Himalayan Balsam

[Wyrd]

Interesting - thanks, Rob!

[fairplay]

Originally Posted by Wyrd

@ fairplay - I think you might have misunderstood my posts. I'm talking about a problem in our local park, not one on my property. There's no reason for me to sue the council or anyone else. We have a Friends of the Park group, of which I'm a member, which consists of volunteers to work with the council to address problems in the park, of which this is one. No suing involved!

When you wrote "We have a problem in our 300 acre park ... " I thought 'crumbs'. she must be Lord of the Mannor or something !

Neil.

[Wyrd]

Originally Posted by fairplay

When you wrote "We have a problem in our 300 acre park ... " I thought 'crumbs'. she must be Lord of the Mannor or something !

Neil.

Lol, Neil - I wish! No, not my manorial grounds - it's a 300 acre public park that runs along the river from the city centre out into the countryside. There's quite a lot of woodland as well as open fields (mostly for sports) and some meadow areas too. We get lots of wildlife - buzzards, dippers, herons, foxes, rabbits, kingfishers, always something interesting. The city end of the park is more municipal, with an aboretum and lots of introduced species - including the Himalayan Balsam, which is marching northwards.

[Jennie]

There is a problem with Himalayan Balsam in Dorset too.
The Dorset Wildlife Trust are taking steps to try to eradicate it from the county, and are replanting cleared areas with native plants, ie Yellow Flag, etc.

[Brocakat]

Originally Posted by treb0r

Now, I realise that people are very nervous about the idea of biological control in the wake of Cane toads and Harlequin Ladybirds, but these people really seem to know what they are about. I've had some brief correspondence with them and they tell me that they have a rust fungus that they found in the himalayas that has co-evolved with Balsam and is host specific, meaning it will live on Balsam and nothing else. They are conducting testing until 2015 when if all is well they will apply for a license to release it into the wild. They say that the rust fungus will bring the Balsam under control without eradicating it completely.



In search of biological control agents for Himalayan balsam - YouTube

Good luck!

Rob

Hello Rob - that's v.interesting.
I'm hopeful though, that they fully involve the Horticultural Decorative Plant Propagation 'people' - becuase in the whole family of Impatiens - (or "Busy Lizzie" ) there are several very useful & decorative varieties that are popular
& important sellers within the Industry.

[tiggerbabe]

This is a particular bug bear of mine

I am a volunteer on the RSPB's Barons Haugh reserve just outside Motherwell and the reserve is situated along the banks of the River Clyde. There are vast swathes of HB all along the banks now, and these have also started to disperse into the actual reserve which is a wetland reserve surrounded by reed beds so HB would be a disaster if allowed to take a stranglehold. We spent a lot of time at the beginning of last Summer hand pulling and brushcutting the HB before it set to seed and managed to get rid of loads, but as most others have stated, the seeds are washed downstream so this would need to be done from right at their very starting point on the river and all the way down to have any major effect. The seeds can survive for up to 2 years after dispersal so getting rid of the current years growth is a good start, but there are probably seeds lying dormant waiting for next year already!

Yes, they are lovely to look at, and yes, the bees love them - but as they are so attractive to bees, they ignore our own native flowers which struggle anyway under the masses of HB completely altering the biodiversity of the area it dominates.

They are were added to the The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (Variation of Schedule 9) in 2010, making it an offence to knowingly cause the spread of HB in England and Wales. In Scotland, it is now detailed within the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011

Why are invasive non-native species a threat?

Not good in my book at all. grrrrrrrrrrr

Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera)

[Brocakat]

I note that I have JUST seen the newly germinated seedlings of H . B . ~ YESTERDAY

[tiggerbabe]

Just the stuff of nightmares

[treb0r]

Yes, nightmare indeed.

The tiny new seedlings are popping up all over the place are here too - the only thing that keeps me from getting totally depressed about it is knowing that the boffins are working on a solution. Roll on 2015..

[tiggerbabe]

Roll on 2015..

By which time the triphid plants will have taken over beyond repair!

Why do these things take so long!! If they can predict a resolution by "2015", then why can't they make it quicker