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Invasive Plants

PostPosted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 7:24 am
by panamint_patty
What's So Bad About Salt Cedars
There are several reason that salt cedars are considered to be invasive plants. First of all, they displace native species, but they do damage beyond just reducing the numbers of naturally occurring plants. For example, they are allelopathic.
Salt crystals that form on their stomata drop to the ground beneath the plant, poisoning the soil in increasingly larger circles. Few plants can survive around salt cedars. None can survive for long.

On top of that, they are facultative phreatophytes.
Phreatophytes are drought-tolerant plants that send long deep roots (30 feet is not unusual) to exploit groundwater deposits. But they are also facultative, which means that in addition to those deep roots they send out other roots to seek out any other sources of water, ground or surface. These “advantageous” roots can be extensive.

Also they are highly fire resistant, but at the same time they encourage fires.
That’s because they kill or weaken native species, making those species susceptible to fire damage. When fire does come, the salt cedars survive, and the other weakened species die. Then, salt cedars take over the niches of the native plants.

For more check out this article:
LINK: http://suite101.com/article/salt-cedars-a54241

Re: Invasive Plants

PostPosted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 12:30 pm
by surfsteve
They may be invasive plants but Trona would look a whole lot deader without them. Back when all we had was brine to water them with they must have been a god send.

Re: Invasive Plants

PostPosted: Sat Jun 22, 2013 10:59 am
by panamint_patty
California Invasive Plant Council
Lots of info at this site. They even have a comprehensive list of invasive plant species that are causing trouble here in California. Not a lot of action in the Trona area, but even weeds have a hard time surviving in Searles Valley!
:smart:
Across California, invasive plants damage wildlands. Invasive plants displace native plants and wildlife, increase wildfire and flood danger, consume valuable water, degrade recreational opportunities, and destroy productive range and timber lands. Cal-IPC works with land managers, researchers, policy makers, and concerned citizens to protect the state from invasive plants.

LINK: http://www.cal-ipc.org/

Re: Invasive Plants

PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 9:17 am
by CrustyOldFart
Tumbleweed: As it turns out tumbleweed is not native to North America which seems odd since it's often featured in cowboy movies as a symbol of the old west. It must have spread like wild fire to have become so widespread so quickly. My understanding is that tumbleweed originates from the Asia and Europe area. So next time you see a tumbleweed rolling along in the wind, keep in mind that such a sight would not have been seen by Native Americans before the arrival of Europeans.

Re: Invasive Plants

PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2014 8:48 am
by CoolChick
CrustyOldFart: I'll keep that in mind next time I see a tumbleweed blowing across a road or parking lot or in a Western movie! Oh, the irony!

Re: Invasive Plants

PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2014 5:43 am
by Sparky of SoCal
My understanding the tumbleweed seeds snuck in with the wheat seed that immigrant from what we know now as the Ukraine brought over.

Re: Invasive Plants

PostPosted: Fri May 30, 2014 9:16 am
by whiskeypete
Pretty interesting list of invasive plants at invasive.org. Most of them I've never heard of. I did notice that they have a number of different kinds of thistles on the list. I never did like thistles!

Re: Invasive Plants

PostPosted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 9:41 am
by twister
I read the other day that many plants that are invasive elsewhere are only able to survive in the desert as long as you give them water. Take away the water and they die and so they're not actually invasive out here in the desert. There are only a few plants that are that tough and that you'd want in your yard, but it seems to me that they'd be perfect for landscaping in extremely arid areas such a Searles Valley.

Re: Invasive Plants

PostPosted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 9:47 am
by deathvalleyjake
twister: They may not survive in your yard without water, but while they are growing in your yard, they are producing seed. The seed could be blown to or be carried by birds to local springs and the invasive plants could take hold there and eventually spread throughout the region. The risk probably isn't all that great and so I don't see a big problem with growing invasives in your yard, but it is possible for them to spread even out here in the desert!

Re: Invasive Plants

PostPosted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 8:47 am
by tronagirl
I need some invasive plants for my backyard. I can't get anything to grow and from the sound of things, you can't stop invasive plants from growing. As long as they can get by with sporadic watering, they are welcome to invade my backyard anytime! Come one, come all!