I am blessed enough to have two small farms in to adjacent counties in NE. Last week I received a letter from the state's vice president weed control board who also happens to be the weed control head guy in one of the counties that a farm is in. The letter told me I had 10 days to eradicate via spraying and mowing the phragmites on my farm or the county would come in and do it for me and send me a bill. After reading the short letter I was very puzzled at to where there could be phragmites on this farm as I have never seen phragmites on it or anywhere near it for miles. It just isn't the habitat I see them in. There was a second page and I took a look at it. It was a map with the "phragmites" highlighted on it for me to understand where they were talking about. They had highlighted my border screen of miscanthus x gigantus. At first I laughed and then I was pissed. They two don't look too much alike.
There was no number on the letter to call, only the county weed supervisor's name. So I looked up the county weed control's number and dialed it. It was a fax number, great, par for the course. I call one of the other government departments and had them patch me in to the weed control office. Someone answered but it was not the head guy. He said he was out of the office but would take a message. It was friday and I was going to be out of state for the next week and wanted them to not spray it as they would be making a big mistake. He said he would have the guy call me if he came back in. Much to my surprise he called me back at 4 that afternoon.
I asked him if someone had called in the grass thinking it was phragmites. He said no but in his yearly drive he saw them from the road and got out and looked at them and saw they were phragmites at that was it. I explained to him what they actually were and to look up Maple River Farms to educate himself with the grass if he'd like. He said sorry and that he should have taken a picture and used the application on his phone to id the grass.
The phragmites that I've seen growing in all my years looks nothing like miscanthus gigantus at this time. It is all seeded out in my area and the blades are a lot narrower. Not impressed. I'm glad that we were able to make contact before they killed it off. It is looking great in it's second year.
The other farm has sericia lespedeza and I have been waging war on it and on my neighbors land as well. I decided I was not going to keep spraying my neighbor's problem anymore and called him up and offered him an option of trading tresspass access across his cornfield to my land for continued service. That offer was declined. After two weeks I contacted the county weed commissioner for this farms location and explained to him where the sericia was growing. He was very surprised there was some in the area. I told him I'd been fighting it for 10 years on mine and that my neighbor had an infestation of it on his as well and I didn't want to keep that seed source going. I explained the landowner knew he had it, where I had managed it on his farm and where there was another area on his farm that was now growing a good crop of it. I also told him I had offered to keep spraying it for him but he declined so I made the decision to call the county.
After two weeks he made it out to the farm and verified the sericia. I asked him to call me after he checked it out. He called yesterday and told me he found it and talked to the landowner. He made it a point to tell me that the landowner never had heard of sericia nor knew he had it. I laughed and then I asked if the landowner was going to take care of it. He said the landowner was very nice and told him he would take care of it. I asked him how he would verify it was done. He chuckled and said the guy was very nice and honest on the phone and was sure he was going to follow through. I laughed and said yea and he told you he had never heard of sericia or knew he had it. Ultimately the weed guy said he would site check it in a few weeks to make sure it was killed. He also told me that he told the landowner he would have to watch the spot for a couple years for new growth. I laughed and said my research says the seed is viable for up to 20 years so that made no sense. We said our good byes and I told him I would contact him if I continued to see it.
Before hanging up I asked him if he made yearly drives around the county roads looking for noxious weeds and he said no. I asked him if he drove around the area looking in the ditches for colonies of sericia and he said no. I told him he needs to as there is some clearly visible within a couple miles of my farm. I didn't give him specifics and he didn't ask for any. I want him to do his fn job. I will be a pain in his ass if it isn't taken care of.
Venting over, thanks
There was no number on the letter to call, only the county weed supervisor's name. So I looked up the county weed control's number and dialed it. It was a fax number, great, par for the course. I call one of the other government departments and had them patch me in to the weed control office. Someone answered but it was not the head guy. He said he was out of the office but would take a message. It was friday and I was going to be out of state for the next week and wanted them to not spray it as they would be making a big mistake. He said he would have the guy call me if he came back in. Much to my surprise he called me back at 4 that afternoon.
I asked him if someone had called in the grass thinking it was phragmites. He said no but in his yearly drive he saw them from the road and got out and looked at them and saw they were phragmites at that was it. I explained to him what they actually were and to look up Maple River Farms to educate himself with the grass if he'd like. He said sorry and that he should have taken a picture and used the application on his phone to id the grass.
The phragmites that I've seen growing in all my years looks nothing like miscanthus gigantus at this time. It is all seeded out in my area and the blades are a lot narrower. Not impressed. I'm glad that we were able to make contact before they killed it off. It is looking great in it's second year.
The other farm has sericia lespedeza and I have been waging war on it and on my neighbors land as well. I decided I was not going to keep spraying my neighbor's problem anymore and called him up and offered him an option of trading tresspass access across his cornfield to my land for continued service. That offer was declined. After two weeks I contacted the county weed commissioner for this farms location and explained to him where the sericia was growing. He was very surprised there was some in the area. I told him I'd been fighting it for 10 years on mine and that my neighbor had an infestation of it on his as well and I didn't want to keep that seed source going. I explained the landowner knew he had it, where I had managed it on his farm and where there was another area on his farm that was now growing a good crop of it. I also told him I had offered to keep spraying it for him but he declined so I made the decision to call the county.
After two weeks he made it out to the farm and verified the sericia. I asked him to call me after he checked it out. He called yesterday and told me he found it and talked to the landowner. He made it a point to tell me that the landowner never had heard of sericia nor knew he had it. I laughed and then I asked if the landowner was going to take care of it. He said the landowner was very nice and told him he would take care of it. I asked him how he would verify it was done. He chuckled and said the guy was very nice and honest on the phone and was sure he was going to follow through. I laughed and said yea and he told you he had never heard of sericia or knew he had it. Ultimately the weed guy said he would site check it in a few weeks to make sure it was killed. He also told me that he told the landowner he would have to watch the spot for a couple years for new growth. I laughed and said my research says the seed is viable for up to 20 years so that made no sense. We said our good byes and I told him I would contact him if I continued to see it.
Before hanging up I asked him if he made yearly drives around the county roads looking for noxious weeds and he said no. I asked him if he drove around the area looking in the ditches for colonies of sericia and he said no. I told him he needs to as there is some clearly visible within a couple miles of my farm. I didn't give him specifics and he didn't ask for any. I want him to do his fn job. I will be a pain in his ass if it isn't taken care of.
Venting over, thanks
