Tangling with Invasive Plants
Raven is taking back Asheville, one invasive plant at a time. Photo courtesy of Raven Sterling.
“What happens when our schools, our roads, and all of our public greenways are surrounded by dead forest?”
Raven Sterling, owner of Raven Invasive Management, can’t look around at the invasive plants strangling Asheville’s trees without seeing a ticking clock.
In our backyards and public green spaces, all those trees with Kudzu tangling the branches, or English Ivy climbing the trunk won’t be able to fight off their attackers. Without our help, the demise of these urban trees is only a matter of time.
Moreover, the longer we wait to act, the further these invasive plants will spread into our forests, outcompeting the native trees and plants that are essential for healthy ecosystems.
Invasive species management is just that—management, said Raven, and invasive plants don’t go quietly.
“You can come into an area that’s completely choked by invasive plants and clear out everything visible, but if you don’t keep up with it, in two years it will look like you haven’t done anything at all. That’s how aggressive these plants are," Raven said.
While she and her crews remove most of the plants by their roots, seeds create another challenge. To win the war against invasive plants requires homeowners to monitor their property and deal with sprouting seeds on an ongoing basis.
The consequences of ignoring the problem are easy to see.
How many trees are under attack by invasive species in your neighborhood?
You only have to glance around to see that the stakes are huge for the native tree species that we, our wildlife, and native pollinators, rely on—especially the larger canopy trees that do the most to protect us from the pressures of a changing climate.
This year, this community is taking bold action to protect and restore Asheville's urban tree canopy. Give a gift to invest in protecting the trees that protect your home, your neighborhood, and your family.
The good news is there is a ton we can do to stop invasive plants from claiming our communities. "If you have land, you have to be a steward of that land. You have to pay attention, and you have to understand what’s happening to it,” said Raven.
We know this community is ready to take action to protect their backyard trees from invasive plants. To get you started, we asked Raven to weigh in on some questions we've received about how to handle backyard invasive plants.
How do you kill English Ivy so that it's actually dead and doesn't come back?
English Ivy is one of the easiest invasive plants to deal with. If you can pull the plants out by the roots, it won’t come back.
Then pay attention to it. If it comes through your fence, or a seed sprouts in your yard, pull it out before it can get established.
English Ivy takes without giving anything back—except for mildly poisonous seeds. When you remove a patch, be prepared to add soil amendments and mulch the spot to help the soil heal, if needed. A good covering of leaf litter and sticks is nature’s mulch. As the leaves and mulch break down, they feed the soil.
Is there a way to stop invasives from coming into my yard in the first place?
It’s highly likely the invasive plants in your yard started as seeds deposited by wildlife or plant material caught in the treads of the heavy equipment that was used to build your road or your home.
If you will have any kind of heavy equipment, including a lawn service, come to your house, you can request that they clean their equipment wheels before they come onto your property.
Same goes for your shoes. Keep a boot brush in your car, and brush out the treads of your shoes before you drive home from your hikes.
How can I protect my trees from vines?
If it’s English Ivy, cut an 18-inch strip of the ivy and carefully strip it away from the bark near the base of the trunk. Make sure you remove all the vines in that section all the way around the tree, if the tree is girdled. If not, it’s safe to leave the cut vines. They will eventually degrade and blow away. Be careful not to cut through the bark itself, or you’ll interfere with the tree’s ability to move water and nutrients up the trunk. DO NOT strip live bark from a tree.
Kudzu is easier. You need to dig down the stem and cut the crown away from the tap root. The crown is usually buried a foot deep or less.
When is the best time of year to kill invasive plants?
It’s always a good time because these plants are always being destructive.
It is easiest to work when the plants don’t have leaves, the soil isn’t excessively wet, and the ground isn’t frozen. Most importantly, deal with plants that are soon to flower and go to seed. Stopping seed production of mature plants is an important first step, if the job is too big to handle all at once.
There is a poison vs no poison debate in invasive plant management. What is your perspective?
I’m never going to say that using poison is a good idea. I want my kids to be able to play in the yard and not worry that the soil they are touching was sprayed with poison. Plus, the growth habit of many of the invasive plants I deal with make it impractical to use poison.
If you care about the birds, the bees, the bats and the butterflies, you cannot do this work with chemicals because you are destroying the web of life, including the soil we all rely on.
You can learn more about Raven and the invasive plant management services she offers at: RavenNC.com
