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There is a key bit in this article that isn't expanded upon. It's something I only learned about after spending hundreds of hours controlling invasives and talk

There is a key bit in this article that isn't expanded upon. It's something I only learned about after spending hundreds of hours controlling invasives and talking to other people. Plants that are considered noxious weeds and plants that are harmful to our natural environment are pretty different things. If you look at who has authority under the Federal Noxious Weed Act, you'll see it is the department of agriculture. They really don't care about natural areas much at all, they only care about how much agriculture you can get out of a piece of land. If a plant impacts this, it is considered noxious. A prime example of this is the USDA noxious weeds list for my state, https://plants.usda.gov/java/noxious?rptType=State&statefips=39 https://plants.usda.gov/java/noxious?rptType=State&statefips... It doesn't even include truly heinous invasives like Privet, japanese/amur honeysuckle, or garlic mustard, but DOES include a couple of natives like grape vines and butterweed!! It's pretty disheartening, because a lot of people don't realize this and it can cause some issues. I am friends with someone at a local nature center where they remove butterweed due to it being considered a noxious weed even though it is not at all invasive and is a native wildflower.

war1025 6y ago
A thing I heard somewhere, I think on an episode of the Permaculture Podcast [1], was to stop thinking of it as "invasive" plants. Plants aren't "invading", they're filling a niche that is under-served. The way to keep those plants from growing is to supplant them with other (potentially native) plants filling the same niche, or modify the environment to fix whatever deficiencies the unwanted plant is gaining it's advantage from. They also tied it into the immigration debate, which I thought was interesting. They mainly played off the fact that the same people who are pro-immigration are often pro-native plants. Is it really the best idea to eradicate species from regions, when we could just learn how to live together more effectively? I feel like I probably did a very poor job reiterating all of that. We've really enjoyed listening to that podcast though. [1] https://www.thepermaculturepodcast.com/ https://www.thepermaculturepodcast.com/
- jefflombardjr 6y ago
  In Beyond the War on Invasive Species By Tao Orion, the author gives facts and numbers to back this up. People are destroying native plant habitats, and creating the perfect conditions for invasives. In fact 90+% of native species aren't threatened by invasives. The invasives actually help heal the soil for native plants. The author then asks, why then is there a war on invasives? And that's where the book gets good imo. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25782048-beyond-the-war-on-invasive-species https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25782048-beyond-the-war-...
  - briefcomment 6y ago
    Would you mind expanding on why there is a war on invasives?
    - mobilefriendly 6y ago
      Invasive plants displace native ones; in the mid-Atlantic where I live, Chinese tree of heaven are everywhere. They crowd out walnut and other hardwoods, they aren't as tall and attractive, and the wood isn't clean burning. Our problem is also deer over-population-- the deer devastate the native trees and bushes but not the invasives.
      - joecool1029 6y ago
        >Chinese tree of heaven are everywhere. Ghetto palm also attracts the latest chinese hell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_lanternfly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_lanternfly
simonsarris 6y ago
In New Hampshire fields with poor soil are sometimes colonized by the invasive Autumn Olive (Japanese silverberry). I knew they fixed nitrogen, so I figured I would cut them down later, and I created a chicken coop next to one to shade it until I replaced it with something else. It turns out not only does it fix nitrogen, it improves the yields of nearby plants (in this case blueberries) and its fruit is edible to both me and the chickens. So it gets to stay after all. I'm glad I looked it up.
- superkuh 6y ago
  I was suprised at how difficult it was to get the "invasive" autumn olive going. I've tried from seed a handful of times and I've never had them germinate. Did you do anything special? I tried cold stratifying for a couple months with no difference.
  - simonsarris 6y ago
    Unfortunately I cannot help, I did nothing special as they were here since I bought the property
  - foxhop 6y ago
    dig a small one up from the forest and plant it at your house, or just wait for it to show up. Dig up a 1-2 foot specimen. Take a few so you have a couple chances. I have 5 shrubs at my house and I'd identified at least 10 different stands of this plant in my locale. Birds spread the seed which love to take over space after humans destory the ecosystem. They grow about 9-15 feet high, the berries are delicious but a bit astringent, meaning they make your mouth feel dry.
brnt 6y ago
Whats heinous about mustard garlic?
- superkuh 6y ago
  It exudes anti-fungals into the soils and damages the ability of the soil ecosystem to support other plants.

war1025 6y ago

A thing I heard somewhere, I think on an episode of the Permaculture Podcast [1], was to stop thinking of it as "invasive" plants. Plants aren't "invading", they're filling a niche that is under-served. The way to keep those plants from growing is to supplant them with other (potentially native) plants filling the same niche, or modify the environment to fix whatever deficiencies the unwanted plant is gaining it's advantage from. They also tied it into the immigration debate, which I thought was interesting. They mainly played off the fact that the same people who are pro-immigration are often pro-native plants. Is it really the best idea to eradicate species from regions, when we could just learn how to live together more effectively? I feel like I probably did a very poor job reiterating all of that. We've really enjoyed listening to that podcast though. [1] https://www.thepermaculturepodcast.com/ https://www.thepermaculturepodcast.com/

jefflombardjr 6y ago
In Beyond the War on Invasive Species By Tao Orion, the author gives facts and numbers to back this up. People are destroying native plant habitats, and creating the perfect conditions for invasives. In fact 90+% of native species aren't threatened by invasives. The invasives actually help heal the soil for native plants. The author then asks, why then is there a war on invasives? And that's where the book gets good imo. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25782048-beyond-the-war-on-invasive-species https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25782048-beyond-the-war-...
- briefcomment 6y ago
  Would you mind expanding on why there is a war on invasives?
  - mobilefriendly 6y ago
    Invasive plants displace native ones; in the mid-Atlantic where I live, Chinese tree of heaven are everywhere. They crowd out walnut and other hardwoods, they aren't as tall and attractive, and the wood isn't clean burning. Our problem is also deer over-population-- the deer devastate the native trees and bushes but not the invasives.
    - joecool1029 6y ago
      >Chinese tree of heaven are everywhere. Ghetto palm also attracts the latest chinese hell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_lanternfly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_lanternfly

simonsarris 6y ago

In New Hampshire fields with poor soil are sometimes colonized by the invasive Autumn Olive (Japanese silverberry). I knew they fixed nitrogen, so I figured I would cut them down later, and I created a chicken coop next to one to shade it until I replaced it with something else. It turns out not only does it fix nitrogen, it improves the yields of nearby plants (in this case blueberries) and its fruit is edible to both me and the chickens. So it gets to stay after all. I'm glad I looked it up.

superkuh 6y ago
I was suprised at how difficult it was to get the "invasive" autumn olive going. I've tried from seed a handful of times and I've never had them germinate. Did you do anything special? I tried cold stratifying for a couple months with no difference.
- simonsarris 6y ago
  Unfortunately I cannot help, I did nothing special as they were here since I bought the property
- foxhop 6y ago
  dig a small one up from the forest and plant it at your house, or just wait for it to show up. Dig up a 1-2 foot specimen. Take a few so you have a couple chances. I have 5 shrubs at my house and I'd identified at least 10 different stands of this plant in my locale. Birds spread the seed which love to take over space after humans destory the ecosystem. They grow about 9-15 feet high, the berries are delicious but a bit astringent, meaning they make your mouth feel dry.

brnt 6y ago

Whats heinous about mustard garlic?

superkuh 6y ago
It exudes anti-fungals into the soils and damages the ability of the soil ecosystem to support other plants.