Thanks to Miriam for the reminders for us long-term residents and for informing newer desert dwellers. MBCA also has a good page on invasive plants: https://www.mbconservation.org/invasive_plants_2. When pulling them, and especially as invasive plants get close to flowering and seeding, dispose in plastic garbage bags to keep those potential new plants contained!
Thank you, Laraine, for bringing up the protocol of bagging seeding plants. So many of invasives produce seeds that continue to mature after harvest, which is part of their "success". Since you bring up MBCA and scraped land is such a key factor in promoting invasives, I'd like to also point out your content that offers pointers on developing existing natives as an alternative to disturbing land at: https://www.mbconservation.org/nature_s_freebies
The struggle is so real. Stork's bill is my literal nemesis. My 5 acres are covered with them. I can manage the mustard and tumbleweeds, but the stork's bill is overwhelming. I used a pre-emergent in some small rock gardens and it worked well, but I'm hesitant to do this full scale, as I don't want to keep natives (mallow, mariposa lilly, desert trumpet, chia) from sprouting. As it stands now, the mariposa lillies are coming up in/around the stork's bill plants, so I'll end up killing those by accident. It's just unavoidable. Fun fact: stork's bill plants will continue to make seeds after pulling them, so bagging is the only way.
Mendy, thanks for reinforcing the bagging point in order to minimize spread. How lucky to have Mariposa Lily on your property, not many of us do! Is it the orange Calochortus kennedyi?
I feel your pain trying to go after weeds knowing that it disrupts the wildflowers. Tools are personal preference, but I go after Stork's bill with something called a Cobrahead (long handle version saves the back, short handle puts you up close and personal with good seedlings to preserve) and hook plants out in a small scoop to minimize collateral damage. If a particular Stork's bill is just too entangled with something precious (baby JT seedling, for example), I pluck the leaves repeatedly to starve the root from photosynthetic energy and keep it from flowering. This sounds completely insane but that Stork's bill can make you crazy.
Miriam, that's the one! And yes, I am very lucky to have them. I expect a bumper crop this year, given all of the leaves emerging now. The few plants that came up last year didn't make it to flowering because of the lack of rain. They are especially amazing when they come up next to a bush, because the bush supports their stalks and they can get up to 12" tall. I will harvest some seeds for you this year.
Thanks for the Cobra Head tip. My property is completely carpeted in many spots, so I usually just use a hula hoe, but maybe the cobra head will be less disruptive to the soil. It's also very rocky, which makes those bags extra heavy, as it's impossible to sift out all of the rocks. I'm very tempted to just haul the extracted weeds by wheelbarrow to dump in one remote spot on my property. But I know the wind can scatter the seeds from there. Sigh.
The nitrogen emissions angle is so underrated. Most folks dunno that we're literally fertilizing the bad guys while choking out natives that evolved for nutrient-poor soil. Spent years managing a trail near Red Rock and saw the same dynamic play out, where every fuel-burning vehicle passing by was basically feeding that green carpet of brome. That feedback loop is brutal once it takes hold.
I'm grateful for your real life example, especially since it provides the opportunity to expand on the too-brief mention. That "feedback loop" functions like a mirrored room in a house of horrors - when invasive vegetation dies back, it composts to add even more nitrogen to the soil, creating conditions that further disadvantage desert natives while boosting soil composition for invasive seedlings. As that loop spirals outward, it reverbs as acid rain, heavy metals leaching into water systems, and more. Many plant fertilizers play a role in toxic run off.
Yes, plentiful nitrogen is essential for native plants adapted to, say, leaf drop and rotting logs in deciduous forests but that's an entirely different set of natural feedbacks, unrelated to emissions. For anyone who wants to dive deeper, these are acid loving plants (low pH) unlike desert plants that thrive in high alkaline, low acid soils (high pH).
Rather than demoralizing readers into paralysis over the scope of the problem, perhaps recognition of it will motivate a little mindfulness over weeding in one's own backyard, and promote understanding of the garden products we buy (or don't). There are also opportunities for community engagement by volunteering to spend an afternoon with land conservancies removing invasives. Given this rain, I suspect chances to participate will start popping up soon.
Great article, so many sage brushes today, learned a lot. In my 8 years now out here have seen a lot of these invasives pop up on my properties. They suck and are a lot of work to clear out, with all the rain now more than ever.
Thanks to Miriam for the reminders for us long-term residents and for informing newer desert dwellers. MBCA also has a good page on invasive plants: https://www.mbconservation.org/invasive_plants_2. When pulling them, and especially as invasive plants get close to flowering and seeding, dispose in plastic garbage bags to keep those potential new plants contained!
Thank you, Laraine, for bringing up the protocol of bagging seeding plants. So many of invasives produce seeds that continue to mature after harvest, which is part of their "success". Since you bring up MBCA and scraped land is such a key factor in promoting invasives, I'd like to also point out your content that offers pointers on developing existing natives as an alternative to disturbing land at: https://www.mbconservation.org/nature_s_freebies
Onward!
The struggle is so real. Stork's bill is my literal nemesis. My 5 acres are covered with them. I can manage the mustard and tumbleweeds, but the stork's bill is overwhelming. I used a pre-emergent in some small rock gardens and it worked well, but I'm hesitant to do this full scale, as I don't want to keep natives (mallow, mariposa lilly, desert trumpet, chia) from sprouting. As it stands now, the mariposa lillies are coming up in/around the stork's bill plants, so I'll end up killing those by accident. It's just unavoidable. Fun fact: stork's bill plants will continue to make seeds after pulling them, so bagging is the only way.
Mendy, thanks for reinforcing the bagging point in order to minimize spread. How lucky to have Mariposa Lily on your property, not many of us do! Is it the orange Calochortus kennedyi?
I feel your pain trying to go after weeds knowing that it disrupts the wildflowers. Tools are personal preference, but I go after Stork's bill with something called a Cobrahead (long handle version saves the back, short handle puts you up close and personal with good seedlings to preserve) and hook plants out in a small scoop to minimize collateral damage. If a particular Stork's bill is just too entangled with something precious (baby JT seedling, for example), I pluck the leaves repeatedly to starve the root from photosynthetic energy and keep it from flowering. This sounds completely insane but that Stork's bill can make you crazy.
Miriam, that's the one! And yes, I am very lucky to have them. I expect a bumper crop this year, given all of the leaves emerging now. The few plants that came up last year didn't make it to flowering because of the lack of rain. They are especially amazing when they come up next to a bush, because the bush supports their stalks and they can get up to 12" tall. I will harvest some seeds for you this year.
Thanks for the Cobra Head tip. My property is completely carpeted in many spots, so I usually just use a hula hoe, but maybe the cobra head will be less disruptive to the soil. It's also very rocky, which makes those bags extra heavy, as it's impossible to sift out all of the rocks. I'm very tempted to just haul the extracted weeds by wheelbarrow to dump in one remote spot on my property. But I know the wind can scatter the seeds from there. Sigh.
The nitrogen emissions angle is so underrated. Most folks dunno that we're literally fertilizing the bad guys while choking out natives that evolved for nutrient-poor soil. Spent years managing a trail near Red Rock and saw the same dynamic play out, where every fuel-burning vehicle passing by was basically feeding that green carpet of brome. That feedback loop is brutal once it takes hold.
I'm grateful for your real life example, especially since it provides the opportunity to expand on the too-brief mention. That "feedback loop" functions like a mirrored room in a house of horrors - when invasive vegetation dies back, it composts to add even more nitrogen to the soil, creating conditions that further disadvantage desert natives while boosting soil composition for invasive seedlings. As that loop spirals outward, it reverbs as acid rain, heavy metals leaching into water systems, and more. Many plant fertilizers play a role in toxic run off.
Yes, plentiful nitrogen is essential for native plants adapted to, say, leaf drop and rotting logs in deciduous forests but that's an entirely different set of natural feedbacks, unrelated to emissions. For anyone who wants to dive deeper, these are acid loving plants (low pH) unlike desert plants that thrive in high alkaline, low acid soils (high pH).
Rather than demoralizing readers into paralysis over the scope of the problem, perhaps recognition of it will motivate a little mindfulness over weeding in one's own backyard, and promote understanding of the garden products we buy (or don't). There are also opportunities for community engagement by volunteering to spend an afternoon with land conservancies removing invasives. Given this rain, I suspect chances to participate will start popping up soon.
Great article, so many sage brushes today, learned a lot. In my 8 years now out here have seen a lot of these invasives pop up on my properties. They suck and are a lot of work to clear out, with all the rain now more than ever.
What should we do about the giant tumbleweeds that blow into our property? Too large to bag.