Failed or Ineffective Practices Mowing is ineffective because the root crown will resprout and flower after being cut. Even repeated mowing is ineffective. Repeated mowing will stop some plants from flowering, but others will produce short flowering stems that may be short enough to be below the height of the mower. Plants that have been knocked over by a mower and not cut off will lie horizontally and produce short flowering stalks below the height of the mower. Cutting off the flower stalks at flowering time and leaving the flowering heads has been shown to be ineffective.
Viable seeds can still develop from the cut stems.
The flowering heads should be removed. Prescribed burning alone is ineffective. Prescribed burning may kill some of the isolated small seedlings, but is ineffective against dense seedlings or large rosettes. Many seedlings germinate around the parent plant where shade from the parent plant has created a bare soil area. Fire will not carry through these bare soil, low fuel areas.