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#1
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Golden Rod causing trouble
hello, after some years of intense observation I must agree that (in our
European regions) Solidago Canadensis really is a pest, it not only expels native species but also spoils soil, so other flowers will not grow in eventual gaps so could anyone from Northern America describe with a few words the concurrency of this plant with others, i. e. succession, cultivation methods, distribution and so on many thanks in advance kauhl (Lake Constance) |
#2
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kauhl-meersburg wrote in
: hello, after some years of intense observation I must agree that (in our European regions) Solidago Canadensis really is a pest, it not only expels native species but also spoils soil, so other flowers will not grow in eventual gaps so could anyone from Northern America describe with a few words the concurrency of this plant with others, i. e. succession, cultivation methods, distribution and so on many thanks in advance kauhl (Lake Constance) I live in New Mexico, where Solidago canadensis occurs, but isn't common or invasive. It grows along ditchbanks and some waterways. It is a Tallgrass Prarie plant, and generally grows with grasses and other plants that generally get over 1 meter tall. I would not be surprised if it was susceptible to a species of root mealybug that periodically decimates stands of the somewhat related Gutierrezia sarothrae. Sean |
#3
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thank you Sean, you see, in our temperate european climate golden rod
has found its optimal habitat, not only distributed by wind (like in your prairies) but also by root spreading - in the moment my strategy is eradicating it together with its roots kauhl |
#4
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In article ,
kauhl-meersburg wrote: hello, after some years of intense observation I must agree that (in our European regions) Solidago Canadensis really is a pest, it not only expels native species but also spoils soil, so other flowers will not grow in eventual gaps so could anyone from Northern America describe with a few words the concurrency of this plant with others, i. e. succession, cultivation methods, distribution and so on many thanks in advance kauhl (Lake Constance) Here in southern Ontario there are a number of native species of Solidago, and except for a few unusual ones, I can't distinguish them. Goldenrod is something of a pest here, too. It's usually seen in waste places like roadsides, railroad rights of way and other places suited to tough weeds. It's very common in disturbed ground of all kinds, and tends to take over abandoned agricultural land and poor pastures. It does well on thin and infertile soils and since farm animals won't usually eat it, it has an advantage in rough and overgrazed pastures. I'm not surprised that it's a pest in Europe, since it competes well here with other weeds, almost all of which are introduced Eurasian species. That said, goldenrod and native asters (Aster spp) provide a beautiful display of color in the fall. They are often seen growing together in disturbed sites with Eurasian grasses and tall Eurasian forbs. It's not a problem in well-managed farmland and pasture, since healthy grasses compete well with it. I've had some success in reducing its prevalence by mowing it in full bloom before it sets seed. This was on infertile sandy soil over shallow bedrock in eastern Ontario. The growing season is short there, and mowing at that stage seemed to prevent most of the plants from storing enough food to overwinter. This won't eradicate it, but it reduced its prevalence by perhaps 90% in the first year or two. If the growing season were longer, this method would be less effective. Note that fall mowing has a similar destructive effect on other late-blooming plants. The area I'm describing is about 43-46 degrees north latitude, with short warm summers and cold winters, 3-5 months frost free period, and 100-120cm of precipitation more or less evenly distributed around the year, a bit drier in summer and winter than spring and fall. Most of the area has good winter snow cover. Normal winter minimum temperatures -20 to -40C, and annual maxima usually under 35-38C. A lot depends on proximity to Lakes Huron, Erie and Ontario, which moderate temperature extremes and extend the frost free season. Most of this area is at about 100-400m elevation. I hope this helps! |
#5
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hello b a e,
that's just the reason I have posted the question that mowing before blooming didn't help, young shoots appeared manifold like cutting osier, so my method for this year will be rip out the individuals together with their roots, not great work as the plants can easily be seen and time is enough till blooming stadium - you are right the golden rod takes profit of abandoned land and in my case where I only undertake mowing those mostly damp areas only once a year that's an optimal rythm for it - taking care of those abandoned land is part of measures for preservation of wild nature / rare species and assistance of middle and late blooming flowers induces this socalled one-shearing - until now I considered blackberry as winner of plant concurrency, but referring to golden rod the game is still open - what was totally new for me that this plant also deteriorates the soil as consequence of root exudates, resulting like dense wood soil, fatal for all other flowers - so thank you very much for your sympathy and colleagual greetings from a fan of flowers and insects kauhl |
#6
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In article ,
kauhl-meersburg wrote: that's just the reason I have posted the question that mowing before blooming didn't help, young shoots appeared manifold like cutting osier, so my method for this year will be rip out the individuals together with their roots, not great work as the plants can easily be seen and time is enough till blooming stadium - Yes, mowing before blooming is counterproductive. You get shorter plants with more inflorescences at bloom time! That's why I like to cut them when they are well into bloom -- most of the the plant's resources are concentrated in the tops, and in a short season climate they don't have enough time to regenerate enough to store enough to survive the winter. Digging the plants will help a lot, but if it gets to be too much work, or too destructive to adjacent plants, you can try cutting the stalks at ground level with pruning shears, and perhaps applying a little herbicide. I don't know which herbicide would work best. Goldenrod develops a very strong root system, and the plants aren't easy to get out. you are right the golden rod takes profit of abandoned land and in my case where I only undertake mowing those mostly damp areas only once a year that's an optimal rythm for it - taking care of those abandoned land is part of measures for preservation of wild nature / rare species and assistance of middle and late blooming flowers induces this socalled one-shearing - Most of the ground cover in open areas around here is introduced Eurasian flora, both escaped pasture species and weeds. So I should be preserving the goldenrod and fighting almost everything else! until now I considered blackberry as winner of plant concurrency, but referring to golden rod the game is still open - The most persistent weeds I have in my urban garden are Campanula rapunculoides (I call it the Bellflower From Hell), garlic mustard (Alliaria officinalis), burdock (Arctium lappa), beggar's ticks (Bidens vulgata) and twitch grass (Agropyron repens). In the lawn I combat dandelions (Taraxacum officinalis) and plantain (Plantago spp), and have lost the battle with creeping charlie (Glechoma hederacea). All of these are non-natives here. One of the worst, most invasive and uncontrollable plants here is bishop's goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria) which seems to be able to compete with anything, lawn or forest floor, and is almost ineradicable. And Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife) is practically obliterating our wetlands, replacing native vegetation with solid masses of plants which support none of the native animals or their prey. what was totally new for me that this plant also deteriorates the soil as consequence of root exudates, resulting like dense wood soil, fatal for all other flowers - It does develop a solid mass of tough woody roots. I haven't noticed it preventing other plants from growing near it except by normal competition. I hadn't heard about allelopathic root exudates in this plant. Do you have more information about that? so thank you very much for your sympathy and colleagual greetings from a fan of flowers and insects Good luck to you. Let us know how it goes. Btw, goldenrod here doesn't appear to be afflicted by any particular pest or disease, as far as I know (and I don't know much). I see the occasional spittle bug and sometimes some aphids, but generally the plants are very healthy. I think its ecological role here is as a successional species for newly open areas. The climax ecosystem of southern Ontario is mixed forest, a series of transition zones between the Carolinian Forest and the Boreal Forest. There's a little Carolinian Forest in the extreme southwest and along the northwest shore of Lake Erie, but north of Lake Ni****ing, it's pretty much solid taiga. It's very interesting to see which species "drop out" of the flora where, and how the plant habit and habitat change as species approach the limits of their ranges. I suppose there at Lake Constance you can just climb a mountain and see an entire sequence like this in a very small distance! If you'd like to send me email, just delete "no-uce." from the address above. |
#7
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schreef
The most persistent weeds I have in my urban garden are Campanula rapunculoides (I call it the Bellflower From Hell), *** Good thing you are not living here, as here it is protected by law, and you should get fined for even picking a flower! PvR |
#8
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In article ,
P van Rijckevorsel wrote: schreef The most persistent weeds I have in my urban garden are Campanula rapunculoides (I call it the Bellflower From Hell), *** Good thing you are not living here, as here it is protected by law, and you should get fined for even picking a flower! PvR Gosh, that's amazing! It's a constant battle for me he Woman vs Bellflower. Mowing doesn't keep it out of the lawn. Mulching doesn't keep it out of the flower beds. I can't even get it out of the vegetable garden because it produces all these fine underground runners as fragile as bean sprouts, and every tiny bit makes a new plant. And any that set seed, set gazillions per plant. I understand the roots of the related C.rapunculus are edible, and it was once domesticated as the vegetable "rapunzel", now known mostly from the fairy tale. Maybe I should start eating them, but since we are such enemies it might try to poison me! ;-) |
#9
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hello bae (I take this for your name),
give me some time to answer seriously your well-grounded details, it's just too unexpected reading golden rod has to be protected against eurasian invaders, I must at first realize it and then I'll come back - for the moment it's an interesting challenge to just find out the statistical number of digged out stalks over regrowing ones to reduce them gradually - cutting in any form and at any time does not prevent regeneration in our modest climate - concerning allelopathy I agree this phenomenon is rarely treated but I promise you to dig out my files regarding this topic (for a quick commentary it's to hard for me to translate it comprehensibly) - just one try: "over the years golden rod establishes widespread clones of vegetatively produced sprouts (rametes), which over a long time are in relation one to another to exchange water and nutritive material" (you got it?) - and again a source in literatu Werner/Bradbury/Gross, the biology of canadian weeds 45.solidago canadensis L. - Can. J. Plant Sci. 60, 1393 - 1409 - could you get a copy? so much for today, meanwhile greetings from a beekeeper (among other) kauhl |
#10
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schreef
Gosh, that's amazing! It's a constant battle for me he Woman vs Bellflower. Mowing doesn't keep it out of the lawn. Mulching doesn't keep it out of the flower beds. I can't even get it out of the vegetable garden because it produces all these fine underground runners as fragile as bean sprouts, and every tiny bit makes a new plant. And any that set seed, set gazillions per plant. I understand the roots of the related C.rapunculus are edible, and it was once domesticated as the vegetable "rapunzel", now known mostly from the fairy tale. Maybe I should start eating them, but since we are such enemies it might try to poison me! ;-) *** Actually it is not extremely rare here, but some of the /Campanula/'s are, and the government decided it was easier to protect all of them rather than only some. Neither the general public nor the police are all that likely to be able to tell them apart. PvR I am just now reading a little about /Amherstia nobilis/, a species that is presumed to be extinct in the wild, but extremely widely planted. Something of a paradox there, and not an isolated case. |
#11
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In article ,
kauhl-meersburg wrote: hello bae (I take this for your name), It's my initials. In this context I am embarrassed to admit that my surname is Erlebacher, because my German is so minimal (also my French). give me some time to answer seriously your well-grounded details, it's just too unexpected reading golden rod has to be protected against eurasian invaders, I must at first realize it and then I'll come back - I don't think I have been clear enough for someone who is not a native English speaker. I was trying to make a joke -- imagining us, each with a piece of land covered with similar flora, you trying to get the American invaders out to protect the European plants, and me trying to get the Eurasian plants out to protect the American one! Goldenrod competes well with even the more invasive Eurasian flora here, so I am not surprised it can be a pest in Europe. for the moment it's an interesting challenge to just find out the statistical number of digged out stalks over regrowing ones to reduce them gradually - cutting in any form and at any time does not prevent regeneration in our modest climate - Yes. Please let me know how this works out for you. Of course, goldenrod produces a lot of seed, so even if you prevent your plants from blooming, there will be a lot of seed already in the soil and blowing in from elsewhere. concerning allelopathy I agree this phenomenon is rarely treated but I promise you to dig out my files regarding this topic (for a quick commentary it's to hard for me to translate it comprehensibly) - just one try: "over the years golden rod establishes widespread clones of vegetatively produced sprouts (rametes), which over a long time are in relation one to another to exchange water and nutritive material" (you got it?) - Yes. It spreads vegetatively, making large patches of many plants which can assist each other by exchanging food and water. You may be able to use this to your benefit, since herbicides may be spread by this method: applying herbicide to the large, visible plants, may also kill the smaller ones that are harder to find. and again a source in literatu Werner/Bradbury/Gross, the biology of canadian weeds 45.solidago canadensis L. - Can. J. Plant Sci. 60, 1393 - 1409 - could you get a copy? Yes. I'll look it up when I get a chance. so much for today, meanwhile greetings from a beekeeper (among other) As a beekeeper you may not want to be such an enemy of goldenrod. It's a very good honey plant. In eastern Ontario beekeepers take off all the honey when the goldenrod begins to bloom, and the bees fill their hives with winter stores of goldenrod honey. It's a dark amber honey with a strong, but not unpleasant taste. (I kept bees for a few years, but got tired of competing with the black bears.) |
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