[MAIPC] Lespedeza cuneata

[Stephen Hiltner]

Found your email in my spam folder. Here's a link to a 2002 Morning Call
article describing the planting of Chinese bushclover (sericea lespedeza)
by the Pennsylvania Game Commission.


http://articles.mcall.com/2003-11-02/features/3508485_1_lands-management-game-lands-appalachian-trail

> Dave Mitchell, the commission's Lehigh Valley land manager, said clover
> fields provide excellent forage for deer and bear and attract hordes of
> insects important to wild turkeys and other birds. Once planted, clover
> fields are also quite easy to maintain, said Mitchell, explaining that they
> need only be limed and fertilized once a year. Commission workers limed and
> fertilized more than 6,200 acres of food plots during fiscal 2002.
>
> During the same period, the commission mowed more than 14,000 acres of
> game lands to maintain high-quality grasses and legumes. One such field was
> clearly marked on Game Lands No. 110 with a sign sericea lespedeza, the
> scientific name for Chinese bush clover. This perennial legume, native to
> eastern Asia, is resistant to drought and insects and can grow in poor
> soil. It has high levels of crude protein and is an important source of
> winter food for deer, quail, small rodents and other animals. Its tall,
> bushy stalks also provide important cover and nesting habitat for species
> such as cottontail rabbits and quail.


On Thu, Sep 15, 2016 at 7:02 AM, Richard Gardner <rtgardner3 at yahoo.com>
wrote:

> L. cuneata is apparently one of the gifts of the Pennsylvania Game
> Commission. I have given up trying to pull it up as it is almost everywhere
> I walk. I heard that it was planted as "game food", but the shell of the
> seed is too hard to digest. So, birds can have full crops while starving to
> death. I am still trying to figure out why the PGC is planting apples and
> pears in land it controls. Neither is a native food.
>
> There is a large portfolio of disasters like this gifted to us by the PGC
> in SGL 217 just "north" of the Allentown shelter on the Appalachian Trail
> along the border of Lehigh and Schuylkill counties. Among these disastrous
> gifts are hybrid chestnuts (part of this year's research) and sawtooth oak.
> It is an easy walk from the parking lot at the top of Blue Mountain where
> Blue Mountain House Road becomes Fort Franklin Road. (Last year I
> obliterated a perilla infestation here by pulling up all the plants I could
> find.) There is an upland bog in this area I can send GPS points for if
> anyone is interested.
>
> After leaf drop I will be doing a vernal pond survey along the Appalachian
> Trail and nearby trails from just south of Rt. 183 (Bethel Twp.) to
> Northkill Road (Upper Bern Twp.) My expectation is a minimum of 6 to 10
> vernal ponds will be found.
>
> I have begun collecting burrs from native Castanea dentata (not the hybrid
> disasters) on trails near home. Suggestions for how to plant these are
> welcome. I am also in the process of doing a physiological comparison
> between native, hybrid and non-native chestnuts.
>
>
>                                            Richard Gardner
>
>
>
>
>
> Our dog Sir Isaac Newton for president. Clearly, the people's choice!
>
> --------------------------------------------
> On Wed, 9/14/16, John Ambler <john.ambler at verizon.net> wrote:
>
>  Subject: [MAIPC] Lespedeza cuneata
>  To: maipc at lists.maipc.org
>  Date: Wednesday, September 14, 2016, 2:22 PM
>
>  In Lancaster County (PA)
>  Central Park a series of native wildflower meadows were
>  planted some years ago with seed collected from the
>  county.  In one meadow apparently Lespedeza
>  cuneata (Chinese bushclover) was included in the seed
>  mix when seed was collectedalong the Susquehanna River,
>  probably at Lock 12, near Holtwood Bridge on PA372.  One meadow has a
> large patch
>  (maybe 100x200 ft.?) of Lespedeza cuneata growing
>  vigorously among other plants.  There is some spread by
>  mowing along the edge of the meadow, and it has been found
>  in two of the other meadows at some distance from the main
>  infestation.
>   Ideally it would
>  be controlled by cutting with brush blade in August before
>  seeds mature followed by treatment of the cut stem.
>  Brushing stem with glyphosate concentrate in early June when
>  the stems are easily found also is effective.  However, volunteers are not
>  allowed to use power tools or herbicide.  The park
>  wishes to mow the meadows for woody plant control in the
>  fall, a time that works into their schedule and the ground
>  may not be too wet.  (Others recommend cutting at the
>  beginning of April to minimize damage to overwintering
>  butterflies.)
>   Mowing will
>  rapidly spread the Lespedeza cuneata, which will
>  seriously degrade the meadows.  Also it will favor
>  wider spread, e.g., downstream via the nearby Mill Creek (a
>  small river).
>   Could anyone
>  with experience with Lespedeza cuneata comment on its
>  invasiveness?  I see from EDDMapS that there are a lot
>  of reports of it in New Jersey, so someone must be worried
>  about it there.
>   John
>  AmblerLancaster,
>  PA
>  -----Inline Attachment Follows-----
>
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