Invasive species in your area

Discussion in 'Animals & Pets' started by FatBack, Aug 21, 2019.

  1. modernpaladin

    modernpaladin Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I live in high desert. When irrigated,it makes for the best timothy and alfalfa hay in the world. When not, nothing grows but scrub. I think everything here is non-native, though it would all die if uncared for, so I dont think it qualifies as 'invasive.'
     
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  2. FatBack

    FatBack Well-Known Member

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  3. scarlet witch

    scarlet witch Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    There are cane toads in Queensland... apparently they are on their way down to Victoria... that's what I heard 10 years ago... should be here any day now :lol:
     
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  4. FatBack

    FatBack Well-Known Member

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    Wont be good if they get there, can kill a dog that bites them. We have fire ants here, courtesy of South America.
     
  5. scarlet witch

    scarlet witch Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Queensland also now have fire ants, (bloody Queenslanders importing all the invasives) I hope the cane toads don't make it to Victoria... my dog is fluffy....and that is the end of the line of her defence mechanism
     
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  6. FatBack

    FatBack Well-Known Member

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    Cool video on water moccasin aggression (or lack their of) Spoiler alert, he puts his boot all around the snake to provoke a bite. He has to literally put his boot in the gaping mouth, to trigger a bite. @ the 12:50 mark

     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2019
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  7. perdidochas

    perdidochas Well-Known Member

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    Supposedly very good. Basically speaking, it's thought that is why they were introduced--Asians love to eat them.
     
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  8. Adfundum

    Adfundum Moderator Staff Member Donor

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    Kudzu is one of those invasive species around here, although it's not as bad as it was years ago. The state put a lot of money into ways to get rid of it. None of it was terrible effective, but I was always amused to see people renting out goats to gobble it up. Problem is that whether it was poisoned, burned, eaten, or whatever, it seemed to come right back.

    [​IMG]

    There isn't any in my immediate area, but I do have an issue with some Japanese honeysuckle. At first it looked kind of nice, so I let it go. A few years down the road it was smothering anything that couldn't out grow it to about 35 feet up.

    As far as the subforum, it could be "pet peeves"?
     
  9. perdidochas

    perdidochas Well-Known Member

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    There was an article about Kudzu in Smithsonian magazine sometime in the last couple of years (4 years ago in fact). Kudzu turned out to not be as bad as we thought it was going to be back in the 70s and 80s, because it primarily likes edge habitat, such as the areas around roads. It doesn't grow well in the woods, but only at the edge of the woods. Everybody thought it was much worse of a problem because it likes areas like roadsides, which are very visible and heavily traveled.


    https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/true-story-kudzu-vine-ate-south-180956325/
     
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  10. Adfundum

    Adfundum Moderator Staff Member Donor

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    Yeah, I read about that. To be honest, in the areas where it was growing along the roads it looked much better than what was underneath it. Even along the interstate it seemed to be a way to control the need for mowing and yearly planting of wildflowers. But...if you get it in your yard, you've got some serious issues with controlling the rapid growth.
     
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  11. Kenneth Erwin Engelhardt

    Kenneth Erwin Engelhardt Newly Registered

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    Gypsy Moths in Rhode Island.
     
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  12. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Scotch broom.

    There's a lot of natives here that behave "invasively" as well, in open areas where former woodlands have been cleared.

    Also Himalayan blackberries. Everyone loves to pick them, but the vines themselves are vicious, and once a bush pops up there's pretty much no getting rid of them. The whole thing has to be leveled to the ground with machinery, since the bushes have vicious thorns, and then the roots have to be methodically dug up, and checked on to pull out any roots that may be sprouting up again in the months after that. It's not a one time thing, you have to stay on top of it for a year or two after that to make sure all the remnants of roots have been pulled up.

    Ivy is also an invasive here in many forests, carpeting the floors. It's a lot of work to rip out, and again, you have to do a walk through a few months later to make sure you got it all.

    What's interesting is invassives in one region are not always invassives in another region with a very different climate.
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2019
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  13. Adfundum

    Adfundum Moderator Staff Member Donor

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    Years ago I lived in PA, and we had a gypsy moth invasion. It looked like winter in the middle of summer because there were so many trees that had no leaves on them. They can do some damage.
     
  14. Adfundum

    Adfundum Moderator Staff Member Donor

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    So true...
    One thing that's not invasive around here is grass. Our little micro climate is hot and very dry in the summer. The soil is like brick by mid June and the grass usually dies off. We like to joke that our lawns are on weed therapy. The weeds are really the only thing that will last the summer.
     
  15. Adfundum

    Adfundum Moderator Staff Member Donor

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    What kind of stuff is native to your area?
     
  16. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    We have some friends who live in the high desert, and strangely they have little blackberry bushes growing "invasively" all around their property. (It's not the Himalayan type either) Very strange.

    I'm almost wondering whether it might be some sort of naturalized hybrid between blackberry and Himalayan blackberry.
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2019
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  17. modernpaladin

    modernpaladin Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I have some here as well. Though i put them there (i like blackberries). I didn't know they were invasive though. Apparently they're engineered.

    https://www.npr.org/sections/thesal...ge-twisted-story-behind-seattles-blackberries

    They're in a box in my yard. Anything that grows outside the box gets mowed :)
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2019
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  18. Ming the Merciless

    Ming the Merciless Newly Registered

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    Californians.
     
  19. Margot2

    Margot2 Banned

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    This may interest you.

    Common Patterns of Ecosystem Breakdown Under Stress.

    The major pressures which cause the transformation of systems from healthy states to pathological states are classified into four groups: physical restructuring, overharvesting, waste residuals, and the introduction of non-native species. Signs of Ecosystem Distress Syndrome (EDS)...

    Common Patterns of Ecosystem Breakdown Under Stress ...
    link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1005935202518
     
  20. Adfundum

    Adfundum Moderator Staff Member Donor

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    Forgot to mention that someone a few miles down the road put in some bamboo. That stuff is insane. They've cut it back, sprayed it, dug it up and it just keeps coming back the next year. The growth rate is quite fast.
     
  21. FatBack

    FatBack Well-Known Member

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    That and mother in laws tongue, both are near impossible to eradicate. I suppose an absolute soaking of round up might work, might!
     
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  22. Adfundum

    Adfundum Moderator Staff Member Donor

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    Ha! Now, now...
     
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  23. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I put in Giant Timber bamboo as well. But the climate here has a short growing season and most of the year has very cool temperatures, so it will probably not grow as rapidly.
    So it depends on the climate.

    (I also put plastic sheet barriers into the ground to help control it, just in case)

    The roots of bamboo don't go that deep actually, but the runners on some species can really be strong and hard to cut. You need to try to push away all the top dirt and then get in there with a chainsaw. Again, it's not a one day's work and the task is completed, you have to stay on top of it ever couple of days for a two months during the growing season, see if anything starts popping up and quickly deal with it.

    The soil around here is rock hard, actually used to be under a glacier in ancient times, so that will likely help limit root growth as well. You can't dig very far before you hit gravel and stones.
     
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2019
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  24. FatBack

    FatBack Well-Known Member

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    No, for real. It's a plant, very hard to get rid of. It looks very nice as a potted plant but there's hell to pay when it gets loose.

    upload_2019-11-30_1-6-11.jpeg
     
  25. FatBack

    FatBack Well-Known Member

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    It go's crazy in Florida soils, about takes a nuclear bomb to eradicate. Very useful, though.
     

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