My feeling about reed canary is that it has a strong foothold in many wetlands and control of it in large wetlands is currently impossible. The best way to work with rcg is to try to control small isolated patches and to make sure it isn't spread into non-infested sites. The continued planting of this plant makes control of rcg even harder. I have a hard time supporting expensive revegetation projects in rcg dominated wetlands complexes because rcg will reinvade rapidly.

The comment "so everywhere!" in the notes is so true! Seeing reed canary grass occupying stream and lake edges, wetlands, even damp parts of otherwise dry prairies, and continuing to expand into healthy, wildlife-rich habitat, is a heartbreak. Knowing the superb diversity of native, non-cultivar species which is present before reed canary takes hold, it's discouraging to see that diversity disappear. Prevention is better than cure, in my mind. Prevent establishment of reed canary wherever possible, and eliminate starter populations while they're still manageable, as John says. The invasiveness of reed canary exceeds that of the well-known purple loosestrife. Control of reed canary is crippled because reed canary isn't a prohibited species, so there is no regulation to prevent new infestations. Also, while successful biocontrol has been developed for purple loosestrife, since reed canary is still legal to plant, no biocontrol has been or is likely to be developed.

A Wisconsin ecological restoration specialist, who had been doing prairie restoration in the Madison Wisconsin area for decades when I talked with him in the 90s, said that, if he seeded natives and burned reed canary aggressively, he could get a few plants of native species to start to show up after 10 or 12 years of effort. He considered that effort worthwhile, but it paints a good picture of how uphill the battle is. A former colleague attempted to establish natives on a site clogged with reed canary, and had next to no success even with diligent efforts. On my Wisconsin property, wherever there's rcg, there's nothing else, not even cattails, and they're considered invasive in their own right.

The only way I have heard of control working is with high intensity early spring and late fall grazing, during the active growing season. repeated defoliation during initial and regrowth, then resting while natives have a chance to establish is the best, and it will still take years. A great example of this is to look at native rangelands in northeast south dakota that have had good grazing management for many years. You will find very little RCG and lots of native sedges meadows and cordgrass.

I've planted native, including grasses & sedges, on my front slope. I'm also pulling up every grass I can't identify, erring on the side of pulling something I've planted - just so I'm sure to have only native grasses and sedges. Can you tell me whether this grass has a leaf that, when you run your fingers flat against it toward the stem, the edges have just a bit of a saw-tooth? Nothing visible, and nothing that hurts - just a bit of resistance, and only when drawing toward the stem. Thanks. (I've already pulled it out, just in case!)

Diana, I don't know if it does, or if it does, whether that would be an identifying trait. I suspect many other grasses might have a similar texture on the leaf edges.

Two local farmers told me that canary grass is good feed if you can get it before it "heads." However, they said that getting it timely is difficult as it is often in wet areas that are problematic to get into or work in.

We have had success controlling reed canary grass along certain lakeshores and wetlands. Soil nitrogen seems to be a factor. In sandy-granular soils with low N levels, we have been able to establish diverse native plant communities under reasonable management protocols. See Ecological Restoration (2011) 29:329-331 for a summary [ed. note: pdf available on the rwmwd.org web site].