Control of Invasive Species
We recommend only highly targeted use of herbicides, carefully avoiding the intermixed native species, e.g. treatments of freshly cut woody stems with triclopyr, rather than broadcast spraying. Herbicides should be applied like “medicine,” with full knowledge of all potential ecological – and human health- side effects, and only when non-chemical alternatives are truly impractical or cost-prohibitive. We emphasize follow-up weeding and mowing of invasive seedlings and sprouts, or even grazing – in an agricultural setting. Several past blog posts (in archives) address the subject of invasive plant species.
Invasive status varies from place to place – and ecologists, regulators – and gardeners- do not necessarily agree! Plants began hitchhiking to New England among the seeds colonists brought for their herb gardens and in the ballast (dirt) that filled the empty holds of ships traveling back to New England, for another load of old growth lumber or sassafras. Which of these immigrants are “invasive” and which are not?