Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
rate this answer
Wednesday - October 06, 2004
From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Non-Natives
Title: Disposal of non-native chinaberry and ligustrum and their seeds
Answered by: Stephen Brueggerhoff
QUESTION:
I've got some chinaberry and ligustrum in a section of our lot that I am going to remove to make room for native plants. Both have berries, & I was wondering if running them through a chipper will have the effect of spreading the seeds, causing future problems.ANSWER:
Both chinaberry (Melia azaderach) & privet (Ligustrum sp.) are introduced species with invasive tendencies, placed on invasive plant lists by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council & the SE Exotic Pest Plant Council. They are quite successful regarding distribution primarily because of the seed (i.e. size & number of seed). Running the seeds through a chipper is not likely to destroy all, or even most, of the seed. This is especially true of the smaller Ligustrum seed. It will be a bit more work, but since both plants exhibit their seed in clusters, you could remove the clusters after you have cut down the trees before you put them through the chipper. This would minimize the number of berries in the chipped material. You can then dispose of the seeds so that they will not have the chance to germinate in your garden. You could also compost the chipped material, but may have to hand weed any propagules that survive a composting process. The other alternative is to collect all the chipped material and dispose of it without spreading it on your garden.More Non-Natives Questions
Lists of edible plants in region of Pennsylvania for school project
September 12, 2006 - Please Help! I'm a grade four teacher in Philadelphia. My students and
I are assigned a theme project that involves listing edible plants that
grow in our region. Can you recommend a web site(s)...
view the full question and answer
Male or female Jatropha curcas from Brownsville TX
August 16, 2012 - How do know the sex of a young Jatropha C. plant? how many weeks before you can tell a boy/girl plant ?
view the full question and answer
Replacing non-native St. Augustine with native grasses in Rockport TX
February 18, 2009 - Mr. Smarty Plants, I have a few questions for you. I live in Rockport and am in the process of revamping my yard to native species. I currently have San Augustine, weed infested grass. I want to scrap...
view the full question and answer
Kerrville Soil for Vegetables
May 03, 2012 - We are moving to our vacation home in Kerrville, TX and plan on putting in a vegetable garden on the sunny north side of our house. I'm assuming that your answer to the person inquiring about "soil...
view the full question and answer
Edibility of non-native garlic sprouts from Brancburg, NJ
March 12, 2013 - I have regular garlic in my refrigerator. It had sprouts growing out of it so I put it in a cup of water. Now that the stems are large enough to put in food, my question is.. Is that part of the garl...
view the full question and answer
| Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |