It’s now two months
since we began our trials of differing eradication methods for the Algerian sea
lavender in the estuary at the mouth of the San Diego River.
 |
| Algerian sea lavender after receiving two months of solarization treatment |
Solarization is not
having the desired effect on the sea lavender. Perhaps we might have had better
results had we begun the solarization later in the year, with longer, hotter
days.
 |
| Scraping treatment after one month |
 |
| Scraping treatment after two months |
 |
| Hand pulled treatment after one month |
 |
| Hand pulled treatment after two months |
One month ago, the
growth of native flora in the plot where the Limonium ramosissimum had been hand-pulled had been about twice that
of the plot that had been scraped. Now it looks like the natives in the scraped
plot are catching up. Cover of natives in the hand-pulled plot is now about 35
percent, while native cover in the scraped plot is about 25 percent. Regrowth
of the sea lavender in both the scraped and hand-pulled plots is about the
same, with each plot having about 20 of the invasive plants.
Considering
that the results of treatment are virtually the same and how much more labor
intensive hand pulling is than scraping, scraping might prove to be the favored
method for removing the sea lavender. Stay tuned for updates on the Sea
lavender.
No comments:
Post a Comment