open panicle. The seeds on this grass are fairly large with a vertical stripe and only take about 60 to 90 days to complete their life cycle.

Common locations

• - Hot, dry conditions
• - Pastures
• - Agronomic crops

Prevention

Prevention of Texas Panicum is less expensive and less time-consuming then trying to control it. Make sure when you seed a new area you do so with certified weed-free seeds. If there is an infested area on your property, be sure to drive around instead of through it. Make sure to give all equipment that has been in infested fields a good clean to make sure no seeds are transferred.

Latin / Alternative Texas Panicum names:

• - Panicum texanum
• - Texas signalgrass
• - Texas tall panicum

Additional Texas Panicum Resources

http://www.pogueagri.com/Texas_Panicum.aspx

http://m.farmassist.com/pestdetail.aspx?pestid=292&type=1&cropid=2

http://www.preen.com/weed/81163/1315/Texas-panicum.aspx?option=products&width=710&height=545

http://twig.tamu.edu/keyindex.htm