By Patty Wilber
We have what I have been calling “foxtail”, but when I started to learn more about foxtails, it seems we don’t have traditional foxtail in the genus Setaria, but instead have a foxtail barley in the genus Hordeum. Mine is an annual, cool-season grass, so I think it is Hordeum pusillum, (= little barley). It is a native, but it is also weedy and has those nasty awns.
This past winter was very mild and apparently ideal for the growth of our Hordeum. It looked quite nice up until it went to seed and died!
We also have another “fun” invasive plant, Kochia scoparia. It is native to Eurasia and was introduced. According to the USDA, “Kochia is palatable to all classes of livestock. It can be toxic to livestock and may cause death if consumed in large quantities. It is recommended that kochia forage should consist of not more than 50% of
livestock ration.”
Our horses will eat kochia when it is young, but eschew it as it gets larger. It can grow to over six feet tall if it gets enough water. If you mow it, the lateral meristems activate, and instead of up, it grows laterally along the ground.
I spend a lot of time pulling kochia and if grasses are growing nearby, they do seem to spread if I take out the kochia, but if I don’t keep up, the kochia will reinvade.
This spring, I noticed that wherever we had little barley, we did not have kochia, and of course, I wondered why.
The little barely is the dead stuff and the kochia is the green area.
Our little barley germinated in late fall and grew all winter into a pretty dense mat. This can simply prevent other plants from being able to emerge. Some Hordeum also produce chemicals that inhibit the growth of other plants (phytotoxins), so that could prevent kochia germination.
Interestingly, kochia also produces toxins (some of which might work against breast cancer!) and that can retard the growth of competitors.
In areas where little barley is absent, the kochia is doing well, but not as well as last year, so the weather conditions apparently have not favored kochia. In areas where little barley went seed to seed? root to root? root to seed? with kochia, little barley won.
I am not a fan of kochia, but I don’t think the little barley is a step up, nasty awns and all!
We have both the little barley and foxtail barley (Hordeum jubatum L) and I would take the little barley any day of the week!
I always thought that “foxtail” was a specific grass, but I gather it’s a generalized descriptor of that sort of seed. Except maybe if it’s name is actually foxtail barley. We had not one but two waves of it this year. I leave the little barley along for the most part but am on a mission to eradicate the foxtail barley!
I think we have both as well. The fox tail barley is prettier I think and isn’t as invasive…
Oh, the foxtail barley is much worse, at least around here. I despise it. It’s worse for the dogs (it’s the thing that gets in them and travels) and it spreads like, dare I say it, wildfire. I don’t worry too much about the little barley. It stays low and spreads outward from itself, not as airborne or as much of a fire hazard. As far as I’m concerned, anyway!