I have a bunch of small tree tree of heaven saplings technically in my yard, but behind my fence... and several neighbors (at least 4) are in the same situation. All of our backyards back up to business parking lots on top of a large retaining wall. One neighbor has a grove that's spread to the other side of the fence.

I'm so worried these saplings are going to kill all my natives against my fence if I don't act soon. I know the right time to apply herbicide and remove is late summer/ early fall.. but is there anything I can do now to help stop all these saplings from getting big/spreading/killing my natives before late summer? Some are even growing through the gaps in the fence.

I plan on contacting the state dept of conservation to see about options. I hope to get all neighbors on board, but 2 of them don't care about invasives (no mow may people) and are very against herbicides. I hope they will be convinced by the dept of conservation info.

I haven't heard anything from the invasive lionfish have they been eradicated.

I have had one person tell me this is what they did. That they dug up the rhizomes and planted grass over it and just mowed it, and have read a few places that mowing works but of course I read it’s best not to mow. I don’t know what their yard looks like and to what degree they were eradicated but they told me they got rid of them this way.

I am surrounded by it so I think to a degree I will always have to deal with it. But my neighbor whose yard is mowed has some coming up in the grass, but it’s established in a flower bed, but for the most part it isn’t really in the grass. I don’t know how much mowing truly helps. But I do know they do not have it mowed weekly.

In my situation I don’t think I have to worry about spreading it here by mowing because it’s filling my entire back yard anyway. Not near my house, but down a hill. And I use a landscaper only for my front yard where there is no knotweed. So my mower will only be used in the infested area. It might be an 80’ x 70’ area.

So far I have dug up all the rhizomes and piled them, and what came back was smaller knotweed. I also sprayed some several times last summer. I learned later on I should have waited until September to spray. Some of them have come back looking weak and little, others are a mini version of a full sized cane.

I have been pulling up as many as I can for the past 2 weeks and putting them in a bag to throw away because it is permitted in my area. I planted grass. Once the grass can be mowed I plan to just mow the knotweed and put the clippings in a designated area on tarp.

I just wonder what will this honestly look like? It seems to me they establish where land isn’t being mowed. And I found a map that shows all these knotweed locations and I see the knotweed butting up to a field and abruptly stopping because the field is being mowed. But then there is my neighbor, but I know they do not mow weekly so perhaps that’s why I see some in their grass. But I don’t know. And maybe that field had just been mowed, I know in the photo it is not at the height of growth season.

I plan to just mow weekly and in the fall I will spray any leaves I see even if it sacrifices some of the grass I planted. I just don’t know if the knotweed will end up staying in my yard for the next 10 years and what that may mean for me trying to plant things. I think I just want it to be grass and large shrubs anyway. I live near woods. The neighbor who mows is the only one next to me that has a yard cleared. The other ones just let it all be natural so I don’t know that I can expect a collaborative effort and to what degree.

Sorry this is so long. I’ve spent a lot of time on it so far so I guess I just have a lot to say thinking about it all this time. I would really like to hear from anyone who’s actually tried mowing it long term.

We just completed our annual invasive plant inventory. Our farm's count for plant species listed by Virginia as invasive sits at 26. TWENTY SIX different species of listed invasive plants that we know of (plus another ~dozen that are listed as invasive by other states).

I don't know what to do. I'm trying to run a farm, but my full-time job could be trying to control the invasive plants on our 65-acre property. Is there any point? We're all obviously losing this war, and I feel like I'm wasting my time fighting it.

I regret learning about invasive species.

I have all the luck

As you can see in the attached photo, I'm dealing with not the occassional plant but thousands of square feet of Stilt grass. I've tried mowing it down, but it always goes to seed, no matter when or how high I cut it. Is is reasonable to assume I can cover this much sf with Acclaim and a pump sprayer? There are natives I would like to preserve underneath all of this, included orchids, so anything less selective would be bad. I just don't know how to tackle all of it given the density, the three year seed bed, and that fact that one missed plant could reseed an entire area.

https://preview.redd.it/l40crzg479va1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=d921a467ca2d76b29e46abb2860fd382463028b3

And if so, how much of a threat to the local wildlife are they? And are certain areas with wildlife more vulnerable with pheasants around?

I'm currently renting an apartment that has european starlings nesting up in it. This is the second year since they've moved in, and they seem to have brought more starling friends with them this year.

Normally I wouldn't mind because we have other birds that nest up in there too, and sometimes squirrels move in during winter, but the starlings are directly above my bed and their babies are LOUD. They make noise from 6am-2am. Non-stop. It absolutely wrecks my sleep schedual and drives me nuts. For the entire time they're nesting, I can barely stand being in my room.

I tried blocking off the entry holes outside my window, but the holes in the eaves of the apartment span across ALL the units, and the attic is wide open, so the birds have many places to fly into.

My landlord also refuses to do anything about it. He actually wants us to move out so he can renovate the place :/ So telling him to do anything about it will get me nowhere.

Is there anything I can do about it myself? Does anyone know of any deterrents that work? Or maybe some good noise-cancelling earplugs i can get so i can at least sleep at night? I really can't stand those damned birds and its going to be a miserable month when those babies hatch.

https://i.imgur.com/xhfyRXF.jpg

Been pissing in this same spot off and on since about end of February. I'd say maybe a total of 7 times or so. It's the only spot that's devoid of goutweed. You can see the small goutweed shoots to the right and left. Time will tell if it's actually killing it.

Too bad I can't piss on it everywhere else. I mean I can but people will see me and I'm kidney shy. Plus that's a whole lotta pissing.

Please excuse my ignorance as I’m new to this topic, I thought it best to ask the thread.

What are the guidelines/rules on fishing invasive crayfish species in UK freshwater rivers?

I’m curious to know, as I’ve been reading around and from what I can tell there is a native UK species which is being wiped out by a US crayfish species, but presumably fishing for crayfish would involve correctly IDing the native UK species.

I have a neglected field on my NJ farm that hasn't been tended in a long time. There are portions that have clumps of nut sedge that I can pretty easily spot treat with Sedgehammer, but the plant is also spreading by seed and growing in between cool season grasses. I won't be able to spot treat these portions, because they're several thousand square feet. If I overseed with desirable grasses and clover and allow those to grow tall, any chance the nut sedge will die off from being smothered, or at least enough to a point where I can spot treat it in a few years?

House sparrows are mating in abundance at the outdoor mall in my town. There’s really nothing you can do in a situation like this is there?

It would be weird to trap them with a sparrow trap, I mean people are around im not going to make a fuss

They also nest high up in the palm tree frond base, dozens of them.

Just hard to see them doing well every week after kicking out all our bluebirds :/