Depths of winter

Well, I've spread jewelweed, milkweed and some crocus bulbs in the nooks and crannies of the site, as well as around the edges. It'll be interesting to see if we can compete with the knotweed and the poison ivy this year!

The bigger picture

I'm holding a handful of jewelweed seeds and some tree seed from down on River Street (about a mile up the road from the knotweed site), with the intention of spreading them at the knotweed site in the next week or two. I'm thinking of mulching right on top of the landscape fabric and putting down things like:

Ferns
Plantain
Jewelweed
Dandelion
Dogwood
Aster

Any plants that grow strong early in the spring would be terrific; please e-mail me your suggestions or post here as a comment!

Help identify these plants!

Any ideas or leads will be most helpful. Email me: blackrivercleanup(at)yahoo.com

Interesting developments!

Spent an hour at the site last week, and got lots of photos thanks to Karen Bennett's keen eye! Beneath the black landscape fabric, the knotweed seems dormant if not dead. One very sickly little tendril had squeezed up through a tear in the fabric, but there seemed to be no new growth poking up from below.

The few stalks growing up in-between the seams of the pieces of fabric were narrow, no thicker than a pencil.

I am amazed at the response of the poison ivy ~ it is all over the site, growing vigorously under the knotweed's canopy along the edges of the landscape fabric. There are a number of other hardy plants keeping it company, but I'd venture to say the knotweed site is currently "owned" by poison ivy.

We could positively identify Queen Anne's Lace (delicate, carrot-like leaves ~ NOT triangular, like Wild Chervil! ~ and a tiny purple blossom in the middle of each flower cluster. We also noted some soapwort and goldenrod, as well as the determined sumac trees.

Other plants are on site and we could really use your help identifying them!

2009 ~ Looking Ahead

Lots of things have gotten in the way of my getting over to the site this year: Town vehicles and equipment parking at the site as the Springfield road crews work on various projects; lots of rain; volunteer availability; my own time constraints with other events happening in my life.

However, I'll be visiting the site over the next week or so to take some photos of the status of things. Then we will need to pick a work-date ~ we'll need to adjust the landscape fabric that is on-site, cut the knotweed that is poking through, and place some new fabric. I think that we can get away with doing this once, maybe twice, this year.

Next year, (brace yourselves!) I am planning to start reclaiming the management site! Yes, I'm compiling a list of plants to install on the site, in our ongoing attempts to elbow out the knotweed. Here's what I have so far:

* milkweed

* jewelweed

* sumac

* ferns

What I need now is some suggestions for EARLY plants ~ things that start early in the spring, grow large leaves quickly, and can establish themselves on the site before the knotweed gets going. Let me know what you think! I'm trying to allow comments on this site, but you can email me: blackrivercleanup@yahoo.com

Contacts and COMPOST!

Over 40 people showed up on August 23rd to listen, learn, and ask questions about their favorite knotty issue. Yours Truly got up to speak about this demo site, and then other presenters led discussions on the chemical methods of dealing with the plant. On-site demonstrations were held to show folks who might not know what this plant looks like, and then how to apply the herbicides using both the backpack-sprayer method and the cut-and-dab method.

One fabulous contact I made there was Bruce Herforth, who owns and operates Compost Solutions in Weston. He does other work, and seems to be a jack-of-many-trades; he was interested in the bags of knotweed that have been sitting in my backyard since last spring, when we first cut the demo site. After bringing me out to collect some rocks donated by Gurney Brothers Construction (which we'll use to hold down the rest of the landscape tarp), Bruce and I loaded his trailer with the bags from my yard. Much to my surprise, almost all the knotweed material had been transformed into...mulch. Dirt. Just about soil!

Bruce opened a bag and dug his hand in to feel the texture. He has this to say: "Decomposed knotweed is a good source of carbon and organic matter. It can be added to a compost bin or used directly as a soil amendment. Mix one part decomposed knotweed or compost with two parts native soil to a depth of six inches."

Needless to say, I am thrilled to have the bags gone, and excited that the decomposed material inside has a use! This was just about 15 months after the knotweed was put inside the bags, green and fresh. Many thanks to Bruce -- wear your BRAT t-shirt proudly, my friend, and look for Compost Solutions on next year's model!

Bruce Herforth can be reached at 10 Landgrove Road in Weston, Vermont 05161 and via email at bwher123@yahoo.com.

Modus Operandi

Moving forward, I am planning to adjust the landscape fabric that is on-site and add more to the rest of the site. The poison ivy is going to be a problem...My thinking is that we will add soil to cover the fabric, and plant various hardy natives such as milkweed, jewelweed, and a few other beneficial plants that have a strong chance of surviving - and of coming back after a winter-ful of snow dumped on them.