We have become emboldened, and begin pulling phragmites and rhizomes from their most southeastern stronghold (far side of pond from house).
August 2011 – We Go After the Giant Patch of Phragmites
Author: Susan
H.S. Football Players Decimate Phragmites Patches
Now, you can understand why we needed the strong guys!
Summer 2011 – Slogging Through
One day, nobody was available to help, so I decided to go after a small patch of phragmites myself.
The important thing to understand, is that the more of the rhizome you can get out, which is underground, and connected to other rhizomes, the better. Imagine a giant, soggy piece of ginger root, with an eight-foot tall piece of grass attached to it.
My technique was to loosen the rhizomes with a shovel (being careful not to break off any fragments, which could root), and then see if they would pull out. If you find one that’s impossible, then work around it, removing its neighbors. In a few minutes, when you return to the stubborn one, it’s often ready to give up. All bits and pieces have to be carefully piled onto a tarp.
“Well, that doesn’t look like much!” I hear you say. However, when you get down closer, you see how big they really are. Note the skinny shovel, which can be more precise, and also lighter, that gives an idea of the scale of things.
Summer 2011 – We Have Lots of Help
The H.S. football guys found it fairly easy to dig, say, a 6-foot-tall buckthorn out of the ground, roots and all. Multiflora rose roots aren’t as deep, so they were easier (for them).
While the big guys went after the slope, Elisha and I started cutting a path through the NW corner of the pond, where several beautiful quaking aspen trees were being strangled by massive bittersweet vines.
I wish I had a photo of it, but atop the steepest part of our riprap, was a giant old multiflora rose. Its stems were easily a couple of inches thick. It was scary. We had to at least have another way of reaching this thing, aside from above!
The back acre beyond the pond is now ours, acquired through a trade with the neighbors.
Just to get a general idea of what it took to accomplish what we did in summer of 2011, here’s a partial list of who did what, and when:
6/17/11 – Kirk helping with invasives
6/18/11 – Kirk helping with invasives
6/24 -25-26/11 – Alisha, Kirk, Leon
6/1-2/11 – Alisha, Kirk
7/1/11 – Alisha
7/6/11 – Alisha, Kirk, Reggie
7/7/11 – Kirk, Reggie
7/13/11 – Kirk, Reggie, Alisha
7/19/11 – Kirk
7/20/11 – Kirk
7/25/11 – Kirk
8/2/11 – Kirk, Reggie
8/3/11 – Kirk, Reggie
8/4/11 – Kirk
8/5/11 – Jim Henderson brush hogged the back acre.
8/20/11 – Kirk, Yaseen, Justin and I pulled phragmites for 6 hours.
9/26/11 – I pick up plants at Garden in the Woods. This feels like a reward.
2011 – Work Begins in Earnest
Now that the septic system has been replaced, and the apartment is almost done, we can finally begin work in earnest, getting rid of our invasive plants!
In April 2011, we had a Public Hearing at Town Hall, where our wetlands consultant presented the necessary documents.
We are lucky to have a good friend who is knowledgeable about all kinds of shrubs and trees. We’re also fortunate to have a connection to a number of big and strong H.S. football players/weight lifters, willing to come over and help us.
My neighbor’s daughter, Elisha, and I hacked through the densest parts of our “jungle.” The centermost area of the north side of our pond, which was, ironically, not the largest patch of knotweed or phragmites, was a tangled mess of other invasives: buckthorn, autumn olive, multiflora rose, bittersweet and knotweed, and once we could see that far down, a smattering of spurge. There were also some rubrus (some sort of brambles) and grapevines all helping to knit it together. At that point in time, I could not imagine anything at all, ever growing on that slope. If nothing else, we wanted to at least create pathways, so it would be possible to access areas of infestation from various angles.
We managed to uncover what looked like a pretty decent willow, as well as the beautiful Juniperus virginiana. The latter is definitely a native. Note the brush pile in the back acre, above. We had covered the Phragmites and rhizomes already on a tarp, with another tarp, then weighted it down, because a strong tropical storm was expected, and we didn’t want anything to escape or blow away.
August 2010 – A Slight Diversion
In August of 2010, there was another “small diversion,” having the entire septic system replaced! It was interesting to see the entire front yard dug up.
Knotweed Infestation Photos – 2009
September 2009 – First Pass at Giant Knotweed Patch
In September of 2009, Steve cut a significant amount of knotweed, and carefully piled it onto tarps. He tried to get out whatever he could, both in the central area, and a couple of more isolated patches.
Here’s a good photo of what the entire knotweed area looked like. You can see a few very small holes where some had already been cut out. The work on the knotweed was in its infancy, however, it had begun!
December 2008 Snow
What I Learned During May 2008 Walk-Through
The three main concerns of invasive plants on this property are:
Phragmites, Common Reed – the grass (it can take over)
Japanese Knotweed patch (the reddish stalks). Our neighbor’s driveway also has a large patch, across the street. Put in a request, because it will need herbicide, and the timing is crucial.
Oriental Bittersweet – They had to show me what this is; at the time, I had no experience with it.
Down next to the pond, they show me an alder (speckled?) which gets about 8 feet high and leggy, they say, but it’s a good plant. Cattails in the pond are good. You can distinguish them from the phragmites because they have a wider leaf. They’re also more graceful; their leaves split away from the stalk lower. The Phragmites is narrow, roundish, grassy. On the far side of the pond is a patch of sensitive fern, a “good” plant.
On the boulder wall, there’s a blackberry type plant (rubus) with thorns; it’s good, but it gets thick. There’s also a grapevine type plant and a red maple, which are okay. Above the biggest rock toward the end where you walk down, there is an invasive honeysuckle. The little grass, sort of round-ish, is rush, it’s okay. There’s some horsetail (equisetum), which is not great, but not terrible.
On the west side of the pond, is an invasive autumn olive, a ginormous old invasive multiflora rose, and obviously, a large area of invasive phragmites (the grass). There are nice aspen, white pine and cedar trees here. Unfortunately, a huge, old bittersweet vine is growing up the aspen and choking it. The aspen is really nice, and there’s some nice blackberry here, too, they say.
I can tell, they’re trying their best to be positive and encouraging!
DECK/GARAGE
Concerning the siting of the garage/deck, it looks like we’re keeping pretty much the same footprint, except if the foundation extends out to where the end of the deck is now, instead of just where the blacktop ends now. And even then, it at least looks like we’re definitely 50 feet away from the wetlands, which is the absolute minimum, which is good. But they really like to see 100 or 70 feet, because 50 feet is just the buffer zone.
They explained, a wetlands person can be a good advocate for you, to assist with the permitting process for the immediate goals for the deck/garage, form an overall assessment and plan for the pond’s restoration, and prioritize what should be done there and how. During the permitting process, it may come down to if you’re pouring a foundation that extends right up to that 50 foot mark, or further, it can be mitigated by doing some wetlands planting and/or restoration.
Other than its site, one of the main concerns with the actual construction of the garage/deck is with water runoff and treatment of storm water runoff, so there’s not one source of water coming off of it. They would also like to see a natural exterior and no chemicals used. I’m heartened to agree with what they say, and relieved to discover we’re on the same page. It’s fascinating to find out the identify of some plants in this jungle!
Fortunately, I also know a trombone player who also happens to be a wetlands person.
