Phragmites.org

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Phragmites.org Newsletter Archives 11-20

January 8, 2008 to May 9, 2008

presented below in reverse order

Phragmites.org Newsletter #20 - May 9, 2008

Phragmites Control Workshop

Saturday, May 17, 2008 at 2 PM
Stewart Farm, 2007 Stewart Rd., Harsens Island, MI 48028

This is a beginner's workshop, similar to the ones presented last fall.

Phragmites is the common reed plant which has taken over much of Harsens Island in the last 30 years. It out competes the native plants and creates a monoculture of reeds. It reduces the biodiversity of plants and therefore the biodiversity of animal life on the island. It is a fire hazard, it limits access to the water and it reduces property values. If you are ready to fight back come to Stewart Farm on Saturday, May 17, 2008 for information on what you can do on your property to get rid of phragmites. The workshop should last about two hours. We will visit the spots at Stewart Farm where we have been successful in reducing the phragmites and you will receive information on what equipment and chemicals are used as well as the timing required and application procedure options. During the workshop we will see a demonstration of the preparation and treatment process.

There is no charge for this event.
For questions contact Bob Williams - 248-388-0465, Bob@StewartFarm.org
For a map to the farm go to http://www.stewartfarm.org/map.pdf

If you wish to receive our Phragmites.org newsletter by email
send a message "subscribe" to newsletter@phragmites.org

This event is sponsored in part by The Harsens Island Phragmites Committee and is part of St. Clair River Day and Stream Clean '08 sponsored by St. Clair County, Algonac State Park and Clay Township. Visit www.stclaircountystormwater.org for details of stream clean up sites.

______________________________________________________________________

To be removed from this mailing list send a message to Bob@Phragmites.org which says "remove."

Archived copies of past newsletters are available online at
http://www.stewartfarm.org/phragmites/archives.php

See http://www.phragmites.info for general information on phragmites and http://www.phragmites.org for detailed information on phragmites control.

Bob Williams
Bob@phragmites.org
StewartFarm.org

March 18, 2008
Phragmites.org Survey
This is a brief survey to get a sense of extent of Phragmites control being done on private property. If you treated Phragmites in the past or are planning to treat it this year please respond to this email and just tell me:

treated in 2007?
treated previous to 2007?
plan to treat in 2008?
used Glyphosate?
used Imazapyr?
the municipality in which the property is located?

Bob Williams
xharpspah@aol.com
248-388-0465
Phragmites.org, Phragmites.info

Phragmites.org Newsletter #19 - Feb. 28, 2008

Phragmites cutting contractor now available on Harsens Island
If you live on Harsens Island and have been thinking about getting some of that Phragmites cut before the ground thaws, but, you don't have the time or energy to do it yourself, there may be some help available. John Rasho, island resident is available as a Phragmites cutting contractor. If you are interested in hiring him you can contact him at 810-748-3071.

Don't forget, cutting Phragmites should only be done as part of a plan for treatment with herbicide. Cutting without treatment only encourages stronger growth of the plant.

______________________________________________________________________

To be removed from this mailing list send a message to Bob@Phragmites.org which says "remove."

Archived copies of past newsletters are available online at
http://www.stewartfarm.org/phragmites/archives.php

See http://www.phragmites.info for general information on phragmites and http://www.phragmites.org for detailed information on phragmites control.

Bob Williams
Bob@phragmites.org
StewartFarm.org

Phragmites.org Newsletter #18 - Feb. 23, 2008

We may not have too much longer to cut that Phragmites which is on our pond, canal or lake.
I was out cutting down the Phragmites on my pond yesterday. Part of it was in the area I treated with herbicide last fall and part in the area I am going to treat this coming fall. I installed a small 3.5" carbide tipped combination circular saw blade on my weed whacker and it works great. It was very gratifying to be fighting Phragmites in February. It has been tough to get the right weather for it, solidly frozen ice but not too cold to work outside. This weekend looks perfect to continue the work, however, with a Michigan March coming up we might not have too many more opportunities. A few days of above freezing temperatures and you won't see me out walking on the ice.
In case you missed the Phragmites.org newsletter last month about "Why cut your Phragmites in winter?" I have included it below:

"If you are planning to cut your Phragmites prior to a fall 2008 treatment with herbicide, soon might be a great time to do it.
Why cut it now? If you cut it when the ground is frozen you will not disturb the soil as much. Disturbing the soil would only encourage further Phragmites growth and soil erosion.
Why cut it before treatment? The stalks which are standing now are all dormant dead material. These will not grow again. The stalks which are green this coming summer will be new ones growing from the ground up. The only stalks which can carry the herbicide down to the roots this coming fall are the green ones which will grow new this summer. By cutting the dead material off before the new growth comes up you get that material out of the way for a good herbicide treatment of the green stuff. If it is left in place it will catch some of your chemicals which could otherwise fall on the green stems and leaves which you want to treat.
O.K. right now it is really cold, however, watch for those special days with no snow and frozen ground and get a head start on your 2008 Phragmites control. If you are cutting near or over water you may need a permit, and, be sure you are on solid ice. We don't want any accidents."
One final reminder. Cutting Phragmites should only be done as part of a plan for treatment with herbicide. Cutting without treatment only encourages stronger growth of the plant.

______________________________________________________________________

To be removed from this mailing list send a message to Bob@Phragmites.org which says "remove."

Archived copies of past newsletters are available online at
http://www.stewartfarm.org/phragmites/archives.php

See http://www.phragmites.info for general information on phragmites and http://www.phragmites.org for detailed information on phragmites control.

Bob Williams
Bob@phragmites.org
StewartFarm.org

Phragmites.org Newsletter #17 - Feb. 13, 2008

GET A GOAT FOR YOUR PHRAGMITES?
Check out this news article from Nebraska where they are grazing their goats and cows on Phragmites:
http://www.northplattebulletin.com/index.asp?show=news&action=readStory&storyID=13993&pageID=29
I don't guarantee that everything in this story is accurate, such as " The only limiting factor is that the roots must contact water, so phragmites only grows along rivers and streams. " I think many of us would disagree with that statement.

______________________________________________________________________

To be removed from this mailing list send a message to Bob@Phragmites.org which says "remove."

Archived copies of past newsletters are available online at
http://www.stewartfarm.org/phragmites/archives.php

See http://www.phragmites.info for general information on phragmites and http://www.phragmites.org for detailed information on phragmites control.

Bob Williams
Bob@phragmites.org
StewartFarm.org

Phragmites.org Newsletter #16 - Feb. 9, 2008

Low Lake Levels not good for Phragmites Fighters
In a Detroit News article on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008 it was reported that all the Great Lakes' levels continue to fall. Unfortunately this encourages the growth of the Phragmites. We will have our work cut out for us this coming fall. Read the complete article about the lake levels at:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080209/METRO/802090352/1409/METRO

______________________________________________________________________

To be removed from this mailing list send a message to Bob@Phragmites.org which says "remove."

Archived copies of past newsletters are available online at
http://www.stewartfarm.org/phragmites/archives.php

See http://www.phragmites.info for general information on phragmites and http://www.phragmites.org for detailed information on phragmites control.

Bob Williams
Bob@phragmites.org
StewartFarm.org

Phragmites.org Newsletter #15 - Feb. 4, 2008

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS ON PHRAGMITES
In the next few months there are a variety of workshops coming up at which Phragmites control is expected to be on the agenda. Some will cover a variety of invasives. Those might be good if you are hoping to gain a broader knowledge of invasives.

If you are considering attending any of these you should check with the sponsors to make sure they will be covering the aspect of phragmites control in which you are interested.

Space Invaders: Alien Plants are Taking Over Your Greenspace!
Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008, 8:30 AM to 11:30 AM
Sponsored by Friends of The Rouge.
Farmington Community Library, Farmington Hills, MI
Stop the spread of alien plants in your community. Land managers are invited to attend this workshop focused on controlling invasive plants and managing natural areas. Low cost control methods as well as best management practices will be discussed.

For more information go to http://stewartfarm.org/phragmites/pdf/InvasivePlantSpeciesworkshop.pdf

Michigan Invasive Plant Council Annual Sumposium.
Friday, Feb. 29, 2008, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
The program will focus on control techniques for aquatic and terrestrial invasive plants, including mechanical, biological, chemical, and Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM).
This symposium will be geared towards professionals in the field of vegetation management.
Location: Lincoln Room, Kellogg Center, East Lansing, MI
Registration Fee (includes lunch) $100 for MIPC members, $125 for non-members
Registration Due 2/22/08.

For more information go to http://www.invasiveplantsmi.org/

Michigan's Call to Action on Aquatic Invasive Species
Wednesday, March 5, 2008, 8:00 AM to 5 PM
The Office of the Great Lakes is hosting a meeting on Michigan's Call to Action on Aquatic Invasive Species to discuss the economic and environmental challenges facing the state of Michigan in regards to AIS (Aquatic Invasive Species).

For more information go to http://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/deq-ess-brochure-ais_222794_7.pdf
and http://www.deq.state.mi.us/eforms/ais2008registration.html

The Arundo/Phragmites Symposium sponsored by the Western Society of Weed Science
March 13 and 14, 2008
Anaheim, CA
The Arundo/Phragmites Symposium brings together experts
from both coasts to present the current knowledge on the biology, ecology, impacts, and management of
both species.

For more information go to http://www.wsweedscience.org/Meeting/2008/Arundo-phragmites_symposium.pdf

4th Binational Lake St. Clair Conference:
Implementing Restoration and Protection Efforts for the Heart of the Great Lakes
March 19-20, 2008
MacRay Harbor, Harrison Township, Michigan
The focus of this year's conference is implementing restoration and protection efforts for Lake St. Clair. The program will include plenary presentations on the status of major initiatives in the watershed, and smaller breakout sessions to focus on specific restoration and protection programs. The breakout sessions will be organized around a variety of topics, one of which is Phragmites Management.

For more information go to http://www.glc.org/stclair/conf2008.html

________________________________________________________________________

To be removed from this mailing list send a message to Bob@Phragmites.org which says "remove."

Archived copies of past newsletters are available online at
http://www.stewartfarm.org/phragmites/archives.php

See phragmites.info for general information on phragmites and phragmites.org for detailed information on phragmites control.

Bob Williams
Bob@phragmites.org
StewartFarm.org

Be aware that phragmites will burn much hotter and with blacker smoke than grass or brush. Neighbors might want to be notified to expect smoke that is similar to that coming from a scrap tire fire. However, my experience, like others is that even with the apparent hotter fire as judged by the smoke, the lower 3" above the ground does not burn well.

Greg Eagle
Land Protection Specialist
Saginaw Basin Land Conservancy
P.O. Box 222
311 Fifth Street
Bay City, MI 48707-0222
989-891-9986 phone
989-891-9987 fax
grege@sblc-mi.org

Phragmites.org Newsletter # 14B- Jan. 29, 2008
To be removed from this mailing list send a message to Bob@Phragmites.org which says "remove."

READER FEEDBACK ON
"SHOULD I BURN MY PHRAGMITES INSTEAD OF CUTTING IT?"
In response to yesterday's phragmites newsletter on burning phragmites I received the following comments from readers to add to our knowledge base.
"I have not been able to get Phragmites over water to burn."

"Cutting Phragmites before burning can cut down on the height of flames."

"Beaver Island is going to burn in the next couple weeks. I'll report back on how it goes."

"Fragmites begins to drop seed in January, for April Germination. Burning now might be a good idea to limit the Phragmites seedbank. A single Phragmites head can contain up to 2000 seeds."

"Burning Phragmites without chemically treating it first to kill the root system will encourage its growth."

Bob Williams
Bob@phragmites.org
248-388-0465
StewartFarm.org

Phragmites.org Newsletter # 14- Jan. 28, 2008
To be removed from this mailing list send a message to Bob@Phragmites.org which says "remove."

SHOULD I BURN MY PHRAGMITES INSTEAD OF CUTTING IT?
That depends on your goals.
The advantages of burning are that it may be less work than cutting, it will remove the phragmites material from the site, return nutrients to the soil and it may better expose the soil for germination of the native seed bank or installation of new plants.
Burning may be easier than cutting if the burn can be done safely and legally. Burning will require a permit from your local fire department. Some communities may not issue such a permit. Phragmites burns very hot with some of the tallest flames you will see in natural areas short of a forest fire. I have heard that the flames can be up to fifty feet high and there are stories of vinyl siding melting off buildings 100 feet from a phragmites fire. Burning of phragmites should only be done by people with plenty of burn experience, either by a fire department or a professional prescribed burn crew.
If you have no intention of rebuilding the native plant community it hardly matters whether you remove the cut phragmites material, return nutrients to or expose the soil. In fact, as you probably already know, if you burn phragmites without chemically treating it to kill the root system you can actually encourage its growth.
When you burn the phragmites may also depend on your goals. Right now, the end of January, people are burning phragmites on Walpole Island. Their goal is to provide access for them to set animal traps. On Harsens Island we recently tried unsuccessfully a couple of times to burn some phragmites from a small isolated pond. Our goal is to clear the dead stalks so that next fall's herbicide treatment will all land on actively growing stalks and leaves rather than dead material. Based on day to day weather conditions it can be difficult to get a phragmites fire to sustain itself. In both of the above cases we don't really care at this point if the soil is enhanced or exposed by the fire, we just need the phragmites out of the way. Burning in cold winter weather may result in the fire not burning the bottom portion of the stalks and the years of duff built up on the soil, however, it may be a cooler, slower fire and easier for the crew to control.
Bob Williams
Bob@phragmites.org
248-388-0465
StewartFarm.org

Follow up comments
- can not get it to burn over water
- cutting before burning can cut down on the height of flames
- Beaver Island is going to burn in the next couple weeks.
-Fragmites begins to drop seed in January for April Germination - burning now might be good. (up to 2000 seeds per head)

Phragmites.org Newsletter #13 - Jan. 20, 2008
To be removed from this mailing list send a message to Bob@Phragmites.org which says "remove."

This is not the kind of news you want to read when it is this cold outside but here it is - This could be the right time to cut your Phragmites.
If you are planning to cut your Phragmites prior to a fall 2008 treatment with herbicide soon might be a great time to do it.
Why cut it now? If you cut it when the ground is frozen you will not disturb the soil as much. Disturbing the soil would only encourage further Phragmites growth and soil erosion.
Why cut it before treatment? The stalks which are standing now are all dormant dead material. These will not grow again. The stalks which are green this coming summer will be new ones growing from the ground up. The only stalks which can carry the herbicide down to the roots this coming fall are the green ones which will grow new this summer. By cutting the dead material off before the new growth comes up you get that material out of the way for a good herbicide treatment of the green stuff. If it is left in place it will catch some of your chemicals which could otherwise fall on the green stems and leaves which you want to treat.
O.K. right now it is really cold, however, watch for those special days with no snow and frozen ground and get a head start on your 2008 Phragmites control. If you are cutting near or over water you may need a permit, and, be sure you are on solid ice. We don't want any accidents.
Bob Williams
Bob@phragmites.org
248-388-0465
StewartFarm.org

Phragmites.org Newsletter #12 - Jan. 11, 2008
To be removed from this mailing list send a message to Bob@Phragmites.org which says "remove."

DNR receives $500,000 grant to remove Phragmites at St. Johns Marsh, Clay Twp., MI

A January 10, 2008 article in The Port Huron Time Herald says
"Interior Secretary Dick Kempthorne announced last week the nationwide dispersal of $20.5 million in federal grants aimed to protect and conserve coastal wetlands. "
and
"This summer, Kafcas will begin the clean up of more than 800 acres of phragmites along the edges of Lake St. Clair. St. John's Marsh in Clay Township is one site slated for restoration."

Read the whole story at
http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801100311

Bob Williams
Bob@phragmites.org
248-388-0465
StewartFarm.org

Phragmites.org Newsletter #11 - Jan. 8, 2008
To be removed from this mailing list send a message to Bob@Phragmites.org which says "remove."

Update on Beaver Island, Michigan Phragmites fight
The following is a link to a "Phragmites Update" from the Fall-Winter 2007 issue of the Beaver Island Association's newsletter "Island Currents."

http://www.beaverislandassociation.org/2007/phragmites.php

Beaver Island, Michigan began their Phragmites program in 2007. One of their local residents, Barbara Lucas, producted a great introductory video to Phragmites which is available to view at

http://www.in-sitevideo.com/phragmites
Note - If you can't get the video to work on your computer it may be because you have an older version of Quicktime Player. If you are running Windows XP or Vista it should work OK.

In addition Barbara Lucas has started a website with Phragmites information which can be accessed at

http://www.in-sitevideo.com/phragmitesinfo

Bob Williams
Bob@phragmites.org
248-388-0465
StewartFarm.org

If you would like to be on a general email list to receive notices of other phragmites control events and information about controlling phragmites send your name to Newsletter@phragmites.org along with a message which says "subscribe."

Bob Williams and Chuck Miller are forming a committee of Harsens Islanders to continue to study the phragmites problem on Harsens Island and its solutions. They welcome others who would like to join the effort by further researching the topic and sharing knowledge on eliminating phragmites. If you are interested contact Bob Williams at Bob@StewartFarm.org or call Chuck Miller at 810-748-7209.