New Ways to Get Rid of Those Pesky Invasives

The Ecological Landscaping Association recently wrote an article detailing creative uses for invasive plants, including eating them, building with them, and creating stationary.
We picked out some of our favorite ideas, but you can visit the ELA's site about invasive species for more information.

Eat knotweed when it looks like this. Or else . . . 

The first option is, eat them! 20 of the 66 invasive species in Massachusetts are edible.  The ELA article focuses on knotweed recipes like pie and cake.  You can also put knotweed in jams and fruit butters, if you harvest knotweed in early may, it can replace rhubarb in a lot of recipes, and it tastes sour like an apple.

It will become like this.

For more information on eating invasives, check out "Eat the Invaders", you can find recipes for knotweed, kudzu blossom sorbet, purslane (not quite an invasive), and dandelions. This site offers a lot of advice on eating invasive animals - I'm not quite there, but if you want to try eating Asian carp or wild boar, all the more power to you. There are even more recipes in Wild Flavors a cook book in which the main ingredient is weeds.

You can make crafts out of invasive vines, like bittersweet.  When I was young I used to make bittersweet wreaths. You have to be careful not to move any bittersweet berries (or else you might spread the invasive!) Nancy Riley uses bittersweet to make furniture in the ELA article.

Now identifying and removing invasives in your yard can be fun! Consult with Connecticut Invasive Plant Council's list and also use this guide from the Connecticut River Coastal Conservation District.

Sustainable Yards Simplified

Native Landscape

The Santa Monica, CA Office of Sustainability and the Environment recently finished installing Garden-Garden, a demonstration landscape that provides a side by side comparison of two landscape strategies, the sustainable approach and the traditional non-native approach.  The project compares two adjacent yards in terms of aesthetic appearance, water usage, yard waste, and maintenance hours, and draws a concise and clear conclusion about which option is easier, cheaper in the long run, and better for the local ecosystem.

 
In this case, the numbers say it all. 

• The native garden cost $16,700 to install compared $12,400 for the traditional garden. Despite its higher initial cost, the native garden’s lower maintenance requirements translate into $2,200 per year in cost savings.
• The native garden uses 77 percent less water, produces 66 percent less waste, and requires 68 percent less labor than the traditional garden. 

Not to mention that the native garden looks beautiful and provides native habitat for indigenous fauna like butterflies and ladybugs.

Traditional "Mow and Blow" Landscape

Santa Monica currently imports over 90% of its water from Northern California and the Colorado River, and as these water sources are more than 400 miles away, their continued use in Santa Monica  can hardly be considered sustainable.  Traditional gardens in the area utilize exotic plants from wetter climates, and employ the use of standard sprinkler irrigation systems that distribute water over all plants regardless of need.  This translates into an incredible water demand that has already put regional ecosystems and communities under increased stress.

Additionally, traditional gardens require frequent applications of fertilizer and pesticides that leech into the city's water supply during rainstorms, causing pollution and aquatic habitat disruption.  When considered on a large scale, this is a huge problem as the average home gardener uses 10 times more toxic chemicals than a farmer.

Overall, the choice is a no-brainer.  Native gardens are an all-around amazing solution to Southern California's water shortages, as well as a sustainable alternative to landscapes steeped in exotics and pesticides.  In my opinion, education is the logical next step, so spread the word about what sustainable landscaping can do for you and your community!  Check out the full report here and tell your friends!

Wishing you all the best,
-Melissa

Organic Invasice Removal and Control Workshop

Last week, NOFA's Organic Land Care Program hosted a workshop on Organic Invasive Removal and Control at the Beardsley Zoo Hanson Exploration Station.  The workshop started off in a classroom at the Station.  Dr. Charlotte Pyle, a landscape ecologist for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, first explained how to identify Connecticut's invasives.  Mike Nadeau of Plantscapes, Inc then discussed his first-hand experience controlling invasives species organically.  The classroom portion of the workshop concluded with Donna Ellis, a Senior Extension Educator in the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture at UConn, discussing her successes with biological control of invasive plants.  

 The workshop then moved to the field. Pictured below is Mike Nadeau demonstrating the use of a large weed wrench to remove unwanted plants (all photos credited to Bill Duesing) 

This photograph is of purple loostrife which has been controlled through the release of targeted, beneficial insects. This use of biological control can perhaps be more widely implemented to effectively control this invasive species in other areas.  

Donna Ellis discusses biological pest control with Charlotte Pyle to her right in the photograph.

Mike Nadeau demonstrated removal of Japanese knotweed using a specially type of bladed shovel that removes the plants deep roots.

For more information on the Organic Land Care program and resources for land care professionals or homeowners, please visit www.organiclandcare.net.  If this workshop interested you and you missed it, we have another summer workshop on August 23 in the New York Botanical Gardens titled Compost Tea: First Defense in Organic Land Care. 

Organic Invasive Control in Connecticut

Donna Ellis releasing Weevils (photo credit Helen Neafsey / Greenwich Times)

A joint project between the University of Connecticut, the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station and state Department of Environmental Protection is testing weevils as invasive control for mile-a-minute-vine.  Mile-a-minute has been a pesky invasive for the western regions of Connecticut, earning its name from its fast growth (up to 6 inches on a hot summer day).  Mile a minute wraps around trees and grows over plants, reducing the light their leaves can absorb allowing the vine to overtake native vegetation.  It was first discovered in Greenwich and is pervasive throughout Fairfield County, but only spread to eastern Connecticut last summer.  A total of 5,000 weevils have been dispersed around the state through this program. Weevils are effective at killing the vine because they feed on the leaves of the vine and then lay eggs inside the plant causing it to collapse.  They also are thought to be species specific, which means the weevils will eat and destroy only the mile-a-minute vine but natural vegetation will be unaffected.  They must be reintroduced every year because weevils cannot survive Connecticut winters.  Donna Ellis, co-chair  of the Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group and a member of the University of Connecticut’s Department of Plant Science, who has been working spreading weevils around the state, is also co-teaching one of NOFA’s summer organic land care workshops titled Organic Invasive Removal and Control on July 8.  If you’re interested in organic removal of invasive plants you can check out NOFA’s Organic Land Care site for resources or to register for the workshop in Bridgeport!