Concerns over Swamp Grass Harvesting

List what type of plants you keep in your aviaries/cages
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GregH
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Joined: 17 Feb 2009, 08:20
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Location: Chapel Hill, Brisbane Qld

Last weekend I collected some swamp grass for my birds to nest with. I've never done this before and went about it the way I'd seen hay made - mow, dry, windrow and bail. Actually I just cut it by hand with a sickle and died it on concrete slab at home before bagging it. I have since discovered that it's more common to wait until the heads are died off as they break off and can be raked up to collect a clean and dressed sample. The dressed samples do look nice but without a diversity of stem sizes the birds are deprived of the range of grass that are needed in normal nest construction. So I initially thought the cut and dry method might provide a better product however I noticed that after I bagged the grass I was left with a cup-full of seed. This seed would have fallen to the ground where it was harvested had I used the rake method and replenished the seed store to next season but I took it away. I'm only one person and won't have much of an impact but I wonder what happens if others continue to harvest like this. Sites where you can harvest swamp-grass for nesting are apparently not common and the grass itself Lachnagrostis filiformis is listed as "Near Threatened" by the Atlas of Living Australia. So now I'm left feeling slightly guilty about my inadvertent harvest but if anyone in SE Qld who has the space and inclination to grow it likes to PM me I'll post the seed for them to try.
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Craig52
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Location: victoria

GregH wrote:Last weekend I collected some swamp grass for my birds to nest with. I've never done this before and went about it the way I'd seen hay made - mow, dry, windrow and bail. Actually I just cut it by hand with a sickle and died it on concrete slab at home before bagging it. I have since discovered that it's more common to wait until the heads are died off as they break off and can be raked up to collect a clean and dressed sample. The dressed samples do look nice but without a diversity of stem sizes the birds are deprived of the range of grass that are needed in normal nest construction. So I initially thought the cut and dry method might provide a better product however I noticed that after I bagged the grass I was left with a cup-full of seed. This seed would have fallen to the ground where it was harvested had I used the rake method and replenished the seed store to next season but I took it away. I'm only one person and won't have much of an impact but I wonder what happens if others continue to harvest like this. Sites where you can harvest swamp-grass for nesting are apparently not common and the grass itself Lachnagrostis filiformis is listed as "Near Threatened" by the Atlas of Living Australia. So now I'm left feeling slightly guilty about my inadvertent harvest but if anyone in SE Qld who has the space and inclination to grow it likes to PM me I'll post the seed for them to try.
That might be so in SEQld Greg but here in Vic it classed as a serious weed and definately not near threatened.It becomes a serious fire hazard in many areas after it lets go,building up against fences and in farm machinery sheds to the extent of not being able to start their machinery through fear of fires.Farmers also call it crutch grass where it irritates the crutch of sheep causing infected sores.
I have brought back swamp grass from Qld and it compares with Vic swamp grass,it's the same variety and yes you you can end up with a cup full of seed in a bag but there would be millions if not billions of seeds shaken out by the wind before it reaches some where that it blows up against,this is the reason why most of us take it when it lets go or about to.
I don't know what you mean about stem size as most stems in swamp grass are 200 to 300mm in length,ample size for small finches to use especially the African finches.
IMO, i don't think you could ever void an area of swamp grass unless the area became very dry due to drought it happens quite often here,some years there is heaps when we have a lot of rain and none during drought years,that's why we store as much as we can when it's available.Cane fields are irrigated,it's the perfect place to get it,but around here we get it around swamps/lakes or where ever there is permanant water after it subsides as it grows where the water was. Craig
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elferoz777
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Location: Fairy Meadow, NSW

I would not be too concerned but at the same time your respect for the stuff is appreciated.

I had a field full of it behind my house. I collected two bags worth and could have easily filled another 40 if I wasn't so lazy....and if the red bellies weren't around.

Now in the same spot there is zero..

Council mowing and crappy weather is to blame and I hope it can take off again. I have it in my front and back yards but not the quantities I need.

It may sound dumb but when harvesting grass I shake the handfuls before bagging.

I do this to relieve the dry seeds.
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gomer
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Joined: 23 Nov 2008, 17:41
Location: Victoria
Location: Victoria Australia

I usually have a cup full of seed in the bottom of each bag after using the nesting material. As Craig said it is a noxious weed in Vic. However I also bought a bag from QLD quite a few years ago and the bloke I bought it off said to keep the seed that falls off in the bottom of the bag, then redistribute it to your secret spot to replenish it. A 1.5 hr round trip to my secret spot is to far for me for this.So I just give it to my birds to eat.
Keeper of Australian Grass Finches
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GregH
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Joined: 17 Feb 2009, 08:20
Location: Brisbane
Location: Chapel Hill, Brisbane Qld

Thanks Craig. It seems that swamp grass for finches isn't as endangered as the Feds report - I shouldn't use just the first reference I come across to draw conclusions. The occurrence of this annual plant fluctuates widely depending on environmental conditions so it's not surprising that maybe it doesn't turn up in an Alice Springs flora survey for ten years and gets listed there as near threatened but it is there - just dormant in the soil seed bank. Reading about the rolling billowing mounds of detached seed-heads that can accumulate on fences would indicate that the dispersal of seed into the small denuded areas I created shouldn't a problem. I see that it it is found outside of Australia so it would be interesting to see if our members in the USA and South Africa also utilise this grass.

State.......Conservation Status.....Reference
WA..........Not Threatened...............Flora Base
Federal....Near Threatened.............Australia's Virtual Herbarium
Victoria...Common.........................Shire Of Yarra


Extra Australian Ditribution Aus Grass + Australia's Virtual Herbarium: Africa, Tropical Asia, Norfork Is, Lord Howe Is, New Zealand + other Polynesian islands, New Guinea, Solamon Islands, North & South America
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finchbreeder
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Just the same if it is not a reportable weed in your area, is there a bushland fairly close where you can distribute it for later, easier collection?
LML
LML
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TomDeGraaff
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I seem to recall a brief discussion at an ASA meeting when we had a speaker on weeds. The similarity to serrated tussock was noted. This may simply be my bad memory so I'd appreciate anyone setting me straight please.
Tom
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Craig52
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Uraeginthus wrote:I seem to recall a brief discussion at an ASA meeting when we had a speaker on weeds. The similarity to serrated tussock was noted. This may simply be my bad memory so I'd appreciate anyone setting me straight please.
Tom
No Tom,Serrated tussock is totally different even though it does let go and gets blown by the wind and banks up against things.It is very coarse and much longer than swamp grass.It has a twisting borrowing dangerous seed.
R Trott killed all his bluetongued lizards and some birds when he put it in his aviaries for nesting material.The seed twists and borrowed up the nostrils of the lizards to the brain and it entered the ears of some of his birds.It is a notifiable weed and there is signs up every where in country areas about control of it.
Just recently a fellow aviculturist informed me about this huge amount of swamp grass near the YouYangs he had got,it turned out to be serrated tussock and i advised him not to use it and it's illegal to take it for the spread of the seeds. Craig
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elferoz777
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A picture of the serrated tussock might be an idea?

Might help some of the new fellahs from making a fatal error
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RustyMilt
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Location: Broken Hill
Location: Lower Western N.S.W.

Appearance


Herbaceous plant - Graminoid (grass, sedge or rush)

Description


Serrated tussock is a perennial tussock-forming grass.

Stems


Serrated tussock has flowering stems with many branches. Stems are initially erect up to 95 cm long which droop to touch the ground at maturity.

Leaves


Serrated tussock has numerous leaves that are stiff, narrow (0.5 mm in diameter) and grow to 50 cm long. The leaf blade is round and may be smoothly rolled between fingers, where similar native species feel flat when rolled. Serrations can be felt by running the leaf between fingers from tip to the base.

The leaves are green in summer and yellow-green in winter with a white base. Tips of old leaves are bleached and fawn in colour.
Serrated tussock has a distinctive ligule which is rounded, white, membranous and hairless. It grows 0.5-1 mm long and protrudes vertically at the junction of the leaf blade and the leaf sheath and is continuous with sheath margins.

Flowers


Serrated tussock produces small, inconspicuous florets towards the ends of branchlets on an open, branched panicle, which can grow to a length of 35 cm. The arrangement of the flowerhead is open and dispersed with branches occurring in pairs and branchlets in twos and threes.
Flowerheads of serrated tussock have a distinct purple colour as seeds ripen in late spring and summer.
Fruit No Fruit

Seeds


Serrated tussock seeds are 1.5-2 mm long. They are enclosed in two reddish-brown or purple bracts (glumes) which are 6-10 mm long and which taper to a point.
The seed itself has a tuft of short white hairs at one end and a twisted awn which can be between 20-35 mm long and is attached off-centre.
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