[MAIPC] Another stiltgrass question

[Kathleen Michels]

We've had the most success when we encourage assertive deer resistant
natives to move in after we remove stiltgrass and other similar NNIs.
Otherwise other invasives just move in. It took me a decade of failed
efforts with NNIs just moving in to any available opened space to realize
this and now  we have much more native coverage

What is a bow rake?

Kathy
michelskm2016 at gmail.com

On Sat, Oct 16, 2021, 11:00 PM Heidi Allen <rundvm at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> [image: Avast logo] <https://www.avast.com/antivirus>
>
> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
> www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/antivirus>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> MAIPC mailing list
> MAIPC at lists.maipc.org
> http://lists.maipc.org/listinfo.cgi/maipc-maipc.org
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.maipc.org/pipermail/maipc-maipc.org/attachments/20211018/df4ed9b7/attachment.html>