Japanese Stilt Grass, Nepalese Browntop, Chinese Packing Grass

Small light green leaves on a highly invasive plant. Saw it in a few of the neighbor's yard taking over flower beds and grassy areas. Th...Read Moreen found it in mine. I've read articles on how to remove it even to using Roundup to no avail. I've keep it cut close in areas that are mowed. I can't keep it pulled out of flowers beds. Am not as young as I used to be so being on my knees is not always good. Am grateful to the comment on when to pull them but wish there was a product we could use to kill it but not harm plants.

This horrible plant grows all over the place on our property in western Orange County in NY state. I have spent hours spraying with Roun...Read Moredup, trying to plant other things, and I am delighted to read Jesup's (Malvern, PA) comments which are most helpful.

Japanese Stilt Grass, Nepalese Browntop, Chinese Packing Grass Microstegium vimineum is naturalized in Texas and other States and is con...Read Moresidered an invasive plant in Texas.

Horribly invasive grass. Spreads both by above-ground rhizome and seed. Some of this information comes from The Nature Conservancy's pa...Read Moreper on it.

Loves disturbed soil. Able to displace native wetland and forest understory vegetation with its dense, expanding monospecific patches. Once established, the removal of M. vimineum requires major eradication and restoration efforts. Likes low-light levels unlike many other grasses (5-50%).

Manual or mechanical techniques may be the best method for controlling M. vimineum, since it is a shallowly-rooted annual. Hand pulling, however, is extremely labor-intensive, is feasible only for small infestations, and will need to be repeated and continued at least seven years to exhaust the seed supply in the seed bank. Mowing may be an effective control method if carried out in late summer, when the plants are in peak bloom but before seed is produced.

Pulling late in the season (September-early November) before seed production reduces the unintentional spread of the current year’s seeds. Pulling early in the season (before July), however, allows germination of new plants from the seed bank which will mature during the remaining season and produce seeds. In the northeast, August and late September are good times to pull plants by hand.

For extensive infestations, where mechanical methods are not practical, systemic herbicides such as imazameth (tradename Plateau) or glyphosate (tradename RoundUp, or Rodeo in wetland sites), or grass-specific herbicides like sethoxydim (tradenames Vantage or Poast) may be effective.

An individual plants of M. vimineum can produce up to 1000 seeds, and the seeds remain viable in the soil for three to five years. Once established, M. vimineum is able to crowd out native herbaceous vegetation in wetlands and forests within three to five years.

M. vimineum can be distinguished from other grasses by its thin, pale green, tapered leaf blades. In the fall, identification becomes somewhat easier after the plant develops a slight purplish tinge. Native to Asia from India and Japan.