Nature Bulletin No. 380-A   May 2, 1070
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
George W. Dunne, President
Roland F. Eisenbeis, Supt. of Conservation

****:QUACKGRASS AND CRABGRASS

Quackgrass is one of the pesky weeds that are benefited by the foolish 
practice of annually burning the dead vegetation on vacant lots and on 
meadows in outlying subdivisions. Its vigorous root systems survive 
and spread until it replaces the good grasses, clovers and other 
desirable plants which are destroyed by such fires. Many people 
confuse quackgrass with crabgrass.

Quackgrass is a perennial and a member of the Barley Tribe. Native in 
Europe, it appeared in Connecticut about 1750. Now it infests most of 
our northern states and southern Canada because, before it was 
designated by law as a noxious weed, its seeds were often carelessly 
included with those of bluegrass and timothy. Being adapted to a cool 
climate, it is not found in the southern states nor the southwestern 
prairies.

Quackgrass sends up long slender stems with flat narrow leaves and is 
sometimes mistaken for timothy. The seed head, however, is more like 
that of wheat and western wheatgrass; and it sends out long 
underground runners with knot-like joints. Branches develop at many 
of the joints and those may branch again. At any joint, fibrous roots 
may develop and a leafy stem push up through the ground to become 
another plant. Thus it spreads both by its seeds and its root stocks -- 
called "rhizomes" -- and, even when these are chopped up by a farm 
implement, each joint left in the soil may sprout roots and grow. 
Quackgrass is so hard to kill that it has many harsh names such as 
Witchgrass and Devil's Grass. The most effective means of control 
appears to be spraying with a liquid chemical that has a long name 
abbreviated to "TCA".

Livestock will eat the new tender quackgrass in early spring; and in 
North Dakota, for instance, some farmers cut two crops of quackgrass 
hay each year; but it is poor feed and we understand that many 
thousands of acres have been abandoned as grazing lands because of it. 
The best thing to be said for the plant is that it is an excellent 
soilbinder on slopes and sandy ground subject to erosion.

Crabgrass, an annual and a member of the Millet-Tribe, is another 
European plant that has become one of the worst pests in gardens, 
lawns and golf courses of the East, Middle West and South. It is one of 
the fastest-growing weeds and spreads not only from its seeds but also 
from its branching stems which sprawl on the ground and take root at 
the joints. In late spring, when the plants are young, they can be easily 
pulled up and destroyed but later this becomes a chore and, if one tiny 
root is left in the ground, the plant will grow and re-establish itself. As 
we say of a cat: "It has nine lives".

The two principal species of crabgrass and their several varieties are 
also known as Summer Grass, Finger Grass and by other descriptive 
names. The large species has thin leaves from 3 to 6 inches long, and 
a half-inch or less in width, which are rather hairy. The seeds are 
borne on a cluster of from 3 to 5 spikes, like fingers, at the tip of the 
seed stalk. Since this, too, may lie almost flat and be missed by a lawn 
mower, vigilance is required to prevent crabgrass from reseeding 
itself. The smaller species is similar but the leaves are not hairy. Both 
may be controlled by spraying or dusting with various chemicals but 
potassium cyanate is now generally recommended, for home owners, 
because it is nonpoisonous, cheap and easy to apply.

Crabgrass has some value as a forage plant and in parts of Europe it is 
cultivated for its seeds which, cooked in milk, like sago, are highly 
nutritious.

Sprinkled over quackgrass leaves, that might be a tasty dish -- for a goat.