Kikuyu (Pennisetum clandestinum).
Kikuyu Grass is a warm season perennial grass, with a tough, mat forming growth habit which can be an aggressive weed in some situations. In warm weather it spreads quickly through stolons and rhizomes, that can invade nearby surfaces, and crowd out desirable turf species. It develops an undesirable thatch of rhizomes or stolons.
Kikuyu Grass is a native of eastern and southern Africa and is found almost entirely to areas where the minimum average temperatures are above 16°C.
Kikuyu can accumulate high levels of chemicals that are toxic to livestock, and when large quantities are consumed it can cause staggers.
For more information, please check out our weed ID chart.
After you finish reading this, you will be able to:
- Identify Kikuyu.
- Know the habitat of Kikuyu.
- Know the best cultural and chemical options to control Kikuyu.
Kikuyu Identification.
Category: C4 Grass
Flower: The seed head forms from spring through to autumn as two to four orange spikelets between 3-5mm long.
Height:
Reproduction: Kikuyu is primarily spread through vegetative propagation.
Comments: The leaves are hairy and light green in colour with a folded venation and hairy ligule and sheath.
Habitat: It is a good indicator weed of very low Ca and P, high K, and very high Mg and Fe. It is often a weed of disturbed soils.
How to remove Kikuyu from your lawn.
Cultural control.
You can control Kikuyu, and even completely eradicate it but it isn’t easy and takes time. As a result, unless you want to selectively hand remove this out of an existing area, selective chemical control is your best bet.
The nature of Kikuyu grass makes hand removal of large infestations extremely difficult, and it takes continuous follow-up work to successfully deal with it. You need to remove all the long stolons and underground rhizomes, because any stolon or rhizomes that remain are likely to re-grow into new plants. Any material you dig up, you then need to remove off-site.
Chemical control.
Several post-emergents are available for Kikuyu control. We recommend Recondo and Tribute for suppression, and Quinclorac and Pylex for Selective control. Be aware these are not safe to use on all turf varieties.
US research shows that MSMA, and Quinclorac do not control Kikuyu grass when you only use these only once. However, if you apply these at 4- to 5-week intervals over a 5 month period, you will reduce the Kikuyugrass. Sequential applications of two-way combinations of these herbicides in 1991 gave reductions of kikuyu grass from 80% to less than 1% of the sward.
Pre-emergent options include Dimension.
You final option is to hand paint Glyphosate!
