How to Protect Your Home from a Buffelgrass Fire

The Sonoran Desert is being transformed into a flammable grassland by buffelgrass, an African grass that was brought to the U.S. for cattle feed and erosion control.

When dry, buffelgrass is extremely dangerous.  It is highly flammable and burns nearly twice as hot as other grasses, with temperatures approaching 1600°C.  (Hot enough to melt most metals.)

Buffelgrass has spread throughout the Tucson Valley.  You can see it growing along roadsides, around homes and businesses, and in washes, vacant lots, alleyways, and parks.

There are two ways you can eradicate buffelgrass to protect your home and property.  You can spray the plants with an herbicide or pull them out by hand.

If 50% or more of the plant is green (like in the photo above), herbicides can be used.  If less than 50% of the plant is green, manual removal is the best method.  It is easiest to pull buffelgrass after the soil has been soaked by rain.

Herbicide:

• Plants must be green and actively growing for herbicides to be effective; this can happen anytime between February and November when rains are good.
• Spray the plants with glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup®).  Follow the label directions.  For very green plants a 2% solution works well.  As the plants dry, higher concentrations may be more effective.
• Spray enough chemical on the plants to coat all the leaves, but not so much that it runs off.
• Add a dye to the chemical solution to help avoid spraying non-target species and ensure you do not miss plants or spray them twice.

Pulling by Hand:

• Mowing is not an effective control method.
• Always check for snakes before reaching into the grass to remove it from the soil.
• Use a digging tool (caliche bar, digging bar, or rock pick) to loosen the plant from the soil, enough so that it can be pulled out without leaving roots behind.  If any part of the root ball is left in the ground it will re-sprout.
• Wedge the soil bar point into soil at the base of the plant at an angle. Push down on the soil bar to lever the plant out of the ground.  A rock can be used as a fulcrum to provide more leverage.
• Place the pulled plants into heavy-duty trash bags and dispose of them in your garbage can.

Fire safety experts recommend surrounding your home and other structures with a 50-foot defensible space that is free of buffelgrass and other flammable materials.  Because buffelgrass is so hardy and the seeds can stay dormant for years, you will need to continuously monitor your property for re-sprouting plants or new infestations.

Visit  http://www.buffelgrass.org to learn more about buffelgrass and report your removal efforts.