What's Your [Least] Favorite Invasive Plant

No, it doesn't look like one. That's another plant I was referring to. I don't have a photo of it.

Uh, after seeing AD mention the Kudzu last year, I asked around a bit and I've been told that the patch of Kudzu was very small and it was eliminated several years ago. Here's a report about it.

http://www.nwcb.wa.gov/weed_info/Pueraria_lobata.html

Geographic Distribution: Kudzu is native to Japan and was introduced into the United States in 1876. Distribution within the United States extends from Connecticut to Missouri and Oklahoma, south to Texas and Florida (USDA Plants Database, 2000). There are three confirmed sites in the Portland metropolitan area of Oregon (Butler, 2001) and one recently discovered site in Clark County, Washington (Hendrickson, 2001)

Washington Site: Four plants covering less than 1000 feet were discovered on private property in Vancouver, Washington (Clark County). Property is adjacent to a forested site owned by Bonneville Power Administration, Ross Complex (Hendrickson, 2001). Location details are with the Clark County Noxious Weed Control Board and the Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board.

Washington site history: Kudzu infestation first brought to the attention of the Clark County Noxious Weed Control Board in September 2001. Four plants covering 1,000 feet were located. Vines were removed by hand and bagged. Four root crowns located were treated with Garlon 4 undiluted to each cut stem at the root crown. Treated root crowns were marked with stakes to aid in future location. Bagged vegetation was sent to a landfill. Adjacent property was surveyed for additional plants but none were found. (Additional details: Clark County and State Noxious Weed Control Board files)

If only other plants could have been taken care of so neatly!

Now this is an interesting thread.

Susy - you should have a company that does research. The stuff you find is amazing.
I'm amazed that they treated cut stems rather than removing them. It must be difficult to dig up.

Wild cucumber. Hunh.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/994228/

I also think it is a member of the Curcubitae, the cucumber and squash family.....

One article I saw claimed it a gourd. Makes total since now. Well, get to spend this weekend ripping out more blackberries & 'wild cucumber'. Pretty, shame it can't control itself. lol

NO KUDZU here please, have enough weeds to rip out. Some over 3ft high now, thanks to the warm weather & rain! ^_^

Cheryl ~ Pea

Wow! I never would have guessed that one.

Lol, Kathy, I can't help it- it's in my genes-my mom's great-aunt was one of the first woman to head a major metropolitan library- Minneapolis Public Library, back around the early 1900's.....My mom carries it much more strongly than I do, though....thank heavens....still, this wasn't a hard search really...

Maybe kudzu is one of those that can re-root from any broken stem or root piece. If that's the case, leaving it intact would be smart.

Hunh.. wild cucumber. I'll bet that's what I've got starting too. Looks exactly like some sort of squash vine and I couldn't figure out how I got one where it sprouted. Wonder where it came from. Well, that's going away before it gets any bigger!

That Kudzu makes all my weeds look fairly tame in comparison, even Himalayan blackberries.

I actually do have some favorite weeds. Really I do. One is scarlet pimpernel, which is a fairly mild mannered creeper with pretty orange flowers. I even transplanted it to use as ground cover in a garden area I wasn't going to be able to get to for a while. Now I do have more than I really want popping up in the garden, but it is really easy to pull. The other is Queen Ann's lace, which appeared in my yard all by itself several years ago ( I did not import any contraband seed from Judi). It has a lovely flower. I like the form, and it lives with its neighbors quite amicably, not choking them out with vegetation. Yes, I have numerous offspring that need to be pulled regularly, but this is fairly easy to do.

I have a question - if QAL pops up in areas that are not tended by a gardener, can it take over and squeeze out native vegetation? That's my dilemma.

I think that it has done that in some areas. My impression of it is that it's seeds travel a fair distance from the plant and readily makes new ones. My mom loves that stuff and let it grow where ever it wanted to at the place where I grew up. It never dominated a bed, but it appeared randomly all over the yard.

In the area i live, it tends to grow in small groups (3'x4') in the roadside ditches. these groups are few & far between. I would imagine that if it's inclination is to cover an area that we'd be seeing swaths of it. Not the case for the past 25+ years.
Again - I think many of the "invasives" are designated as such when they take over an area, and they do so when the conditions are optimal.