Friday, September 16

Barry and Hedrik returned to continue working in the New Woods and the field south of the pond. We decided today was one for cutting, leaving the bagging for next Tuesday. Hedrik worked his way west toward the barn, cutting DSV around the fir trees that separate this area from the central 'valley' of the New Woods. He continued around and down into the large patch of burdock he was working on earlier. Barry worked either side of the trail running south to Green Heron Road. After break, both of us worked on the western half of the pond's south slope and the field south of that. Hedrik also gave a much-needed cut to an small, overlooked patch on the west end of the pond near the willow. (We really do need to develop some code for the many different areas of the FWG!)

Hedrik's trail of destruction.

The burdock patch...

South slope of the pond after cutting.

Glenda is doing some research into DSV and posted a DSV Facts note that brought to our attention some important new findings regarding the consequences of using DSV as mulch. We've been doing this ever since we started cutting it, only bagging consistently in the past few weeks. Turns out we should have been bagging all along, as DSV continues to take a toll even as a mulch, providing leachates that discourage growth of other plants. Is there no end to the pernicious survival strategies of this plant? Apparently not! In a way, it's welcome news, as the issue of when to start bagging is clarified and we can in future avoid a big problem resulting from mulch, i.e., the increased difficulty in subsequent cuttings. We will no longer have to worry about predicting whether mulched vines will release their seeds - the pods on cut vines dry out faster - and inadvertently releasing them ourselves when our scythes crash into the decaying vines as we cut renewed growth. We've always understood that this year is experimental; here's an excellent example of new learning resulting in revision of our techniques.