Posted on: April 25th, 2018

Words on Town Weeds and Worms, April 10

Happy Spring, Gold Hill! 

What a great town meeting we had last night wrt weeds  (and other topics). This email is a response to what came up last night wrt weeds and worms. 

In general, for a wide range of information on specific invasive plants and best practices for mitigation, USFS monographs are my favorite first go-to resource. Google the invasive plant name plus “USFS monograph;” geek out as desired.  

Topic #1: Mullein

First, Emily and Steffi will be leading a mullein pulling party at some point on GH Open Space. They will let the town know where and when. 

Here’s the USFS monograph on mullein. If you’re not sure what mullein looks like, check out their photos. Those inclined to herbal medicine may want to note their “Other Uses” section. 

For mitigation on open space areas, the USFS says: “Increased levels and frequencies of disturbances may increase the density of the common mullein seed bank. In northern Arizona, the density of common mullein seedlings emerging from soil samples increased with increased levels of past land use.” Of course the Four Mile Fire was the main past disturbance here, in addition to past mining and ag land use.

They go on to say: “Physical control methods may be an effective method of removing small aboveground common mullein populations. Plants severed through the root crown below the basal leaves do not sprout [16]. Flowering stalks should be removed from the site to limit additions to the seed bank.”  

There is as yet no known effective bio control for  mullein, but I have put out feelers in official circles on this anyway for notification.

Mullein is a List C species. As such, this instruction from the state website is important to read:

List C Species are species for which the Commissioner, in consultation with the state noxious weed advisory committee, local governments, and other interested parties, will develop and implement state noxious weed management plans designed to support the efforts of local governing bodies to facilitate more effective integrated weed management on private and public lands. The goal of such plans will not be to stop the continued spread of these species but to provide additional education, research, and biological control resources to jurisdictions that choose to require management of List C species.

What about replacement plants for mullein?

This is such a great topic. The response to “what about replacement plants” can vary depending on situation and plant.
This brings up some questions, which need response and discussion from stakeholders.

The concept of crowding out unwanted plants comes from the concept of out-competing and the practice of cover cropping and multiple cropping. It works very well in regenerative farm, garden, and landscaping situations, ie. human-dominant situations.

Per USFS mullein does not like shade. So mullein replacement plants would be trees or any native bush that will grow tall and shade them out.

I assume we’d want native trees, which around here would be Doug fir or Ponderosa, which are what grow in regular, non-wet situations here. ? We’d have to plant shade everywhere (ie. foresting our fields), as mullein seeds can remain viable up to 100 years (in some studies) in the seed bank and can migrate via birds etc.

Is this what the land wants? Mullein thrives in fields. In fields here, trees are naturally sparse. On Open Space, do we want to apply human intensive management to open space, which is wild land? Do we want to adhere to the permaculture design principle of zoning? Would we even be successful in imposing our ideas on the land? Do we want to impose them? These are open questions needing discussion among stakeholders.

Let’s look further into logistics just for a moment.

 Who would care for these trees/shade plants on open space?

Watering to get those trees established…who would pay for and tend this system for the necessary years it will take? Where do we get the water, where does it get plugged in, where do we get a hose long enough? Or volunteers with buckets from an as-yet unnamed water source? On our hypothetical mullein-replacement area we could create the most fantastic water-holding soil in the tree root zone that we could. But this intensive management would change the wild ecosystem and still it would need water and watering care.

One word of warning:

The mullein has to be cut the way the USFS says to do or the plant will come back, flowers and all, either teency weency or with more heads with more flowers. It’s very resilient. If you are in the mood to laugh, it can look pretty funny.  So just be aware if you choose to whack at the stalk during the growing season.

Or just get it in the fall when it’s dead, when you are out gathering weeds for kindling for your winter fires and it’s easier to pull out.

What to do with the mullein stalk once you’ve pulled it out:

Remove the flowers with seed and use the rest for mulch. Break up and spread it on the area you’ve just disturbed by pulling, as keeping the land covered, or “armored” is #1 important. The less disturbance, the fewer weeds. Even if taking the dead mullein stalk for kindling, save some for covering land in this way. Make sure it won’t blow away. Just cover the soil. Not too high, as we don’t want any fire danger from mulch that will dry quickly.

You can put some on your garden as mulch, too, without seed of course. In the garden you can shred and pile it higher, as it won’t dry out.

Treating Mullein and Other Weed Stands Biodynamically

Some may like to do this, called ashing or peppering. See  Bulletin on Biodynamic Weed Control.

Harvest and Use

Mullein flowers and leaves have been used medicinally since ancient times, through many civilizations. It’s considered a strong herbal plant.

 

Topic #2: Goats/Sheep for Weed Control on Open Space areas—expensive and companies providing this service are scarce. To make it affordable, we’d need a town herd and to take turns as herders. This would take organization. If people are interested, we can look into it. If anyone knows of a new local mom-or-pop operation that is not expensive, let us all know.

 Topic #3: Mitigation in Dixon Gully, or “Dixon Canyon” if you prefer– the one created by the Flood of 2013. This is Boulder County’s property and call. I wrote them and will let folks at the next town meeting know what they say. 

Topic #4: Charles Walters’ book Weeds: Control Without Poisons. The late Charles Walters, founder of ACRES USA, the magazine of U.S. eco-agriculture, “provides specifics on a host of weeds — why they grow, what soil conditions spur them on or stop them, what they say about your soil and how to control them” through nutrient management. There was some interest in trying his methods together. Let us know if you’re interested. 

  

Topic #5: Want More Info on Weeds. Not sure what they look like. Photos don’t give me the confidence I need to ID them. Please send out information once a month. 

First, to get the state overview, start here. Click on List A, List B, and List C for photos. That said, a bunch of these are not in the state yet and not in our county and certainly not up here.

On List A we are reported to have: Purple Loosestrife (in wet areas only),  Orange Hawkweed.  

On List B we have seen here: Absinthe Wormwood, Bouncingbet (well, in at least one of the canyons anyway), Bull thistle, Canada thistle, Common tansy, Dalmation toadflax, Yellow toadflax, Dame’s rocket, Hoary cress, Perennial pepperweed, Leafy spurge, Russian knapweed,  spotted knapweed, Oxeye daisy, Russian olive.

On List C we have seen here:  Chicory, Common Mullein, Field Bindweed, Johnsongrass, Perennial Sowthistle. 

If you’ve seen or see others not mentioned above, give a holler. 

Weed ID Walks: I am happy to lead short weed ID walks (a few plants at a time so it’s not overwhelming). We’ll put out a notice later in the season– maybe June for the first one.  

Topic #6: Composting

There was interest in finding out more about composting, either just weeds (without their reproductive structures) but also food waste. 

First, there was one concern about bears. Bears are attracted by meat and sweets. In my family’s 25 years of food waste composting in the mountains out in the open (no fence), we only attracted bear interest once, twenty years ago, when I put thirty six whole watermelon and canteloupe skins at once into the compost. (What was I thinking?) The bear ate only one kind of melon rind and left me the other to clean up. I forget which s/he preferred.  

Compost References: 

There is a Boulder County grant we can go for if we want to do it on a town scale. Eco-Cycle recommends Peter Moon’s O2 Compost System. No turning involved, which is important in our climate, with our soils (creates more fungi).

Another highly recommended system that can be used at town or household scale is the Johnson-Su Bioreactor. (link is to Johnson’s 12 minute video). Despite the fancy name, it’s easy. No turning involved, creates more fungi. 

Helmut Schimmel’s book just translated into English Compost Revolution: Natural Growing with Worm Humus   (he’s an expert in Germany). Also for home scale, no turning involved, creates more fungi.

Worm Composting video with Marjorie Peronto of the University of Maine Extension. The standard  home-scale way. Very clear demonstration. 

Then there’s the usual cold composting way most of us have done it over the years—throw our food scraps on the compost heap or in the pit, mixed with twice as much “brown” material—straw, leaves, etc. so there’s no smell at all. However, the above compost teachers do excellent work; good to know about them if you are caring for plants and land.  

Not recommending rapid thermal composting at this time, due to current drought conditions and Schimmel’s reasoned arguments (turning involved).  

Yours truly,

Pam

pamsher123@nullgmail.com