{"id":22097,"date":"2026-06-05T01:00:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T07:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/?p=22097"},"modified":"2026-06-04T23:17:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T05:17:18","slug":"foxtail-vs-kochia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/foxtail-vs-kochia\/","title":{"rendered":"Foxtail vs. Kochia"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Patty Wilber<\/p>\n

We have what I have been calling “foxtail”<\/strong>, but when I started to learn more about foxtails, it seems we don’t have traditional foxtail in the genus Setaria,\u00a0<\/em>but instead have a foxtail barley in the genus Hordeum<\/em>.\u00a0 Mine is an annual, cool-season grass, so I think it is Hordeum pusillum<\/em><\/a>, (= little barley).\u00a0 It is a native, but it is also weedy and has those nasty awns.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This past winter was very mild<\/strong> and apparently ideal for the growth of our Hordeum<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 It looked quite nice up until it went to seed and died!<\/p>\n

We also have another “fun” invasive plant<\/strong>, Kochia scoparia<\/em><\/a>. It is native to Eurasia and was introduced.\u00a0 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
\nlivestock ration.”<\/p>\n

Our horses will eat kochia<\/strong> when it is young, but eschew it as it gets larger.\u00a0 It can grow to over six feet tall if it gets enough water.\u00a0 If you mow it, the lateral meristems activate, and instead of up, it grows laterally along the ground.<\/p>\n

I spend a lot of time pulling kochia<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

This spring,<\/strong> I noticed that wherever we had little barley, we did not have kochia, and of course, I wondered why.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The little barely is the dead stuff and the kochia is the green area.<\/p><\/div>\n

Our little barley germinated<\/strong> in late fall and grew all winter into a pretty dense mat.\u00a0 This can simply prevent other plants from being able to emerge.\u00a0 Some Hordeum<\/em> also produce chemicals that inhibit the growth of other plants<\/a> (phytotoxins), so that could prevent kochia germination.<\/p>\n

Interestingly,<\/strong> kochia also produces toxins (some of which might work against breast cancer!<\/a>) and that can retard the growth of competitors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In areas where little barley is absent,<\/strong> the kochia is doing well, but not as well as last year, so the weather conditions apparently have not favored kochia.\u00a0 In areas where little barley went seed to seed? root to root?\u00a0 root to seed? with kochia, little barley won.<\/p>\n

I am not a fan of kochia,<\/strong> but I don’t think the little barley is a step up, nasty awns and all!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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,\u00a0but instead have a foxtail barley in the genus Hordeum.\u00a0 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[100,55,158],"class_list":["post-22097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-write-horse","tag-new-mexico","tag-pasture","tag-the-write-horse"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb2lc3-5Kp","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2218,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2010\/08\/27\/this-is-the-training-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":22097,"position":0},"title":"This is the Training Life","author":"BlogPatty","date":"1008.27","format":false,"excerpt":"Patty Wilber\u00a0\u00a0 Summer is winding down.\u00a0\u00a0Sunflowers (Genus Helianthus)\u00a0decorate the roadsides and snake week (Genus Guitierrezia) is blooming in the fields.\u00a0 I have a little stand of sunflowers\u00a0by the hay barn where the horses are usually Not Allowed.\u00a0 They eat the flowers.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 This spring was emerald green with the\u00a0non-native\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Write Horse"","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/red-can-Zeke-weeds-009-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22033,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2026\/04\/10\/good-fortune-abounds\/","url_meta":{"origin":22097,"position":1},"title":"Good Fortune in my Corner","author":"BlogPatty","date":"2604.10","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber I had a busy week, in which: we got back from a great Easter in Knoxville visiting Mark, Erica, and Juni; the hotel reservations in Clovis that I botched got fixed with the help of the Best Western Cannon AFB owner AND saved me money; and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Write Horse"","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260403_113620-scaled-e1775797824987.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260403_113620-scaled-e1775797824987.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/20260403_113620-scaled-e1775797824987.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":22083,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/update-on-cometas-equine-metabolic-syndrome-and-cushings\/","url_meta":{"origin":22097,"position":2},"title":"Update on Cometa’s Equine Metabolic Syndrome and Cushings","author":"BlogPatty","date":"2605.29","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber We had a very mild winter, and plants that normally freeze and die, did not. We ended up with a bumper crop of foxtail (and orchard grass), but that's another story. I let the horses graze on the green foxtail (for an hour at a time) and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Miscellaneous!"","block_context":{"text":"Miscellaneous!","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/miscellaneous\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260528_083613-e1780030173738.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260528_083613-e1780030173738.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260528_083613-e1780030173738.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18866,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2021\/09\/03\/the-weeds-i-hate-the-most\/","url_meta":{"origin":22097,"position":3},"title":"The Weeds I Hate the Most","author":"BlogPatty","date":"2109.03","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber We have had the best monsoon weed growing\u00a0season in about 20 years, according one source. Even so, NM is still a droughty state. Around here, we had a dry June (1.2 \") , wetter July (4.88\") and moderate August (2.82\").\u00a0 When written down, those number seem like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Write Horse"","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/20210901_100513.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/20210901_100513.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/20210901_100513.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/20210901_100513.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14387,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2017\/03\/31\/spring-weeds\/","url_meta":{"origin":22097,"position":4},"title":"Spring Weeds","author":"BlogPatty","date":"1703.31","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber This winter has been warmer\u00a0(Accuweather) and slightly wetter (at least until February) \u00a0compared to the historic averages as reported by Intellicast. We didn't get a lot of snow. Here is a summary: \u00a0Precipitation\u00a0from Intellicast, and my rain gauge, temperatures from Accuweather. Links above. Historic Averages \u00a0 \u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Write Horse"","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/20170328_161546-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/20170328_161546-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/20170328_161546-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12541,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2015\/07\/17\/not-so-droughty\/","url_meta":{"origin":22097,"position":5},"title":"Not so Droughty","author":"BlogPatty","date":"1507.17","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber At this time last year, according to the Drought Monitor, NM looked like this: This year (7\/7\/15): No\u00a0green on the map, but we've got green on the ground, beautiful skies and not too hot! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ And in other news, my sister failed the Penny test! 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