[APWG] What about native grass and herbaceous perennial colonizers?

[Ty Harrison]

I agree with Craig regarding seeding native  perennial forest grasses and 
forbs after exotic removal to lessen re-establishment of exotics of all 
kinds.  I was interested in the utility of native Elymus species in weed 
suppression.  I have notes here in northern Utah that Elymus glaucus is an 
important understory species in our Quercus gambellii stands and may help 
exclude exotic annuals by allelopathy.  I would appreciate published 
references on allelopathic chemicals in native Elymus species.  Ty Harrison
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Craig Dremann - Redwood City Seed Company" <Craig at astreet.com>
To: <ialm at erols.com>; <apwg at lists.plantconservation.org>
Cc: <rwg at lists.plantconservation.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 9:13 AM
Subject: [APWG] What about native grass and herbaceous perennial colonizers?


> Dear Marc and All,
>
> You mention that when you are doing your weeding in Maryland and want
> indigenous early succession species, you are mentioning non-grass species?
>
> What about the native perennial forest grasses and herbaceous perennials
> that we saw at the Great Falls National Park in Maryland when I was out
> teaching classes to DELDOT in 2000, or the other native grasses like the
> Little Bluestem that I saw growing along the BWI Parkway in places?
>
> The Elymus or Wild Ryes that have been so successful here in the West, and
> in the forests of the East, a pinch of local seeds of the Canadian and
> Virginia wild ryes should be sown in every spot where you pull a weed.
> These wild ryes are strongly allelopathic, giving off natural herbicides
> that will suppress the resprouting of weeds seeds that may still be in the
> soil wherever you have already weeded.
>
> Sowing in wild ryes immediately after weeding an area, is like putting in
> permanent weed seed suppression workers, plus they help start the natural
> succession. The switchgrass, little bluestem, indiangrass and gama grasses
> would do the same thing, but the seed for the wild rye would be the
> cheapest and easiest to start with, then you could graduate to the more
> expensive grasses once you get the wild ryes figured out.
>
> Also, everyone should look at the herbaceous perennials, like DELDOT did
> over a decade ago, that you can read at
> http://www.ecoseeds.com/deldot.html when I did a class for them on
> roadside native plants.  It might be interesting to go back and view the
> DELDOT plantings, and see what worked after a decade?
>
> The weeders of the East coast, should be looking at replanting all of the
> non-tree and non-shrub forest understory plants that should be there in
> your Eastern forests, like the sunflower family which will produce the
> cheapest seeds like the goldenrods and rudbeckias, which at the same time
> are very excellent weed killers.
>
> Also try the legume family, the Claytonia which is a very strong
> allelopathic plant and a good weed killer,  and try all of the
> Eupatoriums, the milkweed, and the mint family.
>
> And do not forget two other strong weed killer of Maryland, the Blue Eyed
> grass or Sisyrinchium and the native violets that will have to be planted
> as plugs.  And the frosting on the cake would be to replant a few Silenes
> or some Shooting stars around your restoration sites, in the proper places
> for them.
>
> Once you surround your weeding efforts with 99% cover of these local
> native grasses and native herbaceous plants, they can permanently suppress
> the weed seeds from ever germinating, and that is very useful to protect
> the spots where you have weeded already.
>
> I hope this information is useful for the East Coast weeders reading this
> list, and this method would work for anywhere in the world where you are
> weeding out exotic plants, and want to end up with a weed-free local
> ecosystem as the end product.
>
> We need to go from weeding, to restoring 99% cover native grass and
> herbaceous perennial understories that can help keep the weeds from ever
> coming back.
>
> Sincerely,  Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333
>
>
>
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