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DSV in semi-circle west of woods 2004Sandy Garland The site - Location of a former rose garden, this is a small semi-circular field just west of the Ash Woodlot. The ground slopes from the line of Norway and White Spruce trees between the field and the woods down to the centre of the semi-circle where the road from Prince of Wales meets a utility road that runs across the diameter closing the field. In this area, the density of DSV has been increasing slowly. Starting in 1998, we weeded DSV out of the semi-circle at least once each summer. This year (2004), plants in the centre part of the semi-circle are still isolated (left photo), although many have multiple stems (right photo). Along the edge of woodlot, however, there is a thick band of denser DSV. Photos below were taken on 17 July. Plants were flowering and the largest ones had many seed pods.
July – Tony cut some of the dense patches using the weed whipper. We also used hedge clippers to cut off flowers. We were hoping this method would prevent seed set, as it is relatively quick to do and the cut off portions can be left where they fall.
23 July – Before photo. The large patch of burdock (below) is where I dug up sod one year to try to get "edge" started. In another small area where I did the same thing, there are now raspberries. The DSV plants along the edge are large and formed a solid tangle by mid-July. We had been cutting the isolated plants in the semi-circle, but realized that we couldn’t do that where the DSV was this thick. We went back to pulling and spent the next month working in this area.
Pulled DSV was gathered into 2 large piles and covered with a tarp. The locations were chosen to cover dense patches of DSV so that we would not have to weed those areas, i.e., pulled stems were piled on top of living plants. The purpose of the tarp is to prevent seeds from dispersing once the pods dry out and split, to contain the plants in a defined area, and to prevent seed sprouting in the spring by excluding light. We’ll have to monitor all this.
25 July – These photos show edge of trees in semi-circle after the DSV was removed.
Under the raspberries and in most areas where DSV plants were large and thick, there were very few seedlings. But right along the tree line under the branches of the Norway Spruces, there were thousands. 22 August – Finally finished weeding the semi-circle.
I tried spraying the tiny plants with Roundup off the shelf from the hardware store - mostly because I'm still looking for a "quick" way to solve at least a small part of the DSV problem. After a few days you could see some effects.
12 September 2004 – Sunday volunteers planted 18 White Spruce trees in semi-circle close to tree line. Aim was to achieve natural looking edge – as if larger spruce were spreading (although larger spruce are Norway). In planting, we dug out DSV roots in a circle at least 2 feet in diameter. Then planted potted tree in center. Trees were all very healthy looking. Most were about 18 inches tall. One (from Albert Dugal via Ann Coffey is 2.5 feet tall. Also assessed whole area to see effect of weeding, cutting etc. during July and August. From north to south: no regrowth in last area where DSV was pulled on 22 August. Roundup used on tiny seedlings seems to have been effective, although it took a very long time to work. Photo below shows dead DSV plants. Need to see what happens in these areas next year. Many of the seedlings would not have survived anyway. Does Roundup really have a significant effect? I can't help thinking that a couple of hours with a small garden rake would have disrupted seedling growth just as effectively.
Location of new White Spruce trees. Trees were planted in close groups on either side of the path coming out of the woods and crossing the semi-circle. Third and fourth groups were planted to the south and to the north of those areas, the latter in place of a large honeysuckle that was removed. Also in this photo is the first tarpaulin. We lifted one corner and put the DSV roots that we dug up today on top of the plants pulled earlier, i.e., they aren’t touching the ground.
Checked raspberry patch (below) , as it had been very difficult to pull DSV out of this area. Couldn’t see DSV plants, raspberries look healthy, good patch of jewelweed behind raspberries. White Spruce that Dale planted several years ago is no longer covered in DSV.
Further south along semi-circle, more raspberry plants are growing where we weeded out DSV (about the centre of this photo below). I think the tree with the yellow leaves is an ironwood that we rescued from Nortel. The one in front of it is a high-bush cranberry which is quite large. Wild cucumber vines are growing here – as they have for the last few years. And there are lots of grape vines along the edge of the tree line. A few Manitoba Maples are right at the edge of the trees.
South end of semi-circle. DSV was pulled and cut from between the thistles as well as along the tree line. The second tarpaulin, which was difficult to fasten down on 22 August because of the mass of DSV is now loose as the pile has shrunk considerably. Need to fasten sides carefully all around and monitor next spring to see if plants under the pile survive or if seedlings grow. Will probably need to leave tarpaulins in place for whole of 2005 season.
What does all this mean? If we do nothing, there's no question that the DSV will grow back to the point where it was before we started this year. At least, we need to keep the trees and other plants free of DSV.  |
Surprisingly, there were quite a few Gray
Treefrogs in the semi-circle (as there were in other parts of the garden this
year).
