Years ago the cranberry industry thought they had a market for the
grindings left over after the harvest. They sold it as mulch.
Unfortunately the mulch was infested with dodder, a parasitic plant
that forms dense masses of yellow tendrils all over bogs - and
gardens!

A local garden center bought coreopsis plants that had been mulched
with the grindings. An around-the-corner neighbor put in five across
the front of their yard. When I noticed the dodder I tried to tell
the owner that they really should get rid of it, He never did a thing
about it, for three years his coreopsis plants were *covered* with
dodder - the idiot probably thought it was supposed to be that way.

Anyhoo, he sold the house, and the new neighbors promptly removed the
plants - must have known they were no good. This didn't happen,
however, before a nice bird dropped a present for my next-door
neighbor and me. I was out on a walk one morning and walked back
between our houses and found a huge patch, probably 10'x10'. We've
been battling it all summer, and I think we may have control of it
now. I did, however, find this poke weed stem - I've been scouring
the ground, and not looking up G
--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked
******************************

In article ,
Ann wrote:

Years ago the cranberry industry thought they had a market for the
grindings left over after the harvest. They sold it as mulch.
Unfortunately the mulch was infested with dodder, a parasitic plant
that forms dense masses of yellow tendrils all over bogs - and
gardens!

A local garden center bought coreopsis plants that had been mulched
with the grindings. An around-the-corner neighbor put in five across
the front of their yard. When I noticed the dodder I tried to tell
the owner that they really should get rid of it, He never did a thing
about it, for three years his coreopsis plants were *covered* with
dodder - the idiot probably thought it was supposed to be that way.

Anyhoo, he sold the house, and the new neighbors promptly removed the
plants - must have known they were no good. This didn't happen,
however, before a nice bird dropped a present for my next-door
neighbor and me. I was out on a walk one morning and walked back
between our houses and found a huge patch, probably 10'x10'. We've
been battling it all summer, and I think we may have control of it
now. I did, however, find this poke weed stem - I've been scouring
the ground, and not looking up G
--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked

Does Dodder make a hardy ground cover?
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

In article ,
Sj wrote:

Yes, if I'd let it strangle all the flowers
in my butterfly garden ...

Sj

I read earlier that it's a parasite...
Is it truly parasitic or just invasive?
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

On Wed, 08 Aug 2007 20:52:08 -0500, Sj wrote:

On Wed, 08 Aug 2007 19:30:08 -0400, Ann
wrote:

Years ago the cranberry industry thought they had a market for the
grindings left over after the harvest. They sold it as mulch.
Unfortunately the mulch was infested with dodder, a parasitic plant
that forms dense masses of yellow tendrils all over bogs - and
gardens!

A local garden center bought coreopsis plants that had been mulched
with the grindings. An around-the-corner neighbor put in five across
the front of their yard. When I noticed the dodder I tried to tell
the owner that they really should get rid of it, He never did a thing
about it, for three years his coreopsis plants were *covered* with
dodder - the idiot probably thought it was supposed to be that way.

Anyhoo, he sold the house, and the new neighbors promptly removed the
plants - must have known they were no good. This didn't happen,
however, before a nice bird dropped a present for my next-door
neighbor and me. I was out on a walk one morning and walked back
between our houses and found a huge patch, probably 10'x10'. We've
been battling it all summer, and I think we may have control of it
now. I did, however, find this poke weed stem - I've been scouring
the ground, and not looking up G

Oh, man ... had forgotten all about my battle w/ this stinking
parasite ... found it one year in my flower garden ... had
absolutely no idea what it was until someone identified it
for me ... a battle is right ... but eventually got rid of all
of it & had no recurrence the following year ...

Unbelievable stuff ...

Sj
Stuff really is a bane.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuscuta#Appearance

In article ,
Sj wrote:

On Fri, 10 Aug 2007 11:32:26 -0500, Omelet
wrote:

In article ,
Sj wrote:

Yes, if I'd let it strangle all the flowers
in my butterfly garden ...

Sj

I read earlier that it's a parasite...
Is it truly parasitic or just invasive?

Do some googling ... check the site joevan
mentions in his post or this one:

http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/TRA/dodder.html

I'm sure there are more ...

Sj

I followed the wiki link in the last post.

That said enough. ;-)

I have enough trouble with ball moss and mistletoe.

Thanks!
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

"Ann" wrote in message
...

Dodder! Heavens, it must be more than fifty years since I heard dodder
mentioned. I never see it these days - in Yorkshire, England.

Mary

In message , Omelet
writes

Does Dodder make a hardy ground cover?

Dodder is parasitic - a vampire menace that sucks the sap of other
plants instead of photosynthesising for itself. Here in the UK we
regard it as a curiosity: I've seen it growing wild on low heath and not
doing its hosts much harm, I've never seen it on ornamentals.

It covers other perennials rather than the ground, and it wouldn't cover
anything very well because it has no chlorophyll so it lets the light
through.

--
Sue ]

MadCow expounded:

It covers other perennials rather than the ground, and it wouldn't cover
anything very well because it has no chlorophyll so it lets the light
through.

I really should have taken a picture of it before I started to battle
it - it was a woven mass of yellow with green sprouting through. Very
odd and very determined...
--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked
******************************