Whats the name of the plant that kind of looks like a cattail

[lokiju]

I have these plants in my back yard that are horrible. They dump stuff all over my yard, scratch the hell out of me and cause some kind of weird allergic reaction wherever it does cut me.

They kind of look like cattails that I've seen when living in FL but the difference is they are independent bushes that are roundish in shape, where as cattails are more like a tall grass.

And the parts that come up out of the middle are the brown solid looking things like a cattail has but are kind of a fluffy material that's almost dandelion like.

Does anyone know what this plant is called?

I wasted a good 4 hours last weekend uprooting one of the 6 I have in my back yard and want to research it a bit more to see if there's a better way to get them out.


EDIT: Heres the only pic of it I have on hand.

Though it doesn't show the top cotton-ish/dandelion part...

To be clear, the plant in question is the one that's on the left side of the pic behind the pillar/support.


Yea, I found it.

It's called Pampas Grass

It's specifically the Pumila variant.

Now to figure out how to destroy it!

 

[lokiju]

bump for added pic

 

[Atomic Playboy]

We have similar stuff at our house along the Oregon coast. My mother calls it "swamp grass"; it's basically just a really thick clump of high, rigid grass with sharp edges. It's a monstrous pain in the ass to get out because the roots dig in deep, and it's thick enough that it will break a lawnmower blade. Don't think I've ever seen it have a "dandelion"ish part though.

 

[RKS]

Ornamental grass?

 

[MrPickins]

Definitely looks like pampas grass. That stuff spreads like crazy...

My brother in law had a few clumps in his yard. To remove them he somehow got a chain around the bottom and yanked them out with his truck.

 

[SonnyDaze]

Originally posted by: lokiju
I have these plants in my back yard that are horrible. They dump stuff all over my yard, scratch the hell out of me and cause some kind of weird allergic reaction wherever it does cut me.

We have 3 in our backyard and I hate them!! :evil: The wife insisted on planting them a few years ago. First few times of cutting them I got scratched all to hell. Now I go in covered head to toe to deal with the razor leaves.

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: SonnyDaze

Originally posted by: lokiju
I have these plants in my back yard that are horrible. They dump stuff all over my yard, scratch the hell out of me and cause some kind of weird allergic reaction wherever it does cut me.

We have 3 in our backyard and I hate them!! :evil: The wife insisted on planting them a few years ago. First few times of cutting them I got scratched all to hell. Now I go in covered head to toe to deal with the razor leaves.

I removed that one that's in the pic at the top of my OP last weekend and, no joke, it filled up 7 36 gallon trash bags with the grass/blades I cut off of it with a hedge/bush trimmer.

And that was just one of the 6 I have!

My wife and I wore long sleeve shirts, jeans and gloves but still ended up at the end of the day with tons of cuts from the damn thing, and those cuts get all puffy and sting like hell also.

POS plant. :|

 

[MrPickins]

Keep in mind that you have to kill the roots to kill the clump. Careful application of herbicide should do the trick if you don't feel like digging it out.

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: MrPickins
Keep in mind that you have to kill the roots to kill the clump. Careful application of herbicide should do the trick if you don't feel like digging it out.

Yeah I need to do something like this after I get them all out.

At this rate it'll be months before they're all out though.

I really wish I could get my vehicle back there to put a chain around it and pull it out, but there simply isn't enough room

 

[Beau]

burn it.

 

[MrPickins]

Originally posted by: Beau
burn it.

Fire doesn't kill it.

Really, there is only one way to be sure...