Out With Invasives - theorangetimes.com

-

By Pat Dray
The Garden Spot

Pat Dray

You’ve probably heard a lot about invasive plants and insects lately, so let’s start with what they are. An invasive plant, animal or insect is a species that is not indigenous and grows quickly and vigorously due to the absence of natural predators.

Why does that matter? The short answer is that invasives disrupt the ecosystem.

Ecosystems are the interactions of all the living and non-living parts of a given area. They develop and change very slowly – for example, current ecosystems evolved over the past 18,000 years since the last ice age. Invasives disrupt and disturb the interaction of species that coexist in a particular ecosystem and can reduce the economic value of land and water. Preventing this disruption has been important enough that three presidential executive orders have been issued since 1977 and created a National Invasive Species Information Center that is part of the US Department of Agriculture.

Invasive species typically do not have natural enemies that would keep them in check in their natural environment. They are able to “take over” and disrupt the ecosystem. Native plants can be overwhelmed (invaded) and may not survive. Valuable habitats for other species are destroyed.

One invasive that we see along the roads here in Connecticut is purple loosestrife, a very showy plant with bright purple flowers arranged on flower spikes that is native to Eurasia. It was introduced here in the early 1800s as a decorative plant in gardens but has now become so prevalent that it is degrading wetlands that hundreds of species of plants, birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, fish and amphibians rely on for survival. The extensive root systems of these purple flowers has literally choked out the habitats with an estimated economic impact in the millions of dollars.

Now that invasives are here, what strategies can we use to reduce the damage? First off, don’t buy or plant invasives. Choose a native plant instead. For example, if you love the look of purple loosestrife, plant liatris or lobelia, two plants native to North America. If you already have loosestrife on your property either pull or dig it out, being sure to take out all the roots. Do not throw the plants on your compost pile, but bag them and take them to the transfer station with other refuse. If you can’t dig them out, cut the flower spikes off so that they can’t go to seed. Again, bag them and dispose them.

We also have a tremendous amount of oriental bittersweet, which is a fast-growing vining plant that can take down entire trees under its weight. Follow the same strategy to remove that if the vine is still young. They can grow as thick as your arm, and then you’ll just need to saw it down to the ground and dig out its bright orange root.

If you’d like to learn more about invasive plants, please visit https://portal.ct.gov/DEEP/Invasive-Species/Invasive-Species.

Pat Dray is a past president of the Orange Garden Club.



https://ift.tt/32eRpB6

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All In The Family: Maine Mother & Son Charged in Massive Drug Bust

-
Image
corso dog :: Article Creator Woman Hospitalized After Attack By 2 Dogs At Same Edmonton Home Where Boy Died: Lawyer UPDATE: On April 15, 2024, the City of Edmonton provided an update on the fatal attack. It said that prior to the deadly incident on April 1, "the city had no lawful basis to remove the dogs from the home." The city added that "all prior complaints about the dogs involved in this incident were investigated thoroughly and appropriate action was taken in accordance with the applicable legislation." The city also said a review found that its staff "acted appropriately in accordance with our standard practices and in compliance with the relevant legal constraints given the nature of past complaints and reports." A woman was hospitalized after being attacked in February by two large Cane Corso dogs at the same home where an 11-year-old boy was killed last week, the woman's lawyer told Global News. "I
Read more

Rare Frogs And Illegal Drugs - Palisades Hudson Financial Group

-
Image
Colombian conservationist Ivan Lozano has hit on a brilliantly promising strategy to protect his country’s rare and endangered amphibians. His plan: Flood the market with them. Lozano is not hunting rare frogs in Colombia’s Andean forests. He is raising them himself and selling them at prices designed to undercut poachers and smugglers. If he can raise the frogs cheaply enough, and in large enough numbers, he might manage to drive down the market price to the point that poachers no longer find it worthwhile to harvest and smuggle the creatures onto the black markets. Lozano told The Associated Press that his company also encourages collectors to breed their own frogs. Picture yourself as a poacher. If the government toughens the legal penalties and steps up enforcement, you will shrug your shoulders; legal risks are a basic cost of doing business. Since the demand for your product already exists among foreign collectors and other buyers, tougher enforcement merely reduces supply a
Read more

Burn scars, winter storms threaten rare and endangered species in San Gabriel Mountains - The Bakersfield Californian

-
Image
LOS ANGELES — Up until a few weeks ago, the West Fork of the San Gabriel River was one of the most abundant wildlife habitats in Los Angeles County, a secluded and rugged area defined by its steep peaks, lush canyons and mixture of rare and endangered species. Recently however, a team of federal biologists and forest rangers was aghast when it visited the stream following the Bobcat fire, which has burned more than 115,000 acres in the heart of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. Terrain that once resembled a High Sierra granite gorge now looked like ground zero after a nuclear explosion, and the usually clean mountain air was sharp with the stench of smoke. Particularly unsettling were the bare and ashen slopes that were now primed to dissolve under pounding winter storms. A heavy mudslide, experts said, could reverse decades of conservation efforts by inundating the last outposts for such federally protected species as the Santa Ana sucker fish and Southern California m
Read more