Plant Management in Florida Waters
Torpedograss
Quick Facts
- Scientific name: Panicum repens
- Origin: Old World
- Introduction: Late 1800s, forage grass
- Aquatic community: Emergent
- Habitat: Dry land to water six feet deep
- Distribution: Statewide
- Management effort: Complaint management
- 2020 Acres Treated: 14
Environmental and Economic Concerns
- Spreads mostly by fragmentation and runners, but also by seed
- Thick mats stop navigation and water movement
- Displaces native plants in wet soils and shallow waters and marshes
- Difficult to control due to extensive starch-laden rhizomes
- Most widely dispersed invasive exotic plant in Florida public waters
- Rapid growth and spread on exposed wet soils
Management Options
- Biological: None available
- Chemical: Glyphosate, imazapyr
- Mechanical: Harvest floating mats. Tilling can cut rhizomes into many viable fragments
- Physical: Drawdown and burn prior to treating with herbicides; flood after treatments.