Brome grass / great brome
Bromus diandrus
Brome grass and wild oats have been rated the two most competitive grass weeds in wheat. Western Australian research has shown that brome grass at a density of 100 plants/m2 can reduce wheat yields by 30%.
Description
Brome grass seedlings are easily mistaken for wild oat seedlings. They have dull, hairy leaves, occasionally with red-purple stripes following the veins of the leaf blade.
Mature plants have rough leaves about 10 mm wide and a tubular leaf sheath. Brome grass seeds – shed in large numbers before crop harvest – are long and sharp.
Control
Brome grass does particularly well in no-till crops, where seeds do not germinate until sowing. Plants may then emerge in large numbers, so the pre-emergence suppression of brome grass that Sakura provides can be very important.
Brome grass is more tolerant of phosphorus deficiency and more responsive to nitrogen than wheat, so applying nitrogen to a crop can exacerbate a brome grass problem.
Brome grass does particularly well in no-till crops, where seeds do not germinate until sowing. Plants may then emerge in large numbers, so the pre-emergence suppression of brome grass that Sakura provides can be very important.
Post-emergent products like Atlantis – if they remain effective – should be applied when the weeds have 2 to 6 leaves.
