Homestead mailing list

[Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>]

Gloria Morris wrote:

> One person's weed is another's useful herb.
>  
Sorry if I was a little dramatic.  No one would ever want to grow 90% of 
the plants on that list anyway, but a few show extreme promise as 
permaculture plants.

> Where kudzu wasn't hideously invasive, I imagine it could be a quite useful
> plant! In my new home in Missouri, kudzu is a serious pest to be battled, as
> it is attempting to take over the forest and native trees, choking out
> large, mature trees and killing them. If I lived in a climate where kudzu
> didn't grow so rampantly and invasively, I would probably like the plant, as
> it is attractive and has some useful attributes.
>  
I've been on this quest for a day or two now, since I realized that my 
(very casually made) "compost" doesn't do crud for most plants, except 
that legumes thrive in it.  Roots produce the largest caloric yield of 
any type of crop, in general, so it seems logical to seek out leguminous 
root crops.  The last I checked, nature had blessed us with very few of 
these crops: three that are basically jicamas, three types of kudzu, and 
Apios americana, the American groundnut.  I tried Apios, and it didn't 
thrive.  Two kinds of jicama won't grow here, and the other (ahipa) is 
being held hostage by local "scientists" (until someone comes up with 
enough bucks, I presume).  That only leaves the kudzu.  I'll be growing 
it in raised beds, where it can't go anywhere.

Someone in the Master Gardeners was worried that jerusalem artichoke 
could be invasive here (which I also once read).  Voles completely ate 
out the little patch I tried to overwinter.

In each case, one can tie the "weed" to a particular economic interest: 
star thistle among alfalfa in E. Oregon, butterfly bush in coastal 
timber, etc.  But some weeds that have wiped out entire ecosystems 
aren't on there, because nobody's cash pot is threatened.  For instance, 
epazote has completely displaced just about every wildflower that every 
grew on our local riverbanks, but what agribusiness takes place there?  
Fennel has taken over huge areas, but only by roadsides, and once again 
no one's cash flow is threatened.

The thing I wonder about is, don't existing eminent domain laws enable 
counties to clean up lands where the owner is deemed derelict, and bill 
the owner?  I'm sure not every place has such a law, and I still don't 
agree with such interference except under the most heinous 
circumstances, but I know their constitutionality has certainly been 
tested, because I saw them doing some "beautifying" in Eugene on TV. 

> Back in Illinois, I did battle with Canadian thistle and won. We bought 30
> acres of land with a serious infestation of Canadian thistle that had almost
> completely overtaken pasture and alfalfa fields. Brush hogging was not
> enough to control it. I ended up spraying the individual plants with vinegar
> to kill them, as that way I had minimal kill of the desired grasses, and the
> grasses quickly filled in the spots where the thistle had been. It took a
> long time to spray the whole 30 acres by hand (OMG did it take time!!!!!!!),
> but the results were outstanding. Where the thistle wasn't invasive, I
> imagine that many folks would appreciate the plant in smaller colonies.
>
>  
Did that work with regular white vinegar, or was it higher 
concentration?  How often did you have to kill the top and for how long?

B