Last post of the season

We had our end of season lunch October 18 at Mamma Teresa's - a much more pleasant way to spend a Tuesday! Many thanks to the entire team for each of your contributions to the success of the season. It's a truism that's true: nothing could have happened without a team willing to take on the impossible but essential task of dealing with invasives.

Although the group is officially ended now, several members have decided to keep on working on good weather Tuesdays. We still have a few things to do, such as recutting in several places that have grown up enough to produce pods. But we'd also like to try a few more experimental things, such as digging up DSV in several places to see how the roots form and to remove mulch / thatch in selected areas to see whether this makes overwintering more difficult. Re the latter, Geoff and Barry came out on the 25th to continue cleaning mulched DSV out of the field south of the pond. Some wild grape vine also got pulled in that area.

Christine has informed of a couple of other invasives, fortunately still very local, but rapidly spreading. One is Lamium, sold in nurseries as a ground cover. The other is Asian bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), a beautiful but Kudzu(shudder!)-like vine overtaking a small stand of white birches just south of the Butterfly Meadow. How much we'll do this season is hard to predict, given the weather, but these plants will be added to the already too-long list of invasives to research in the coming months. We have another busy season ahead in 2012 - see you then!

Barry Fights DSV

As the season wraps up, it is time for a huge thank you to Barry for leading the "Tuesday Invasive Species Group" at Fletcher Wildlife Garden (FWG). 

After having been introduced to the invasive and relentless Dog-Strangling Vine (DSV) last year, Barry decided to take on the challenge of battling it and any other invasive species at FWG.   His first step was to undertake a comprehensive literature review of more than 50 scientific articles to establish a strategy on how to tackle the daunting task ahead.  When May 2011 came along, he began coordinating a small group of volunteers on a weekly quest to pull, cut and hack away any hint of DSV.   It has to be said that the name of the group "Tuesday Invasive Species Group" is a misnomer.  As Barry would regularly put in another shift on Friday and often yet another on the weekend.   

Barry led the group tirelessly (well, ok, I suppose it was quite tiring!) to make the biggest impact on DSV at FWG yet.  Thank you Barry and here's to next season ....

WEEK 24, October 11

With all other volunteers out of commission for various reasons, Geoff bravely soldiered on on his own. The northern section of the Old Field had been mowed by AAFC, at Christine's request, at the end of last week. Geoff had intended to continue the cutting begun nearby in the Ash Woods, but found a patch of DSV near the mowed area. 

NE corner of the Old Field, before cutting...

This patch had been cut before and had regrown to the point that it needed another round. Geoff got much of it, as evidenced by the stack of cuttings left behind for disposal by AAFC.

...and after.

The results.

WEEK 23, October 4

Barry, Geoff, Hedrik, Christine

We tackled two areas today, the field south of the pond where we worked the past couple of weeks, and a new area, a section of the Ash Woodlot right at the end of Green Heron Road. In the area near the pond, Geoff recut a patch just east of the trail running south from the bridge to Green Heron Road, while Hedrik and Barry tidied up in the southeast corner of the field itself. Eight bags of DSV were left at the roadside for AAFC pick-up. Our natural history moment came in the form of a praying mantis, probably Mantis religiosa, quite a rare sight:

 

 When we reached the new area around break-time, a debate broke out as to the merits of cutting plants that are still green and growing versus plants that are yellowing and preparing to release their seeds. One side argued that more damage would be done to the green plants if they were cut over the yellowing plants, which had already sent nutrition down into the roots for next year's growth. The other side noted that a key objective was removal of seeds from the seed bank. Christine happened along at this point to do some work in the Old Field, the northern section of which is scheduled to be cut by AAFC in a couple of days. Ever wise, she noted that both sides had valid points. Fortunately, the area being contemplated had both kinds of growth, so off the scythers went to do their damage, whatever it might come to. Christine had come in on her own earlier in the week, so with her work then and the work today, another 14 bags of DSV were soon piled up. Grand total for the day, 22 bags. We'll continue with this area next Tuesday.

Before and...

after - two views from the Ash Woodlot.

WEEK 22, September 27

Barry, Geoff, Hedrik, Marg

Today was a rather frustrating experience, as we all dealt with the bagging of mulched and newly cut DSV in the field south of the pond. Geoff completed the bagging in the area he had scythed on Saturday then joined the rest of us in cleaning up. The south slope of the pond already had some piles ready for bagging, but other loose materials from previous cuttings needed to be raked up and bagged as well. The central part of the larger field south of the pond trail was our main focus. Tidying this up was pretty hard work, as the mulched DSV was reduced to long, hardy vines mixed with new growth that was difficult to cut. But at the end of the morning, 28 bags were waiting along the Green Heron Road for pickup by AAFC.

View of east side of the field.

View from the bridge - the group was all over that field! The orange bush in the pond is the water willow, most of which was removed on Friday afternoon as noted below.

Friday, September 30: Barry came in for a shift that had little to do with the usual TISG activities. He spent some time with a group working in the Butterfly Meadow. There is still some DSV there but his main task was getting a section ready for tilling. After lunch, Barry, Brian and Diane worked for an hour or so on invasives in the pond. Brian and Diane put on chest-waders and braved the mucky bottom, filling buckets with frog-bit and flowering rush that Barry emptied into a wheelbarrow for carting off to dump on unsuspecting DSV. One way to solve the mulch issue! Four barrow loads with 5 or 6 bucketsful each totted up to quite a bit of material being removed. About 30 Black and Mallard ducks didn't seem to mind our being there - they still had lots of duckweed left and we were an improvement over the crazed mutt that was braying and chasing them earlier in the day.

WEEK 21, September 20

Barry, Geoff, Hedrik, Marg

It was great to have as many as four of us out again after a few weeks of reduced numbers. Geoff took time out from his vacation to join us and so off we all went to the New Woods to continue our efforts at recutting. Hedrik had come in on Sunday to do some cutting, so we had piles of DSV from Friday and Sunday to bag up, while Geoff continued cutting and bagging in his favourite spot, the northwest corner backing onto Green Heron Road.

At break we had quite a discussion about the phenomenon Hedrik noted last week, that DSV is growing along the ground under the first-year burdock leaves in a large central patch. These plants appear to be weaker in terms of stems and more prolific in terms of pods. They are almost invisible beneath the burdock. Hedrik has been working on this now for the last three or four sessions, and sparked our discussion with speculation on the possible evolutionary reasons why DSV might grow in this way. This kind of discussion reminds us how little we know about this plant and helps frame questions for further thought and research.

The trail of bags...

Marg caught in the act

Hedrik pondering DSV growth patterns...

Our efforts resulted in 26 bags of DSV piled up behind the barn, where AAFC can easily leave a wagon for loading on Friday. 

Barry took a walk around FWG to see how things stand as our season winds down. The TISG has accomplished an amazing amount of work, with most major areas showing green rather than the yellowing vines of DSV with their fluffy white parachutes. These can still be found in various pockets, the southern part of the Old Field being the largest and worst of these. Most of these pockets are too advanced to deal with this year, but several areas, especially in the Ash Woods and the Ravine, are still susceptible to being cut. Weather is becoming a factor as are fall schedules, but we'll continue into early October at least.

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.