Invasive reed plant

Adirondackgal · #1 07/12/14, 06:43 PM

The property where we are going to build our house looks like it has invasive reed plants. Part of the property is wetland. I have looked on the internet about getting rid of the plants. The suggestion is Roundup or Rodeo. I really don't want to use chemicals. Do you think vinegar would work?

haypoint · #2 07/12/14, 06:54 PM

No. Vinegar and salt works on some lawn and garden weeds. But a swamp full of fast growing grasses isn't going to be harmed, unless you used barrels of
Acetic acid and big bags of sodium chloride in quantities large enough to prevent desired vegetation from growing.

Some states prevent you from disturbing a wetland area, even one destroyed by an invasive grass.

Cash · #3 07/12/14, 07:19 PM

Don't know where you live, but many states have very strong environmental laws and regulations concerning wetlands. If the wetland on your property has been mapped by the state environmental protection agency or federal Soil and Water Conservation District, you probably can't touch it.

Adirondackgal · #4 07/12/14, 07:58 PM

Thanks for your responses. No, I wouldn't touch the wetlands, but some of it on our property outside of the wetlands I would love to get rid of. Does anyone else have any of this annoying plant on their property?

Brighton · #5 07/12/14, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adirondackgal

Thanks for your responses. No, I wouldn't touch the wetlands, but some of it on our property outside of the wetlands I would love to get rid of. Does anyone else have any of this annoying plant on their property?

Are you talking about Cattails otherwise, pictures would be very helpful.

dizzy · #6 07/12/14, 08:03 PM

W/out knowing what you have, we can't really say if we have it or not. The plant that comes to my mind is phragmites. Here's some info on controlling it. http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/...life/phrag.asp

1948CaseVAI · #7 07/13/14, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cash

Don't know where you live, but many states have very strong environmental laws and regulations concerning wetlands. If the wetland on your property has been mapped by the state environmental protection agency or federal Soil and Water Conservation District, you probably can't touch it.

That is exactly why, unless the area is highly visible from a public road, you do not ask permission to do things on property that you own, particularly if the area in question is relatively small.

Harry Chickpea · #8 07/13/14, 11:06 AM

FWIW, vinegar IS a chemical.

tab · #9 07/13/14, 12:46 PM

If this is the same weed that taking over ALL of the native cattails, including on our property, am not sure how to control it. Mowing helps somewhat but many of the areas it grows in cannot be mowed. I cannot find the exact name of it but it grows by the hundreds of miles along the intetstates, at least in central and northern NY. Native species, such as muskrat that eat cattails, cannot eat this crap.

I have an area that has been mowed continuously for three years and this stuff still grows and grows quickly.

Along with the wild parsnip, emerald ash borer, zebra mussels, and a whole host of other invasive species, the landscape is changing. I now have to be careful when mowing by the roadside because the parsnip burns as in blisters. It is amazing, not in a good way, how fast this stuff spreads.

Use Less · #10 07/13/14, 01:31 PM

I'll speculate you mean Japanese knotweed. It's growing rampant in much of NYS. It doesn't take much to get new plants going, crowds out native plants, especially along waterways, and is not eaten by local animal species. Mowing it down a few years running and before it seeds, or burning it off a few times seems to reduce/remove it from specific smallish spots. You can't dig it up to eradicate; only takes bits of root to regenerate, though digging might reduce it. Wetlands of quite-small size are protected in NYS, so poisons nearby, (including salt?) may be contra-indicated. I'd be inclined to talk to the agent at the Cornell Cooperative or to someone in plant removal at the DEC. I'd want that stuff gone, too, if it found it's way to my land.

fireweed farm · #11 07/13/14, 03:33 PM

Before anyone else give an answer for a plant they haven't got an ID on, hopw about posting a pic, so you can get useful info?

If it's wet ground little else may grow there and you might be happy to have green instead of dust when it's dry- OR maybe mowing and reseeding better plants will be the trick. Get an ID first.