Every year, I think about planting that kind of corn, but never have because of worry about it crossing with my sweet corn. I bet it was the broom corn since it has such dense seed heads. Good luck with your eradication. I just sprayed for the third time my Bermuda Grass around some flower beds and the garden. I can see why farmers plant it for summer grass for cattle. I had some three feet tall and a beautiful shade of green.

Thanks for the heads up.....I will stay away from ornamental corn. I don't need anything else to fight! I have a clump of millet growing where I dumped some seeds, not as purple as the original, but pretty anyway. I will definitely clip the seed heads before it shatters.

gld

Sounds like a case of Johnson grass. At least do a search on getting rid of johnson grass. After all corn is a grass, and it sounds like it might be spreading like johnson grass does.
Beerhog

That's what I thought, too, beerhog. It has a habit of just showing up without warning. Since it is a kind of sorghum, it could be mistaken for another grain, but I have never heard of any kind of maize that would spread underground...not that there can't be one.

Here is a link that might be useful: Johnson Grass

I kept some dried sprays of broom corn for "several years",I had intention of doing crafts w/ but never got around to it. It was gathering dust so I threw it onto the burn pile in the garden after a un-natural urge of house cleaning. BURNED the stuff,it sprouted over the area of the old burn pile. I think I'm in trouble!

PP

yup, its the broom corn--some that i didnt find till last night had seed heads on it. hummm-wonder if i could eradicate by trying to make and sell brooms-surely if i tried to make money, it would die. lol

"By about 1810, the sorghum used in brooms, had acquired a new name, Broom Corn, as the British called all seed bearing plants, "corn." The sorghum also looks similar to the sweet corn plant, and its tassel had become the broom material still used in quality brooms today."

The above quote from the linked article may explain some things. Broom corn is not maize (corn)..it is a sorghum. There is hope though...if you read through this article you will find that it is annual, so if that is what it is, it should pull and be gone.

Johnson grass, however, is a whole 'nother story. I hate that darned stuff, and I sure feel for you. Since grass killer must be sprayed on the leaves, I wonder if it would be better to spray without mowing it down. Tilling will only break up the underground shoots/stollen/rhyzomes (whatever they are called) and spread it. It is easier to kill if it is still connected together by those stollens when sprayed. Also, my husband said that you have to get the concentrated Round Up and mix it using the brush killer concentration.

The reason I still don't think it's broom corn is that my grandmother talked about growing it and making her own brooms. I have my Missouri doubts that she would have had that stuff in her garden if it were that invasive back when gardening was done by hand. ;O) Do a search on Johnson Grass and find ways to erradicate it. Your University Extension Agent may be able to help, also.

Here is a link that might be useful: Broom corn

Johnson grass coming up in two flowerbeds. I'm going to cut them back to 3-4" and brush undiluted Round-up on each and every sprout. I'm tired of trying to get rid of it by hand pulling. I've got my work cut out for me.

PP

I made this spray rig from a gallon milk jug, one time. Cut the bottom out...ran the spray nozzle through the top...got out my handy dandy duct tape to hold it in place. Shades of Red Green! LOL It lasted about as long his inventions do. DH never appreciates my inventions. :O) Does anyone else have a running battle with their other half when it comes to sharing garden space and tools?

Right now I am dreaming up a way to fasten a JB trap to the top of a plastic gallon jar so that you can unscrew the jar lid to empty the beetles...you should see the "it'll-never-work" looks I am getting. The man has no imagination!

i've mailed baker creek about what i have, lets see if i get a answer.
millie, can you make it like i do my wasp traps? i use a gallon jar with "bait" inside, and make a 3 cornered cut in the lid that is screwed on tight, they get in, cant get out and drown. reason i said "bait", is i use sugar water for wasps, but i'd think whatever you use for june bugs would work.

you know, the more research i've done makes me think it IS johnson grass--oh no, what have i ever done to deserve bermuda AND johnson.Millie, the site you gave me recommended solarization, think i'll give up on the roundup, and see if the plastic will kill it-. evidentally , there was something besides corn in the seeds i planted--and i'm sure glad i posted this!dont ever think you cant teach a old dog new tricks, i think you did. incidentally, i never heard back from baker creek--i'm going to the fall show anyway--lol

I have had both for years and wondered the same thing. :O) As soon as we cleared the brush, let the sunlight in, and tilled the soil it came up. We had to fight it in Oklahoma, also.

Good luck with solarization...I read that the clear will allow the sun to penegrate and heat the soil more than the black.

johnson grass will push through. My step mother puts newspaper, carboard then carpet down around her tomatoes and it still pushes through...

I have read that keeping it cut short and covering it liberally with sugar will kill it in the long term. However the amount of sugar required would lead me to just keep trying to pull it. The chickens enjoy eating the roots, (the chicken yard being the only place i WISH it would grow).

We have battled it for years and every time we till we get two-three 5 gallon buckets full of roots we have to hand pick to eradicate.

I too am considering cutting them short and BRUSHING them with concentrated round up this year in a last ditch effort to kill it off.

I could sterilize the soil using chemicals, but it would kill anything i planted for the next 3 years ( or so they say)

I dug up a day lily yesterday and divided it to get out a Johnson grass root. There is more in that area in with asparagus I am digging out what I can and will use roundup when it starts sprouting.

So should I not sow purple majesty millet seeds to take over a patch of bermuda by the mailbox?? I plan on cutting the heads off and reseeding every year to keep the #'s down. I couldn't imagine the mess after a couple years letting them reseed themselves.

taz purple majesty millet is a nice plant and beautiful. Bermuda will win that battle. Put you ornamental millet in a good spot in the sun; it is also good in a pot. I am too cheap to buy it, but got it once mid summer on sale. I saved the seeds and they don't produce the same as the original plant, but still a very nice plant for my pots. Roundup the Bermuda over and over until there is none, then plant something there. No plant will take over a patch of Bermuda except a tree that shades it. Bermuda will come through 2 feet of mulch; I know because the electric utility dumped a pile of chips for me over at my Mother's farm. It was a mountain until calves played on it. Two feet deep and Bermuda came through - long runners from the perimeter of the pile.

I figured the millet(planted heavy enough) would shade the bermuda enough to weaken it. I planted 2 vitex trees in that area and eventually they will shade it pretty well. Since I have the trees there I don't want to use any chemicals. I guess I could use a paint brush or roller to apply it.

Is your millet seed the expenive kind where you get 10 or 15 seeds for $3 or saved seed like mine where you have a manila envelope full of it? The millet will not have a chance in the bermuda battle but if your seed is cheap its no great loss and why not try. I have damaged plants before with round-up when I was trying to be careful. Sometimes the sprayer squirts it out in odd directions so yes be carefull around you vitex.

The saved seed I sowed last year grew true or at least very close in full sun. I grew some in part shade that had lighter greenish streaking. I can use saved seeds from either year. I planed on using the oldest seeds but in this case I might use last years harvest and save the others for later or a different spot. One of my vitex got to 8' last year but I had to transplant it because it was too close to the house. I damaged a root but most of it is in tact. Hope I didn't kill it.