[APWG] French Broom Removal

[Holly Sletteland]

French broom is not nearly as bad as some of the other brooms which 
supposedly can be viable for decades, but according to Boussard in The 
Invasive Plants of California Wildlands, the seeds are viable for at 
least 5 years. I received a number of private responses to my post, and 
want to say thanks to all of you.  I hope to be able to repay the favor 
by sharing some of experiences with some of you down the road.

Holly

Marc Imlay wrote:
> How many years is the seed bank for French Broom. Here in the East we are
> happy on the fourth year of removal with Japanese Stilt grass for example.
>
> marc
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: apwg-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org
> [mailto:apwg-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org] On Behalf Of Holly
> Sletteland
> Sent: Monday, October 15, 2007 10:40 PM
> To: apwg at lists.plantconservation.org; CaliforniaWeedTalk at topica.com
> Subject: [APWG] French Broom Removal
>
> We have a project scheduled to remove French Broom on a coastal preserve 
> in San Luis Obispo, California this winter. We will be removing larger 
> plants with saws  and weed wrenches and smaller plants with shovels and 
> pulaskis, as well as a few flamers. This activity is going to cause a 
> considerable amount of soil disturbance - some of which will be on 
> relatively steep slopes. Initially, I had planned to spread native grass 
> seed with straw to reduce the potential for erosion when we were through 
> working an area. However, I am having second thoughts because French 
> Broom is such a copious seed producer and its seeds are so long lived, 
> that I'm sure we're going to be going back over the same ground for 
> years. I'm thinking a non-native annual such as barley or soft chess 
> might be a more cost-effective and pragmatic approach, given that 
> whatever we plant is likely to have a hard time getting established and 
> the preserve is already dominated by European annual grasses. Do others 
> on these lists have any experience with broom removal and any advice? 
> (And my apologies to those of you who may be on both lists :-( )
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Holly Sletteland
>
>
>
>
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> Disclaimer                                                                
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>   

-- 
Holly Sletteland
Membership Coordinator
Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo County (ECOSLO)
1204 Nipomo St.
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
805.544.1777