[MAIPC] [External] Slate Article on Japanese Knotweed

Thu May 9 13:15:25 PDT 2019

Hi!

Many plants make flowers that never produce seeds, but we did find many that had tons of seeds. We tried to germinate seeds and it didn't work at all. I also have no experience finding seedlings in nature though we saw tons of seeds on some plants.  I'm not aware of others that have been able to grow them from seeds, but I haven't looked very hard.

I'm sure that probably the hybrids (between R. japonica and R. sachilinensis originally, but now called R. x bohemica) can make a ton of pollen (our R. japonica is only female), but they have also plenty of resources, they don't need a reason to make pollen or seeds. Thinking "it would not be worth it to the plant ecologically speaking to bother producing seeds if not for some season where it would be beneficial" is ignoring the reality of the plant. There's no reason not to make seeds and pollen even if almost all of them are not successful. It seems spread by rhizome works REALLY well, AND they are not limited by resources so can be truly wasteful in terms of producing pollen and seed. If only some small fraction is ever successful it can have hardly any or even no benefit when the plant is so successful at clonal spread. In essence, it doesn't have to be efficient. They make pollen and seeds because they can. Maybe sometimes it could be evolutionarily beneficial, but probably not required.

Does that make sense?

Christina Richards, Ph.D.
MOPGA-GRI scholar
University of Tübingen
Plant Evolutionary Ecology group
Auf der Morgenstelle 5
D-72076 Tübingen

Associate professor
University of South Florida
Department of Integrative Biology
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________________________________
From: Melissa Bravo <bravomelissa at yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 9, 2019 1:17 PM
To: MAIPC Listserve; Richards, Christina; Muth, Norris (MUTH)
Subject: Re: [MAIPC] [External] Slate Article on Japanese Knotweed

? I see pollen production on knotweed at my place, the bees love it. And I've always seen seed pods - so it would not be worth it to the plant ecologically speaking to bother producing seeds if not for some season where it would be beneficial  - - seasonal triggers often do not get captured in one year, two year small site studies..

but I did not read the article... just two -centencing- here lol.

Melissa A. Bravo, M.S. CCA, Agronomist
Meadow Lake Farm Consulting Services 814-574-4067 / bravomelissa at yahoo.com

On Thursday, May 9, 2019, 12:50:22 PM EDT, Muth, Norris (MUTH) <MUTH at juniata.edu> wrote:

There’s some knotweed hybridization which implies at least pollen production - and quite likely seed production. But the lack of genetic variability argues for clonal spread only. It’s sort of a similar story to Phragmites australis. Christina Richards - cited in the article - would likely know for sure.

What do you say Dr. Richards? Viable seed production at all?

—
Norris Z. Muth, Ph.D.
(he/him/his)
Juniata College
muthlab.org

________________________________
From: MAIPC <maipc-bounces at lists.maipc.org> on behalf of Rohrbaugh, Andrew <anrohrbaug at pa.gov>
Sent: Thursday, May 9, 2019 11:53 AM
To: MAIPC Listserve
Subject: Re: [MAIPC] [External] Slate Article on Japanese Knotweed

I don’t think there’s much evidence of seed production, although I recall someone studying the genetics of knotweed- Norris, do you recall that study?

Knotweed is difficult to kill, but there’s some tricks to it (mowing it down first, letting it regrow, then spraying it)… and you have to keep after the patches. It’s got a really strong root system, and once it gets started in a disturbed area (due to a root fragment moving in during disturbance) subsequent disturbances make it hard to get other species established.

Andrew Rohrbaugh | Botanist

Pennsylvania Department of Conservation & Natural Resources
Bureau of Forestry | Ecological Services Section

PO Box 8552, 400 Market St, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8552
Phone: 717.705.2823 | Fax: 717.772.0271
anrohrbaug at pa.gov

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From: MAIPC [mailto:maipc-bounces at lists.maipc.org] On Behalf Of frazmo
Sent: Thursday, May 09, 2019 11:41 AM
To: MAIPC Listserve <maipc at lists.maipc.org>
Subject: [External] [MAIPC] Slate Article on Japanese Knotweed

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Read this article if you want to experience real terror...

https://slate.com/technology/2019/05/japanese-knotweed-invasive-plants.html<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fslate.com%2Ftechnology%2F2019%2F05%2Fjapanese-knotweed-invasive-plants.html&data=02%7C01%7Cclr%40usf.edu%7C087f62fd4f204f018c4908d6d4a23ff7%7C741bf7dee2e546df8d6782607df9deaa%7C0%7C0%7C636930190653737646&sdata=Rf5sWACcjnFqyqPNHrYaWnXaKatTtjbutf7tCzti4jk%3D&reserved=0>

And two questions for possible discussion:

1. Do MAIPC listserv readers find JK as hard to kill as described in the article?

2. I have seen isolated plants come up in some odd places. Does anyone know whether there is any evidence of JK spreading by seeds in our mid-Atlantic area?

Cheers,   Steve Young, Arlington VA volunteer

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