PHRAGMITES - An Ecological Enemy

[MrMacskyver]

What are the best ways to cut it?...hedge trimmer? Sickle bar on the back/side of a tractor? I’m thinking of investing in equipment to get rid of an acre of the stuff.

[wjd]

I’m in NJ on a salt water bayshore, and we are surrounded by this awful stuff! As a firefighter, my company typically fought over 200 ‘brush fires’ a year. Sometimes spreading to homes & garages with vinyl siding. They’re called ‘Crow Weeds’ locally. Red wing blackbirds are seen clinging to the vertical stalks. The nj state DEP claims a salt water wetland only exists where the phragmites grow. Neighbor had three acres of grass seeded & cut to keep the crow weeds out, contractors split it into max number of lots. Not wetlands? Tell the owners of the new homes who were inundated during Sandy. 36” of water in each. NJ DEP serves a very specific clientele, not nature, citizens or any not paying for a quick certain approval.
The fires here sometimes get 5, or 6’ deep. Classic bogs - a nasty situation.

[tadblackington]

Phragmites is not a "bad" plant. It's a plant that we have created the perfect conditions for. First of all it's actually a native species that has had new variants introduced from Europe. Second it thrives on disruption, tear open the soil for roads and developments and it moves in. Third no plant is better at slurping up extra nutrients, pour fertilizer on fields and lawns and you supercharge the reeds in that watershed. Fourth it tolerates salt better than 90% of the plants out there, salt the roads to remove ice and we select for reeds on the roadside. Fifth we have an impaired ecosystem, we have knocked out all the big herbivores from bison to mastodons and ground sloths that could knock back and create diversity in the face of the super weeds. Pouring poison all over the place seems a poor response, especially since phragmites is One of the plants likely to become pesticide resistant first.

[babyhael]

In the philippines phragmite grass is used to make brooms, which is far better than the plastic brooms made here in the US. It biodegradable too

[halaleditz]

very educational, thank you for sharing its strange what all happen in our planet.

[alvarbilly]

First they tried to wipe out St. John's wort, the oldest known healing plant, then they came after reed grass, the best water purifier. What is wrong with these people?

[JasbirSingh-kpzm]

It is phragmites karka or phragmites australis

[fayeking]

Sugercane is a deep root plant also. Ikn you might want to pahokee florida and see if they havr any ideas.

[donmartin]

I am at war with those dang things now.
Southern Ontario is where I hang my hat.
This will be a battle, that’s for sure.🇨🇦

[Durplepurple]

I wanna try to make mats and bushcraft shelters out of it.

[DavidNadas]

Then you should read my Sci-Fi thriller November Seed (www.amzn.com/B00L2I3CD6 - FREE Kindle download on Amazon), where Phragmites is the antagonist. As a former Marine Ecologist, I knew of its invasiveness. One incredible fact is that the seeds all release on the same day and in the north that is usually within the first two weeks of November, where clouds of these seeds are easily mistaken for the first flurries of the season.