Wednesday, May 5, 2010

The verdict

Last evening, after doing a bit more reading about Autumn Olives I decided to send an email to our county Extension Service. Partly to make sure I was identifying it correctly and also to ask for advice about leaving or removing it.
I feel kind of torn. This is, in some ways a very useful species. It produces edible fruit, fixes nitrogen in the soil and is great for stabilizing creek banks. On the other hand, it tends to be invasive and can form dense monoculture stands that choke out all other species. Also, by fixing high amounts of nitrogen in the soil, it tends to cause difficulty for species that don't tolerate high nitrogen content.
The contact at the extension office forwarded my email on to two other individuals, one from Iowa State University (a horticultural 'expert') and another with the state DNR. He evidently doesn't know that much about Autumn Olives and had some research (probably read some of the same information I had online) and couldn't offer a good opinion. Both individuals he forwarded the message to got back to me this afternoon. The guy from ISU commented on the uses but also indicated that this is a species that has been popping up more and more and has been causing trouble. He recommended that we remove the shrubs. The guy from the state DNR was much more emphatic. He indicated that this species is no longer recommended to be planted anywhere, for ornamentals or windbreaks and stated that it has become quite a problem in some areas of the state. He likened it to the problems that have been experienced with multiflora rose. He suggested that we remove the bushes immediately, especially since they are so close to our wetland.
So, we will probably go up when we have time and take them out. I've been learning in my permaculture class that there are 'no such things as invasive species' only species that are taking advantage of an unexploited niche in the environment and should be used as an indicator. Maybe I'm still at the skeptical stage but I have trouble with letting invasive species run their course as part of natural succession.
Any and all comments are appreciated as I try to sort through this.

10 comments:

  1. With the advice you got I would look around to see how much there is around you. You can leave it and see if it becomes a problem.. Listen to your heart and go with that. Lisa

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  2. That's a hard one since you like it so much! It is concerning that you have it in Iowa now, it used to be only as far as the Mississippi, it escaped cultivation and looks like it will now spread across the country. Here is is very troublesome and takes over areas where our seagrasses and buffer areas should be. We have that stuff in a messy looking empty lot at the end of our street and it is a nightmare - it's like bamboo, if you cut it or burn it, it comes back even stronger. I personally would dig it out while it's young and get all the roots!

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  3. Hi Judy,

    I appreciate what the permaculturists say, but I would remove it (or get a goat?) :)

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  4. I'm rethinking my last comment since I saw that Barb & Steve just planted some.

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  5. When dealing with similar situations, I usually fall back on what it native to Iowa. Since the Autumn Olive isn't native to our state, I think I would remove it and plant something native instead. I like to go other places where I have tree sprouts growing that don't have a chance with the bigger trees around them, dig them up and plant them somewhere where they have a chance.

    Personally, I have always wanted an American Chestnut tree which love wet areas and were native here until they were mostly wiped out by a blight in the early 1900's. There are a few around and I've planted the seeds but have never had any luck, mostly because I think I don't have any ground wet enough. Now they even have blight resistant versions of this tree but they are evidently still in very short supply. I'm still in awe every time I fine the rare loner on some river bottom. They are truly majestic trees.

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  6. I agree with Lisa about observing the surrounding environment for a clue. It is an invasive (I have a huge mess of it on the wild eastern side of my prop and if I had one in the yard), but if there is a lot of it near-by already established removing yours; it's too late unless you use force on the other areas as well. In other words, leaving yours is not going to help the wild areas. Yes, controversial, but I work with invasives and I see it all the time. It does spread rapidly and creates dense thickets of sort. It is pretty and useful as far as edibility is concerned, but if you want all natives it will dominate.

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  7. OK, sorry about that mess of words. My stupid laptop is actually up today and erasing parts of my sentences!

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  8. Thanks for all the advice. I've been weighing this out in my head. I think we've come to the conclusion that we will remove them. If they were further away from the wetland, I would probably leave them but they are only about 20 feet from the edge and I've heard horror stories about them taking over wetlands completely. I haven't really heard of them being a huge problem around here yet so hopefully they are still few and far between. It may be a losing battle but I'm no going to give up this soon.
    Judy

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  9. Oh, and Erin- we've got bamboo as well. Some brilliant person planted it by the highway on a steep embankment- probably to hold the soil- now it is encroaching into the bottom land near the wetlands. I've dealt with that stuff before and it is nearly impossible to kill!
    J

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  10. I admit I LOOOOOVVE bamboo! Of course I don't have any, but someday I want some serious long metal containers to grow it to screen a patio or something. Hubby is using that as the reasoning for him NEEDING to buy his own welding equipment, LOL

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