Posted on 12/05/2023 1:24:32 PM PST by devane617
It is.
I just ordered a bunch of native seedlings from the NH Nursery.
They are dirt cheap, but small, but since we are trying to clear out invasives and replace with native species, it’s great.
Besides, it’s not climate anything that drives invasives. It’s lack of natural things to keep them in check.
I can imagine it’s more of a problem in ‘The Tropics’ where you live.
I’ll never live further North than where I can grow a decent tomato and no further south than the Mason/Dixon line because...BIG BUGS and SNAKES! ;)
....and GATORS!....................and the occasional CROCODILE.............
You get used to them. Palmetto bugs can be tasty if prepared correctly.
Can’t remember the name now, but there is a huge leaf plant that is invading areas and is highly toxic causing bug problems if touched. MayBe “Hog Weed”? It was a long time ago I read about it.
When I was in Basic Training at Fort Jackson, SC I was assigned KP. The Mess Sergeant sent me into the pantry to grab a can of this or that and when I moved the can a Palmetto Bug (Cockroach!) stood on it’s hind legs and HISSED at me!
I jumped about a mile.
Mess Sergeant: “Yankee Trainees. So much FUN to mess with!”
Most seem to some from Asia, especially China.
Yep. We have Giant Hog Weed and Wild Parsnip. Both can grow 8-10’ tall and are usually found in roadside ditches.
If you’re cutting them back and get the ‘juice’ on your skin, that juice, when exposed to sunlight can blister you up in a very painful way.
So if cutting it, you need to cover yourself well, wear gloves, eye protection, the whole works. A Hazmat suit is pretty much needed. Nasty stuff.
Another one is Gas Plant - which is beautiful when in bloom, but also causes blisters and burns to those that are allergic - usually light-skinned redheads. Don’t know why anyone plants them - they really DO smell like a gas leak if you dare to get close enough in the first place.
https://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/3283/
Thanks for the inof- yep that was it. Not sure if we have it around us on east coast, as I’ve not seen any and have done some pretty ext3nsive hiking and photographing in years past, but we do have a large leaf plant that i think is different, but wi.. haveto check to make u
Sure it isn’t hogweed. I don’t think it is though.
Exactly right.
When I moved into my former house I had BITTERSWEET vines growing all over the place. Some of the vines were 2 1/2” in diameter where they grew out of the ground. I cut and sprayed with ORTHO Ground Clear for several years to bring it under control.
My 80 year old neighbor said that it had all come from a 5’ diameter Christmas Wreath that the people across the road had hung on their barn one year. Bittersweet gets these pretty red berries on it in the fall. So, people will cut the vine and form it into round wreaths and sell it at nurseries.
He said they left this wreath up for six months. The birds then ate all the berries and spread the seeds all over the neighbor hood. This had apparently happened twenty years before I ever bought this house. All the vines had grown up from that wreath.
The problem with Bittersweet is that it grows up into the canopy of trees. Eventually overwhelming the trees capacity to hold the weight. Then the tree eventually breaks.
I invested in a Stihl Straight shaft bicycle grip brush cutter. The kind with the circular saw blade on it. I cut and sprayed for a couple years. That property was also full of dead Mountain Laurel. So much so that you could not walk around the woods on the property. I cut that down piled it up and burned it.
I can kill invasive plants....@ least for now.
I can understand how house sparrows might have looked cute without people realizing that they take over nesting sites, or that in the days before bird feeders, not knowing that they would compete with our own native, colorful feeder squatters (American Goldfinches, I’m looking at you, literally).
But starlings? Who thought those thug-birds were a good idea, ever? So many obvious, obnoxious behaviors. Noisy, aggressive, no manners. These bird feeder looters even brawl en masse in a bird bath.
Locusts of the avian world. It had to have been a conspiracy.
At least where I’m at now I haven’t seen any starlings or house sparrows. They prefer the properties in town.
Yet bluebirds... oh and here they are on their daily visit. So patient and polite! Happy to share, too. They even scootch over on a suet feeder to make room for their companions who are awaiting their turns.
***
How about that oriental bittersweet... ugh. We keep an eye out. A 3” seedling will be anchored in like an oak tree.
I would shoot the sparrows at my bird feeder thru the open door wall to my back deck, from my dining table.
Within 5 minutes, a local yellow tabby feral cat would come running out from my neighbor's bushes, grab the dead bird and take off....LOL!
I miss her, she was a great retriever cat.
My ancestors came to this county in 1889. I was the first of my immediate family to move away, moved back in 1995. Gone 25 years. We own quite a bit of farmland, while dad was sick we took care of him, but a lot of thing around the farms fell in disrepair. He died at 94, 2-1/2 years ago. We have our hands full trying to begin to focus on the farm. The land is all rented right now, but I'm on my 3rd try to finish restoring the house at the farm and move there. It is close, but have a couple of issues that I cannot do for myself.
Nature recovers what man does not occupy. When my family moved to this county from Coryell County, it was a blank slate. The prairie sod had not been turned. The county was cut up and established in 1885. There were no trees, tons of prairie dogs and wild animals, few stores water was scarce. After the railroads came in, around 1907, it blossomed. New productive soil, and a way to market the production.
We've lived through many more stages, each with ups and downs. Like most of rural Texas; farms, ranches and oil have blessed the state.
Makes me very angry when the freaks like John F(n) Kerry say they need to confiscate farm land and the Globalist talk about making us eating bugs. And the big corporations and big government both want to destroy the sane people that are still alive.
About a mile from where the house at our farm is a cemetery that was donated by my dad's grandfather, along with land for a church and a school. He was put to rest in that cemetery, and this is on his grave marker.
The Globalist plotters have totally exposed themselves. Texas is not going to starve, we are not going to bow to them, they can “come and take it”. And I don't think they will succeed.This is on the grave marker for my great grandfather pic.twitter.com/D2D3F2GpL6— Dave K. (@TX_1) December 26, 2016
For me, it’s Starlings, House Sparrows, and Cowbirds. I hate them all.
My ancestors came around the same time(late 1880s). Except they moved to Buffalo, NY. They eventually bought dairy farms to the east of there. They had been farmers in Europe too. They came from Belgium/Germany/Poland/Lithunia.
Your fathers marker made me think of The Far Side Cartoon about Santa Anna’s son receiving a Christmas present:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/the-far-side-by-gary-larson—831547518670019299/
Merry Christmas
To a degree, they sometimes are. Every plant or seed catalog I have ever seen has had at least one plant they’re selling that is considered invasive in some part of the US. And the listing doesn’t always warn people, so they may not know they’re buying something invasive. Especially if it goes by multiple names.
As an example, one of my favorite seed companies that specializes in medicinal herbs, often has Alehoof seeds in their catalog. It’s a useful herb and a good groundcover. It’s also known as Creeping Charlie, the bane of lawns and gardens in my area. Once it gets a foothold, you can never get rid of it!
For that matter, some of the medicinal herbs I’ve had trouble getting established, are actually considered noxious weeds in their home territories.
That’s not even getting into the problem of contaminated soil, or infested lumber that is often sold for landscaping purposes.
So, it makes sense that nurseries are a factor in the spread of invasive species. You can debate how big a factor they might be, but to say they don’t play a part at all is not logical.
If you can work at night, that also helps. The reaction requires sunlight.
If you can keep the exposed skin away from sunlight long enough, it will wear off and then you’re safe. But it does take several days, with frequent scrubbing. I think it took about 6 days the last time I had to deal with it.
If you’re not sure, expose the skin to sunlight for just 10 seconds, then cover it up and wait half an hour. You’ll feel a burning sensation but there won’t be an actual burn. If you don’t feel anything, then carefully expose the skin for longer periods, again covering back up and waiting half an hour in case there’s a delayed reaction. When you get up to 4 minutes of exposure with no reaction, you’re *probably* safe, but keep a close watch on it and don’t go sunbathing for a couple of weeks.
Depending on which part of you is exposed, keeping it covered could mean anything from a bandaid to long sleeves and gloves. Ignore fashion. Those blisters are too painful to risk, and they leave some nasty scars.
We raised wheat seed to use for planting. I bought foundation seed and produced Registered seed for my crop 2 years out. Then planted registered seed and produced certified seed.
We have a seed cleaning and treating plant. So each year we carefully clean the seed drills, the combine (we own one, don’t rely on custom harvesters for our planting seed crop at any stage), and the seed cleaner. Normally we only grow a single variety at a time to make the clean up complete. Including the seed cleaner itself.
Then there are the purity and germ lab testing that is done for each plot that is required in order for them to sell me certified seed tags. (and registered)
I know about planting seed purity issues.
As a side note, they come thru here in the spring and this past spring, there were so many, I think they scared the chickadees away. I only saw one or two throughout the summer.
And another thing, I've hardly ever seen cow birds until this past spring when they were constantly coming to my feeder.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.