joene's garden » Gardening Education

What a plant needs to do to be a Connecticut invasive

joenesgarden — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 03:36:52 +0000

What a plant needs to do to be a Connecticut invasive

What a gardener refers to as invasive might really be no more than a garden thug – a plant that doesn't understand how to play nicely with its neighbors and aggressively crowds other plants. Garden thugs may be a pain in the root to neighboring plants, or a pain in the gardener's back - or more southerly bit of human anatomy - but a plant thug may not pass the nine point test required to be named a Connecticut invasive.

To date, 97 different plant species have been added to the Connecticut Invasive Plant list. Each meets the following criteria – all nine of them. The plant

is nonindigenous to Connecticut – it was not here before European colonization;
is naturalized or has the potential to become naturalized – it's happy here;
has the biological potential for rapid and widespread dispersion and establishment – it can spread easily;
has the biological potential for excessive dispersion – it can spread excessively;
has the biological potential to exist in high numbers outside of intensely managed habitats – for example, in woods, fields, wetlands;
it can be found in wide regions or in particular habitats within Connecticut;
it has grown into large stands;
it can out-compete other plants;
and, it has the potential for rapid growth, high seed production and dissemination, and establishment in natural communities.

This photo of Japanese barberry overtaking a forest floor is a good example of a Connecticut invasive.

Japanese barberry, garlic mustard, Oriental bittersweet, Russian and Autumn olive, Winged euonymus, a.k.a. burning bush, ground ivy, many honeysuckles, moneywort, Japanese knotweed, multiflora rose and sheep sorrel are some of the invasive plants common to Connecticut gardens, as is mugwort, the most recent addition to the Connecticut Invasive Plant list. (The October 2012 update lists mugwort. As of the date of this post, the October 2011 online version, does not.) Many of these plants are so invasive they are found in every Connecticut county.

Of the 97 plant species considered invasive in Connecticut, 80 are illegal to import, move (unless for research, control, or education purposes), sell, purchase, transplant, cultivate, or distribute, according to information provided to attendees at the Invasive Plant Symposium held October 25, 2012 at the University of Connecticut. Notice I said just 80 of Connecticut's invasives are prohibited. This means 17 can still be sold and purchased, planted and distributed in spite of their invasive label.

Becoming familiar with the Connecticut Invasive Plant list is one way for Connecticut gardeners to garden thoughtfully. It's much better to identify a plant as invasive before giving it a chance to do its invasive thing in your garden or on your property. It's also valuable to know how to recognize invasive plants when they first show themselves. Eradication is so much easier when plants are young.

Gardeners can learn to identify many invasive plants by clicking the plant names listed at Invasipedia! Plants are listed there by their botanical names so be sure to have a nearby reference copy of the invasive plant list, which refers to plants by their botanical and common names. You can also just Google the botanical name of a plant to quickly see descriptions and photos.

There are good identification guides, some with color photos, as well as control and disposal information available through the Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group website. After all, once you identify an invasive plant on your property it's important to know how to remove it or control its spread.

I have my list of 'favorite' invasives - Japanese barberry; Oriental bittersweet; Autumn olive which produces 80 pounds of bird-favored fruit per year which birds then 'distribute' in excreted seed form; mugwort; multiflora rose; plus my two more recent faves, Japanese stilt grass and sheep sorrel. A good portion of my gardening hours are spent controlling this group. I strive to get to know my problematic plants when they are young, so one or two small troublemakers don't become enormous pains to parts of my anatomy. But control also requires vigilance – you have to keep continuous watch for the invasives common to your property. They love to visit again and again and again.

Categories: Gardening, Gardening Education, Invasives.
Tags: Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group, gardening in Connecticut, Japanese barberry.

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joene's garden

Tomato Mystery–Part One

joenesgarden — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 13:26:32 +0000

Tomato Mystery–Part One

Why are many of my tomatoes ripening on a table inside instead of on the vine?

These are Pruden's Purple (foreground) and Cherokee Purple (background) on the left, and Milano Plum tomatoes on the right, in a scene I'm used to creating just before frost when all potentially viable tomatoes are brought inside to ripen. This is not a sight I want to see in August.

But … when tomato vines begin developing brown patches on leaves and stems, and continue to do so at an ever increasing rate, it's time to take action.

Fearing dreaded tomato late blight, I took photos and collected samples of leaves and stems with brown patches. I then carefully removed the plants, cutting each stem into pieces that would fit into a trash bag. Four five-foot tall tomatoes that I nurtured from seed, and should have been in their prime, were reduced to common trash. Normally, I compost plant waste but it's not good practice to compost diseased plant material.

I called the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station and reached Dr. Yonghao Li, plant pathologist in the Plant Disease Information Office. After reviewing my emailed photos Dr. Li asked to see the actual samples. He suspected some sort of blight.

I packed each tomato leaflet between dry paper towels and sealed two stacks of samples in zip-lock bags, then mailed them, express delivery, so they would get to Dr. Li before completely drying out.

Dr. Li called after inspecting the samples under microscope to report no blight; no bacterial disease of any type. We ruled out pesticide/herbicide drift from a neighboring property, sunscald as this would not cause browning patches on stems, and soil (I used new commercial composted potting soil for each potted tomato). Dr. Li suggested some sort of virus might be the cause.

Unfortunately, he said testing for a virus is not as simple as microscopic inspection for bacterial infection. Each virus test requires an individual test kit and still may not provide definitive results. In other words, virus testing is not cost effective. I've compared my diseased tomatoes with photos of virus-infected tomatoes and found no match.

Dr. Li suggested my tomato problem may be seed-borne. I started this year's plants from the same seed (from two separate seed suppliers) as last year and had the same problem at about the same time with my 2011 tomatoes. In both seasons, this and last, small brown spots began showing up on leaves at all levels of the plant, some expanded to larger size with yellowing at the outer edges while brown patches developed on some stems and at some leaf nodes. The heirloom Pruden's Purple and Cherokee Purple tomatoes were the first to show these signs, followed by Milano Plum tomatoes. Last year the Manyel tomatoes were the last heirloom to show signs and, this year, my one Manyel plant still looks healthy.

I'm very appreciative of the assistance of Dr. Li and highly recommend other gardeners seek the advice of the Plant Disease Information Office.

I'm relieved that my tomatoes don't have blight but I'm still at a loss to explain the disease cause. I can guarantee that next year I'll start with fresh tomato seed, likely from different companies.

Categories: Edibles, Gardening, Gardening Education.
Tags: Cherokee Purple, Connecticut Agrigultural Experiment Station, gardening in Connecticut, Manyel, Milano Plum, Pruden's Purple, tomato disease.

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What defines a native plant; why it matters

joenesgarden — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 01:57:55 +0000

What defines a native plant; why it matters

You may look at plants growing naturally in the woods, a meadow, or wetlands and think they are natives to Connecticut, but often this is not the case. To be a native, a plant must have grown in our region prior to European settlement. Some of the plants, trees and shrubs growing in Connecticut wild spaces are actually naturalized – they've become accustomed to and grow quite comfortably in our area. Other plants are invasive bullies that overtake or crowd out other plants, often natives. Why does this matter? Think bugs and evolution. Local insects co-evolved with local plants in local conditions. Each Connecticut- or Southern New England-based insect and plant may have a slightly different genetic code than the same type of insect or plant from the Mid-Atlantic region.

This is the topic of my article «In Search of Natives» in the July/August 2012 issue of Connecticut Gardener. In it you'll find further explanations of what the term native means in regards to plants, where gardeners can find plants native to Connecticut, and where many of the natives sold by Connecticut garden centers are actually grown. Because this is a misunderstood topic, the publishers of Connecticut Gardener, Anne and Will Rowlands, have graciously posted this article online.

What you won't get from this link is all the other informative topics covered in Connecticut Gardener: Plants for Dry Shade by Sydney Eddison, Plants for Wet Shade by Nancy DuBrule-Clemente, and Wrapped Up in Vines by Tovah Martin. If you don't subscribe to Connecticut Gardener you'll miss a story about efforts to bring the American Chestnut tree back, a Designer Forum on Plants for Privacy, and advice on what gardening tasks to complete in July and August.

But back to natives. New England-based garden coach and designer Ellen W. Sousa covers the value of and how to use native plants in her book, The Green Garden, and professor of entomology and wildlife ecology Douglas W. Tallamy explains the important role native plants play in the lives of insects, and the birds and other creatures that survive on them, in his book, Bringing Nature Home.

Habitats friendly to native flora and fauna are ever in decline. Gardeners can be front-line defenders against habitat loss by gardening organically and with more natives. These resources will provide any gardener with the knowledge and tools necessary to become a habitat defender.

Garden thoughtfully.

Categories: Gardening, Gardening Education, General, On the Bookshelf.
Tags: Bringing Nature Home, Connecticut Gardener, In Search of Natives, The Green Garden: A New England Guide to Planning.

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