Foxtail Barley Management
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
Foxtail barley is a native bunchgrass found throughout Canada. It is a perennial plant, greenish-purple in colour with round, hollow stems and swollen nodes. Foxtail relies solely on its seeds to propagate. The unique seed head has very long awns that look like a “foxtail,” which makes this plant very easy to identify. At maturity, the awns fade to a straw colour or almost white.
Over the past few years, Foxtail barley has been particularly abundant due to the warm, dry weather. This hardy perennial loves moist, saline soils, and with more wetlands drying up it’s found plenty of new homes. Foxtail barley can also occur in cultivated fields, roadsides, waste lands, and lawn.
Unlike some plants, Foxtail barley isn’t affected by selective herbicides which means it must be treated with a non-selective bare ground product. Spot treatment in the fall with glyphosate (Round Up) is usually recommended, with the warning that it will kill most other grasses and broadleaf plants if not applied properly potentially decreasing competition and making the situation worse next season.
Mowing throughout the growing season to prevent Foxtail from going to seed is the best action at this time. While Rocky View County does not specifically target Foxtail in its mowing program, municipal reserves are cut once per year and ditches are cut once or twice per year. Foxtail barley is not a listed species on the Alberta Weed Control Act nor are there any specific bylaws in Rocky View County for its control and therefore targeted management is not required.
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Agriculture