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The Global Invasive Species Team | |
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Global Invasive Species Team listserve digest #060 Wed Apr 19 2000 - 16:24:45 (PDT) --CONTENTS-- 1. Lythrum salicaria in bogs (Maine) 2. Hiking advice, and Sawtooth/Gobbler Oaks (New York) 3. USDA grants, weed alerts, and Eichhornia crassipes Species Management Summary (Nationwide) 4. The fate of glyphosate in acidic bogs (Ohio) 5. Basagran/bentazon for garlic mustard? (Kentucky) 6. Rust on Rhamnus II (Wisconsin) 7. Weed seeds needed for biocontrol development (Nationwide) --------------------------------------- 1. Lythrum salicaria in bogs (Maine) From: Britt_Slattery (Britt_Slattery(at)fws.gov) Regarding the question of whether purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) can invade bogs... I found it in a bog in central Maine (Great Pond, one of the Belgrade Lakes--Rome, 1/2 hour north of Augusta) last summer. There was one robust clump growing across a channel in the marsh edge, which I removed, but when I kayaked across the channel to a favorite quaking bog, I found a few smaller specimens there. I attempted to pull them, though I am not sure how well I did because access was difficult. It is a beautiful spot, populated with bog rosemary, pitcher plants, sundews, sphagnum, cottongrass, tamarack, etc. I will be there again this coming August, so I can provide some follow-up on whether it has spread there. --------------------------------------- 2. Hiking advice, and Sawtooth/Gobbler Oaks (New York) From: Cris Winters (cwinters(at)tnc.org) I recently wrote a short article for my local Adirondack Mountain Club chapter newsletter on how canoeists and hikers could help prevent spreading invasives around in the Adirondacks. I could not find any information on this to back up my ideas. Any suggestions? Also, I was interested in the question re: sawtooth oak (Quercus acutissima) in the recent weeds listserv. I recently saw this plant offered by my local Soil & water Conservation District and had not heard of it before. I have seen an oak with another high mast production for sale locally called Gobbler Oak. Does anyone have experience with this plant as well?? --'Gobbler' is a cultivar of sawtooth oak. The main attribute of Quercus acutissima 'Gobbler' is that its acorns are a little smaller and can easily be eaten by turkeys. Quercus acutissima is promoted as a "wildlife" oak because it starts producing acorns in its fifth or sixth growing season. It prefers well-drained soils, but can adapt to other conditions (just what you wanted to hear!).--Barry Rice --------------------------------------- 3. USDA grants, weed alerts, and Eichhornia crassipes Species Management Summary (Nationwide) From: Barry Rice (bamrice(at)ucdavis.edu) The USDA is offering big grants ($100K) for invasive species control. For more news on this, look at our website posting at: http://tncinvasives.ucdavis.edu/newsnotes.html Two new weed alerts on are the home page of the Invasive Species web site. They are for Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) and Phellodendron amurense (Amur cork tree). The first plant is a weed well known to midwest and eastern US weed warriors---now it is being found in Utah, Colorado, Idaho, and Oregon. The second species is a landscape tree escaping in the east. Look at the alerts posted at: http://tncinvasives.ucdavis.edu We have uploaded a new Species Management Summary on Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth) to the web site. It can be downloaded at: http://tncinvasives.ucdavis.edu/esadocs/eichcras.html --------------------------------------- 4. The fate of glyphosate in acidic bogs (Ohio) From: August Froehlich (afroehlich(at)tnc.org) What is the current thinking on the use of glyphosate in organic/peat settings? Specifically, what is the mechanism of decomposition? We are told that glyphosate binds to mineral soil, but what happens to it in situations with little mineral soil? --------------------------------------- 5. Basagran/bentazon for garlic mustard? (Kentucky) From: Augusta Mazyck (kmazyck(at)tnc.org) In the Species Management Summary on garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), the author said she saw promise in an herbicide called Basagran (active ingredient bentazon), which supposedly is used to control mustards in agricultural fields. I have never heard of this herbicide and was wondering if anyone had ever tried to use this to treat garlic mustard. From the information that I have read, the herbicide seems to be fairly mild. The area we thought we might try this in is a rich, moist wooded area with a fairly thick mix of native wildflowers. Garlic mustard is rapidly spreading through the area--three of us spent several months hand cutting in the area last year, and never really made a dent. We would hate to use anything as non-selective as Roundup. --------------------------------------- 6. Rust on Rhamnus II (Wisconsin) From: Miles Falck (miles(at)glifwc.org) Regarding Ellen Jacquart's question on rust and buckthorn (Rhamnus), Curtis (The Vegetation of Wisconsin, 1959) cites barberry (Berberis vulgaris) as an "alternate host for the fungus causing wheat rust" and he also states that "buckthorn plays a similar role in oat rust disease" --------------------------------------- 7. Weed seeds needed for biocontrol development (Nationwide) From: John Randall (jarandall(at)ucdavis.edu) William Bruckart (USDA, bruckart(at)asrr.arsusda.gov, 301-619-2846) is developing biocontrol pathogens and he would like seeds of weeds (AND their closely related, native cousins) from field sites in the USA. This will help him test effectiveness and host specificity. His program's target weeds are: -Russian thistle (Salsola spp.), -Common groundsel (Senecio vulgaris), -Russian knapweed (Acroptilon repens), -Yellow Starthistle and the knapweeds (Centaurea spp.), -Mile-A-Minute (Polygonum perfoliatum). He is interested in seeds of these species and their relatives from as many locations as possible. Shipment of the seeds requested does not require a permit. He can provide limited funding to support collecting, handling, and shipping of seeds. A minimum of 50 viable seeds would be very helpful, more would be tremendous. It is in the best interest of conservationists to have the biocontrol folks test the broadest possible selection of related native species. We want to know if any native species are likely to be attacked, and if some are attacked the candidate biocontrol agent is far less likely to be approved for release in North America by USDA. We want conservation concerns to be addressed before the decision whether or not to approve release is made! Thus, we appreciate Bill Bruckart's effort to contact TNC and heritage programs for input. --------------------------------------------------------------- |
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