Fall Photo's of Some fabu plants at South Seattle Community College

A student sent in these fab foto's taken in the Fall Plant ID Class. Here at SSCC. LHO Programs. Gorgeous right? Credit and thanks to T e r r i e   S h a t t u c k.

A. palmatum 'Bloodgood'

Ginko biloba

Stewartia psuedocamillia Japanese Camillia

IPM WORKSHOP REPORT and A BIG THANKS TO ALL YOU COHORT VOLUNTEERS!

 *Out Damn 'Weasel Snout' Out!

Lamiastrum galeobdolon Weasel Snout:
 Photo from King County Noxious Weed Board Web Site.

Last week SSCC hosted an IMP  workshop. What is IPM? Integrated Pest Management.  Nowadays we like to refer to it as Plant Health Care. Here in Seattle it is sponsored by Seattle Public Utilities and funded by the Local Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County with support from South Seattle Community College and Seattle University. Below is a great description that I found at the University of Georgia.

IPM

An IPM mindset demands that all options---chemical and non-chemical---be considered when developing a pest management action plan." 1

 IPM workshops are, of course there to help those of us in the field who are getting our credits for pesticide licenses,or our educational goals.  IPM is used all over the country.This is how my friend lets call him Mr. B, likes to describe me. "A Tree Hugger". OK, I am a Tree Hugger from way back.  Mr. B, who lives in Georgia has a home in the North Georgia Mountains. He loves his trees too. Over yonder, in states from Maine to Georgia, they are experiencing  problems with the Woolly Adelgid 2. in the Tsuga canadensis Eastern Hemlock.  Mr B a very intelligent and proactive person attended workshops to learn how to help save the beloved Eastern Hemlock. It was recommended to use an injectable pesticide in the base of the trunks and that is supposed to save them. I hope that it does. In the case of the Wooly Adelgid an IPM approach of injections seem to be the best possible solution.

Wooly Adelgid; Photo: National Park Service

  

 This year at the Seattle IPM workshop I had the privilege of co- presenting a talk along with our principal volunteer Ellen Wanless, of Brooke Wanless Gardens,LLC. Our presentation was about the Lamiastrum galeobdolon removal project in the Arboretum. We began the work of removing this weed  in Nov 2008. There was a lot of it, and when we began we felt like we were bailing out the Ship With a Spoon. But it is beginning to show promise now.

So, for a tree hugger like me who wants to do good for the planet, I am happy to report to you that the presentation at the workshop appeared to be successful. We  wanted to organize a presentation that would be meaningful to people. We also felt it was important to be as strictly scientific as we could possibly be. We presented the project in a time-line that showed our research, progress and where we are planning to take it now, with thanks and credits too.

Here is a little synopsis of our presentation. This will give you and idea as to what all we have been doing with this project.

Begin

At the outset of the project back in '08, Ellen met with Van for a discussion on what area in the Arboretum that she could assist volunteering in. Van suggested the removal of  Lamiastrum  galeobdolon Yellow Archangel or Weasel Snout as he is concerned with our proximity to the West Duwamish Green Belt.

  Research
 Ellen did a major amount of research with folks like Linda Chalker-Scott of WSU and Dr. Sarah Reichard  from the University of Washington. She also used her notes from Arthur Lee Jacobson's talks on mechanical management. We were lucky to know Wendy DesCamps, a woman who is working on her masters with this very plant! Wendy shared with us a lot of valuable assistance and information. Other valuable information was provided by Tracy Osborn, formerly of the Rhododendron Species Garden.

 While Ellen was getting started with this, I was busy organizing the Volunteer Cohort. A volunteer group for maintenance in the Arboretum had never before been implemented and we felt that it was a great time to start. We had lost our head gardener in 2006 and for a while the college grounds crew assisted in the Arboretum, but they gradually have reduced their time spent in the Arboretum due to the demands on their own operations.Van and the college gave the go-ahead for this project in late August of 2008.
 About this time the students were pushing the college to 'go green' and stop using pesticides in the Arboretum. You can imagine that the place began to look a little shabby on the edges.

I started with research also. I was able to interview Bellevue Botanical Gardens, Washington Park Arboretum and used resources from the United Way of King County.   Slowly I began to knit together a small group of volunteers and most of them were students in the LHO program!

Documentation 

REGENERATION OR 'THINGS WANT TO LIVE'!
Long Fine Roots make for difficult removal.
 Plant can regenerate from these fine roots left behind.
Plant can regenerate from any part of the stem with a node.
 Plant can reseed too.

We had plenty of  documentation and photo's galore.  I took a lot of pictures. I kept records of each work party, where we worked, who was there and how long we worked.

  Lamiastrum galeobdolon Project Begins Nov 2008

 People like to work on weed removal by hand, grubbing away. Or some like to spray it up with herbicides. Then, thinking that they have done this fabulous job clearing up the weeds,we go off and  forget about it. Months later the weed is back. Next up is something that many of us are guilty of. We fall into the, "this method doesn't work" trap. With this in mind we began to look ahead at the Weasel Snout; and how long the project would take. We thought," oh, we'll be finished with this maybe by next year. Not.

The 3 Year Plan

Arthur Lee recommends 3 years for a mechanical method of removal. We may not be able to completely eradicate any one weed, but we do want control.

(I only want control of the TV remote, but that will never happen with 4 children)

  Tell me something good. We have had successes. One success is under the Myrica california between the Entry and Sensory Gardens. This area about 600 SF, was processed in May 2009 with 5 people. It was choked with the Weasel Snout and it is now very clean. But there are 'pop ups'. These are easily managed by hand weeding. As long as you remember to be in the long range plan mode.

Myrica california at the Entry/Sensory Garden.

 The L. galeobdolon project has not been with out its problems. We have had a couple of  failures. One in particular is over on the Dry Creek Bed Hillside. 

 We failed there, due to some on-site decision making that did not work for us. The Fushia were important for us to try and save so, we sheared everything back and mulched. The Fushia came back big time and guess what? Yep, so did the the L.galeobdolon. Weasel Snout won that day but we learned a valuable lesson. Do
your research, have a plan, work the plan.

 Tools and Cardboard

Don't you love your tools? We love our tools. We use shears, hori hori's, diggers, tarps, fan rakes, brooms, wheel barrows, clean processed cardboard. Oh, and I always have my camera. Even if it is just the cell phone. Tool time tip: Remember when you are shearing get right down onto the surface of the soil, if you chomp into a rock or hard bit ease up and try not to nick the shears. This is the most effective shearing method. Also, take the shears at the end of the day, clean em up, rasp, file and oil your tools. Love your tools.

Key tip: overlap the cardboard generously.
Starve the plant of light.

Methods 

 Hand removal is possible, but be careful in where you are working and at what time of year. During the growing season the surrounding plant roots may be damaged by hand weeding. Especially be careful with the Rhododendron  roots. 

Hand weeding therefore, is not recommended for the grow season around the Rhodies roots, chose instead our method of  shearing to the roots. Then, sheet mulch with the mulch at 4 to 6 inches.

  

 Where Do We Go From Here?

 OK, fine.What are we doing now? Here is the plan, chosen in part due to the scale of the Arboretum and lack of time and limited assistance. We chose the following method. Shear the plant, Sheet mulch, Monitor for Pop ups ( new growth) and remove the pop ups.

Trials

 Van, Ellen and I have met and decided to follow up with trials of our different methods.

 There is always concerns about the cardboard gas to air exchange. One wants to know what works best where.

Three methods.

1. Choose to use sheet mulch with the mulch level at 4" to 6".  

2. Use mulch only, up to 12"

3. Lastly go in and shear weekly, starving the plant.

Make a Plan - Work Your Plan

 As of now the L. galeobdolon is being placed in the Arboretum's long range maintenance plans. Yes. We feel good about this and hope that you do too.

  Let me just say a huge thanks to all of you, the Cohort Volunteers and everyone who has supported this project.  It is you  who made the Lamiatrum galeobdolon Project as successful as it has been. You all have been so great for showing up and for helping out on Second Saturdays. It has made  a tremendous difference in the Arboretum. Thanks again.

CoHorts and Docents.

  Tools We Love.

Lunch for CoHorts in the Garden Center.

1. http://www.caes.uga.edu/departments/ent/upmp/ipm.html
2.The National Park Service (NPS) is cooperating with the US Forest Service (USFS) to suppress the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), an aphid-like insect that is killing eastern hemlock trees.

*Yellow Archangel is just too beautiful a phrase for our pesty L. galeobdolon. Ellen found a reference to this plant, calling it 'weasel snout'. We love it.