Wapsi Square Forum

TazManiac wrote:You guys got the invasive plant problem waaaay to easy. Here in Base Camp #2 (Northern California 'Country') the stuff that creeps everywhere is either Blackberry (complete w/ viscous thorns) & Poison Oak (different from P. Ivy, of which there is some of that too...).

You can't really deal with it by any other means than spade-shovel and get the big root out.

I wonder if Castela will now be slightly towering over her same age compatriots...

...you've never seen kudzu, have you?

TazManiac wrote:You guys got the invasive plant problem waaaay to easy. Here in Base Camp #2 (Northern California 'Country') the stuff that creeps everywhere is either Blackberry (complete w/ viscous thorns) & Poison Oak (different from P. Ivy, of which there is some of that too...).

You can't really deal with it by any other means than spade-shovel and get the big root out.

Blackberries can be pulled. Up here we have himalayan and evergreen blackberries . . . plus japanese knotweed. And periodically a kudzu growth shows up . . . the state jumps on that hard! The others have naturalized, though . . .

Not much kills japanese knotweed . . . live steam injected into the ground . . . the strongest nonselective herbicides . . . mowing every week for 10 years, then drying and burning the clippings . . . and the roots go down 10 feet or more!

--FreeFlier

GlytchMeister wrote:Mint heals like deadpool. At mom's old house, she and I would spend all day pulling all of the mint out of her garden. We'd also dig through the dirt to remove what root leftovers we could find.

Sure enough, the damn plants were back with a vengeance like nothing ever happened.

Forget invasive plants - make damn sure you want asparagus or strawberries in perpetuity before you plant them.

One year my dad decided to put in an entirely new garden; he got the guy from the dairy farm across the street to being his big disc harrow and thoroughly work the ground - i think he went across it in different directions two or three times.

Everything was chopped to Teeny Tiny Bits.

Next year? Asparagus and strawberries, right in the same place.

"Did you miss us, boss?"

The rows weren't quite as tidy as they'd been, though, i do have to say that.

FreeFlier wrote:And periodically a kudzu growth shows up . . . the state jumps on that hard!

I can't recall - where are you?

Must be at or above the Mason-Dixon if it's possible to knock out kudzu that only shows up "periodically".

Kudzu is a deathshroud. It is the closest thing to an apocalyptic "green goo" scenario we've gotten to so far.

It grows over and sun-chokes entire forests.

You can see it grow just by staring at it.

If it went any faster, it would be considered a predator.

GlytchMeister wrote:Kudzu is a deathshroud. It is the closest thing to an apocalyptic "green goo" scenario we've gotten to so far.

It grows over and sun-chokes entire forests.

You can see it grow just by staring at it.

If it went any faster, it would be considered a predator.

Way back in 1977, i was riding the (then-still-Southern Rwy) Crescent to New Orleans for a friend's wedding.

I was in the observation car dome and i was chatting with a couple of Brits, whop had bought a ninety-day rail pass that let them ride basically anywhere in the US.

They were asking me about things they saw, and one pointed to a large swath of kudzu and asked, and also inquired as to what were the things we could see under it.

"Well, i said. Those two vertical-column thingies are power poles, the kudzu-covered horizontal bridge between them is the powerlines.

"The diagonals are the poles' guy wires.

"That big squarish mass looks as if it was a barn when that was part of a working farm.."

I let it trail off.

"And what are those mounded areas there there and there?"

"Oh," i said, looking a bit aside, "those are probably slow cows."

For about half a minute they almost believed me.

===============

A really big field of the stuff in far-Southern April growing conditions looks as if it might.

We have plenty of it around here if anyone needs some. It also makes some very good jelly and syrup. http://www.thekitchn.com/did-you-know-y ... udzu-92488

AnotherFairportfan wrote:

FreeFlier wrote:And periodically a kudzu growth shows up . . . the state jumps on that hard!

I can't recall - where are you?

Must be at or above the Mason-Dixon if it's possible to knock out kudzu that only shows up "periodically".

Seattle area. Conditions are fairly good for kudzu, but it's never gotten established and there are no adjacent vectors.

In at least one case, some moron brought it in intentionally.

--FreeFlier

Well, if you have Kudzu, then nobody in your area should be hungry.

FreeFlier wrote:

AnotherFairportfan wrote:

FreeFlier wrote:And periodically a kudzu growth shows up . . . the state jumps on that hard!

I can't recall - where are you?

Must be at or above the Mason-Dixon if it's possible to knock out kudzu that only shows up "periodically".

Seattle area. Conditions are fairly good for kudzu, but it's never gotten established and there are no adjacent vectors.

In at least one case, some moron brought it in intentionally.

--FreeFlier

Climate's too cool overall - the stuff dies back to the root at the first real frost.

FreeFlier wrote:And periodically a kudzu growth shows up . . . the state jumps on that hard!

AnotherFairportfan wrote:I can't recall - where are you?

Must be at or above the Mason-Dixon if it's possible to knock out kudzu that only shows up "periodically".

FreeFlier wrote:Seattle area. Conditions are fairly good for kudzu, but it's never gotten established and there are no adjacent vectors.

In at least one case, some moron brought it in intentionally.

AnotherFairportfan wrote:Climate's too cool overall - the stuff dies back to the root at the first real frost.

Seattle seldom has "real" frosts. The last time that comes to mind is the winter 2008/2009. It was clear down below freezing for two weeks . . . and everyone complains mightily when it gets all the way down to freezing.

It's possible for kudzu to establish here, especially if it finds one of the 'banana belt' pockets that virtually never freeze.

Plus the easiest time to eradicate it is before it becomes established.

Now inland, that's a different story . . . east of the Cascade Mountains it freezes hard for weeks or months every winter.

--FreeFlier

FreeFlier wrote:

TazManiac wrote:You guys got the invasive plant problem waaaay to easy. Here in Base Camp #2 (Northern California 'Country') the stuff that creeps everywhere is either Blackberry (complete w/ viscous thorns) & Poison Oak (different from P. Ivy, of which there is some of that too...).

You can't really deal with it by any other means than spade-shovel and get the big root out.

Blackberries can be pulled. Up here we have himalayan and evergreen blackberries . . . plus japanese knotweed. And periodically a kudzu growth shows up . . . the state jumps on that hard! The others have naturalized, though . . .

Not much kills japanese knotweed . . . live steam injected into the ground . . . the strongest nonselective herbicides . . . mowing every week for 10 years, then drying and burning the clippings . . . and the roots go down 10 feet or more!

--FreeFlier

It's Bermuda grass, ragweed, and poison ivy, here in Kansas. Bamboo and various foreign tall grasses can also be quite the problem. But ragweed is the only one tha really approaches kudzu levels.

The poison ivy sticks to riverbanks, creekshores, ditches, and wooded areas.

I've also heard of a few neighborhoods in the Wichita area having issues with some variety winter-hearty cholla cactus. The stuff grows like vines and the needles pierce right through leather gloves. I've had to handle it before. I used a vice wrench on a wide setting to grab it.

Gyrrakavian wrote: . . . I've also heard of a few neighborhoods in the Wichita area having issues with some variety winter-hearty cholla cactus. The stuff grows like vines and the needles pierce right through leather gloves. I've had to handle it before. I used a vice wrench on a wide setting to grab it.

I can believe that . . . there are cacti growing wild in eastern Washington.

In the southwest, ranchers will burn the spines off prickly pear with a flamethrower so the cattle can eat it. Apparently the cattle like it.

--FreeFlier

FreeFlier wrote:

Gyrrakavian wrote: . . . I've also heard of a few neighborhoods in the Wichita area having issues with some variety winter-hearty cholla cactus. The stuff grows like vines and the needles pierce right through leather gloves. I've had to handle it before. I used a vice wrench on a wide setting to grab it.

I can believe that . . . there are cacti growing wild in eastern Washington.

In the southwest, ranchers will burn the spines off prickly pear with a flamethrower so the cattle can eat it. Apparently the cattle like it.

--FreeFlier

I WANT THAT JOB. I want to be the guy with the flamethrower!

GlytchMeister wrote:I WANT THAT JOB. I want to be the guy with the flamethrower!

https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/3c2fe2 ... 1e18368582

Dave wrote:

GlytchMeister wrote:I WANT THAT JOB. I want to be the guy with the flamethrower!

https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/3c2fe2 ... 1e18368582

That guy is one of my favorite characters ever

Remember Glycerine 48? The air around here is thick with envy.

FreeFlier wrote:

Gyrrakavian wrote: . . . I've also heard of a few neighborhoods in the Wichita area having issues with some variety winter-hearty cholla cactus. The stuff grows like vines and the needles pierce right through leather gloves. I've had to handle it before. I used a vice wrench on a wide setting to grab it.

I can believe that . . . there are cacti growing wild in eastern Washington.

In the southwest, ranchers will burn the spines off prickly pear with a flamethrower so the cattle can eat it. Apparently the cattle like it.

--FreeFlier

One of the reasons the CCC introduced kudzu in some areas is that it makes good graze for cattle - particularly dairy cattle as the milk is extra sweet and rich - as long as they keep moving, i guess.

FreeFlier wrote:She has kudzu genes?

Nah, her jeans look to be the same length in both days' strips. They haven't grown at all in the interval.

GlytchMeister wrote:One of my maddest "mad science" moments was when I first thought of gene-splicing mint and kudzu together.

Mint is an extremely invasive plant as well, and it has caused my mom and one of my aunts endless trouble.

Kudzu and cholla would be even more fun.

FreeFlier wrote:It's possible for kudzu to establish here, especially if it finds one of the 'banana belt' pockets that virtually never freeze.

Then it has to contend with the dreaded banana slugs, though.

Catawampus wrote: . . .

FreeFlier wrote:It's possible for kudzu to establish here, especially if it finds one of the 'banana belt' pockets that virtually never freeze.

Then it has to contend with the dreaded banana slugs, though.

Banana slugs only eat decaying vegetation . . . not live stuff.

It's the black slugs (invaders from Europe) that eat live plants.

--FreeFlier

Speaking of invasive plants, I have a bamboo thicket that surrounds my house. It was flattened by a bulldozer recently, but small shoots are appearing.

Looks like I need to make improvised napalm...