[MAIPC] Another stiltgrass question

[Heidi Allen]

I am having good succes and it is hard to hear the number of people who
struggle with stitlgrass when I have more problems with mile-a-minute and
garlic mustard.  I am wondering if it is me or the park. Or maybe both.

Similar to Marc’s comment, I often need about 3 years before I feel that I
am winning the battle, but if I count the bags being removed it is obvious
that they are decreasing.

The park I am currently working in is a 150 acre park with both wooded, dry
uplands with minimal stiltgrass and lowland flood zones that are densely
covered. We surround a couple of athletic fields and an elementary school.
The park is into a community and there are several drainage streams from
the community’s roadways. We have a fairly acidic, clay based soil and a
healthy forrest with a decent amount of shade in many areas.  We also have
a large and very diverse native seed load so planting is often not
required.

The program I use is a 2-3 year mass removal where I do not care about
getting every single plant, instead we focus on dropping the seed low in
the most efficient way possible. After 2-3 years we can start to pick spots
where we can clear the stiltgrass and by year  6-7 we are removing only a
scattered amount if that. Recently I started to use a bow rake which
appears to remove 95% of plants if not more and has increased our success
rate. The rakes seem to work best if you wait until mid to late August to
use and they have minimal effect on most native plants.

I also try to let an area rest in between removal time periods - removing
some of the plants and then going back 6-12 months later to do more
removal. This seems to allow our native plants more time to grow and
reproduce.

Of course, I am making a lot of assumptions in all of this.

Thanks for your guidance.

-- 
Heidi

On October 16, 2021 at 10:11:09 PM, Randall, Johnny (jrandall at email.unc.edu)
wrote:

Heidi and others. I think there are too many variables to consider on
stiltgrass invasion and persistence to answer your questions. Removal in
areas where it is infrequently (re)introduced (outside of floodways) is a
viable solution. It’s a C-4 grass which gives it the
physiological/anatomical potential to persist in uplands unless it is
removed before going to seed.



Johnny Randall



*From:* MAIPC <maipc-bounces at lists.maipc.org> *On Behalf Of *Marc Imlay
*Sent:* Saturday, October 16, 2021 10:03 PM
*To:* 'Heidi Allen' <rundvm at gmail.com>; 'MAIPC Listserve' <
maipc at lists.maipc.org>
*Subject:* Re: [MAIPC] Another stiltgrass question



Before stiltgrass has moved in too fast into my park from elsewhere, I
found if I removed it all for 3 years, by the 4th year I was finally happy.
Marc



*From:* MAIPC <maipc-bounces at lists.maipc.org> *On Behalf Of *Heidi Allen
*Sent:* Saturday, October 16, 2021 2:24 PM
*To:* MAIPC Listserve <maipc at lists.maipc.org>
*Subject:* [MAIPC] Another stiltgrass question



I know there have been several discussions about stiltgrass and I apologize
if I have missed some information. But, I am trying to figure out the
difference between my volunteer site and other volunteer’s success in
removing stiltgrass.



Besides shade, soil characteristics (pH, moisture, etc. ), and deer
browsing has anyone looked into the  habitat restoration plan or the native
seed bank to see if there is an effect upon % of stiltgrass seeds that
germinate, survival rate of seeds, and growth rate of the stiltgrass?

 I am specifically wondering about the following items:

1) The number of native seeds, not type of seeds.

2) the process of invasive removal - either removing all invasive plants in
one year (repeating as needed) or a staging process over several years -
bushes, vines, forbs, other graminoids, then stiltgrass.

3) Planting native plants (plugs and quart sized plants) vs  doing nothing
vs using a seed mix.



I appreciate my guidance people can provide.

-- 
Heidi


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