By Alan Mauldin

alan.mauldin@gaflnews.com

MOULTRIE — An invasive pest that has plagued Georgia’s neighbors to the south and west is making headway in south Georgia, posing headaches to landowners and threatening forests and native vegetation.

Cogongrass, accidentally brought into Alabama in a shipping container in 1911, has been confirmed in three sites in Colquitt County, said Sharonte Edmond, a forester with the Georgia Forestry Commission office in Colquitt County.

The grass, which can displace nearly any native species with the exception of mature trees and cannot be destroyed by burning, earlier had been found in the Southwest Georgia counties of Crisp, Decatur, Early, Grady, Seminole, Thomas and Worth.

“Decatur County is the worst right now,” Edmond said. “It has pretty much taken over. It doesn’t hurt the trees, but it chokes out everything else.”

Cogongrass looks similar to Johnson grass, and has a big seed head in the spring, she said.

By 2005 cogongrass had spread over 500,000 to one million acres in Alabama, Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle.

Since cogongrass is fire-adapted, not only can it withstand controlled burns in wooded areas, it burns so intensely it can damage trees, said Karen Rawlins, coordinator for invasive species at the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health.

“If it catches fire, the cogongrass gets so hot it kills the pine trees,” she said. “It also burns so quickly and so fast it can quickly get out of hand.”

Anyone looking to burn in a forest where there is cogongrass should consult with a local forestry office or an agricultural Extension office, she said.

While cogongrass has always been identified as a pest, that was not the case with another invasive species, Chinese tallow, Rawlins said. It was grown both as an ornamental plant and planted in riparian areas to control erosion.

In the latter case the plant often grew to such an extent it could change the course of a waterway, Rawlins said. It also can change soil salinity to the extent that native species cannot survive.

Cogongrass and the Chinese tallowtree are among several invasive plants for which landowners can apply for funds to pay for chemical treatment. The others include Japanese climbing fern, privets, non-native roses, autumn olive and thorny olive.