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  • From: list@ginda.us
  • To: griffingardens@earthlink.net, North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] black locust
  • Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 21:54:25 -0500


On Monday, March 17, 2003, at 10:43 AM, Griffin Gardens wrote:

<snip>
As for the philosophy of "so what, the world is always changing anyway"
That is not what I said. What I did say is that we need to adapt to the fact that the world is changing, and take that into account as we strive to be good stewards of the land.

  I know best what I know from my own experience: my problems with buckthorn and European honeysuckle persist in spite of removing the seed source for both on all of my 25 acres of woods eight years ago. Perching birds distribute seeds from my neighbors.
I have the same problem with poison ivy, which is an invasive native. Plants may be desirable or undesirable for a location, but they are not intrinsically good or evil. I grant that we don't know everything, and some humility in choosing plants is a good thing.

My problems increased when earthworms invaded and bare ground began showing through the duff before the next leaf-fall, which provided mineral soil for seed germination of these species and other pioneering native species, including elderberry. I wasn't getting any oak regeneration because the places on the edges of the woods and in openings in the canopy were there was sufficient light for acorn germination were taken over by these invaders. The earthworm problem is new here (it is progressing in concentric circl es from fishing lakes in the north now) and it's impact is yet to be understood. It is hard to imagine that there aren't at least significant changes to soil structure and microbial makeup that may effect micorhizal relationships with native plants , but nobody knows until the whole thing plays out. It doesn't take much imagination though to envision the eventual outcome for my non-regenerating oak woods.
Earthworms are not new in my neck of the woods - they were imported by the colonists hundreds of years ago (probably accidentally, with trees). I am sure they are partly to blame for the current paucity of many native wildflowers. However, you will be relieved to hear that they are not a problem for oaks. I have oaks sprouting everywhere in the fall, and the woody patches between the houses (where there aren't lawns) are full of oaks of every age, from a year or two up to the age of the last clearcut. We have about five local species of oaks and all seem to be holding their own. Meanwhile, the exotic alien Norway Maple seems to have developed a fungal blight. Too soon to know if it will slow the spread of the trees, but it certainly makes them less attractive in the late summer and fall, which may discourage people from planting them.

Ginda Fisher
eastern MA


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