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Alabama Wages War Against the Perfect Weed
pickens writes "Dan Berry writes in the NY Times that the State of Alabama is spending millions of dollars in federal stimulus money to combat Cogongrass, a.k.a. the perfect weed, the killer weed, and the weed from another continent. A weed that 'evokes those old science-fiction movies in which clueless citizens ignore reports of an alien invasion.' Cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica) is considered one of the 10 worst weeds in the world. 'It can take over fields and forests, ruining crops, destroying native plants, upsetting the ecosystem,' writes Berry. 'It is very difficult to kill. It burns extremely hot. And its serrated leaves and grainy composition mean that animals with even the most indiscriminate palates — goats, for example — say no thanks.' Alabama's overall strategy is to draw a line across the state at Highway 80 and eradicate everything north of it; then, in phases, to try to control it to the south. But the weed is so resilient that you can't kill it with one application of herbicide, you have to return several months later and do it again. 'People think this is just a grass,' says forester Stephen Pecot. 'They don't understand that cogongrass can replace an entire ecosystem.' Left unchecked, Pecot says 'it could spread all the way to Michigan.'"
Here in British Columbia we don't wage war on it, it's our #1 export.
Nice.
I'll have to plant some of that inbetween the patches of kudzu.
Now I only need a face-eater and I'll finally have a respectable death-world themed garden.
Mutate it to bring forth a strain which is tasty, and make those genes dominant. In 50 years time the goats will come around.
Alternatively mutate goats to have no sense of taste.
I am the lawn!
I had an entirely different thing in mind when I read "the perfect weed".
Genetically engineer a variante of that grass that is resistant to herbicides and infest your "favorite" competitor's/enemy's fields.
Criminials and terrorists these days are all about the quick short term damages. Nobody thinks about long term, sustainable damage these days. *sigh* Amateurs!
If it can be processed as fuel and ever spread to Michigan.. "Hey GM, fuel comes to you!"
Alternatively, an army of junk weed smoker could eradicate it better than goats.
Léa Gris
If it is that resilient and fast growing, you will not be able to control it anyhow. Many, many examples of invasive species throughout the world show this. So, just learn how to harvest it and make biodiesel/biogas/electricity out of it. No intensive agriculture, ferilizers or herbicides needed. Plus, this might piss off the corn/ethanol lobby enough to actually start taking action against the grass. Ether way, we win. Oh yeah, biodiversity losses, but that is shafted anyway...
Complexity is a measure of our ignorance...
Having seen goats chewing happily on pieces of clothing and other garbage, mutating goats to have no sense of taste sounds to me like mutating rabbits to have long ears. (I was planning to write something slightly different but less suited for small children and Americans here.)
Musicians don't die. They just decompose.
I totally read this as
"Congress, a.k.a. the perfect weed"
Can this voracious weed perhaps be turned into biofuel? It seems to grow fast, and almost anywhere.
Why not grind it up and compost it to make methane or something.
We have the same problem in the UK with Japanese Knot Weed. Nothing eats it, it can respawn from the smallest cutting. So you can't burn it, you can't throw it away, you can only poison it. And each stem has to be done individually, and the process needs to be repeated two or three times to kill the bloody thing. They're talking about introducing some japanese insects that feed on it, but then what's to say they wont prefer strawberries or wheat or something else?
It's like mutating your usual Ford and GM SUV to have more low-fuel indicator lights.
This sounds a lot like Kudzu - another plant brought over from Japan.
From TFA "For a while, government officials encouraged the use of cogongrass as a forage crop and as a way to stem soil erosion."
We did that with Kudzu too. What's with these agricultural guys promoting alien species they clearly know nothing about ?
Although, if nothing wants to eat it, why promote it as a forage crop ? That does suggest that some animal must like it. There must be some reason why the South of Japan is not one mass of Kudzu and cogongrass.
Thank god something living is willing to move back into Michigan. There is hope to save this state!
Aren't we supposed to all be about green energy these days? Pay someone to collect it. Shred and compress it into fuel pellets. Burn it to make heat or electricity.
There are a number of hints that say that we're dealing with a great energy-crop:
1. It burns extremely hot (yay)
2. It grows fast (good)
3. It certainly won't require herbicides (meaning it's "biological").
We just need some biologists to turn this stuff into fuel (ethanol)... alternatively, it can be pelletized.
The amazing stuff about this is, that you can play 36 holes on it in the afternoon, take it home and just get stoned to the bejeezus-belt, that night, on this stuff.
I think they're barking up the wrong tree; controlling the weed seems like an expensive pasttime. Instead, I'd combat it genetically:
- start building up cultures of the weed, test the characteristics of different strains (go for ones that are more susceptible to infections, aphids, lower burn temperatures, less serrated edges, etc), breed these together, and create a weaker strain; distribute that across infested regions to weaken the weed.
- start building up cultures of creatures that can (potentially) see the weed as a source of dinner, breed these to make them more voracious, and ultimately spread them at the same time that the weakened next generation of the weed from step 1 takes hold. This should ensure a successful startup of the weed killer.
This way you can change it from a curse into a blessing for the bugs, and from there on for many sections of the food chain. Bugs are the plankton of the land. You might even be able to apply such evolutionary abuse to many different scenario's: bullfrogs in australia, or the heaping of plastic particles in the Pacific by breeding plankton, for example. An this way, you're following a perfectly natural course; you're just helping it along a little by speeding the implementation of a counterbalance.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it well worth the effort.
It's OK. It is obvious that you are a product of the public school system.
--
Who the fuck are you calling "foul mouthed", you cock-sucking sonofabitch?!
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
Doesn't even need to be pelletized. They have outside furnaces now that are designed to take big round bales. And I imagine any coal burning plant has the means to take the stuff in bulk as well. But then harvesting it and moving it around would just spread the seeds further.
With that said, there probably isn't any chemical control that would work, although that monsanto "terminator" gene tech might. Still risky though.
Invasive species are a PITA, I am always having to deal with them here. For example I have gradually started turning tide on multiflora rose, after five years of a lot of effort, spraying, mowing and physically yanking the big clumps out by the roots with chains and the tractor. They get to be like freeking little trees almost. One interesting thing I found out though, this rose also attracts another invasive species, Japanese beetles, that munch on it. So sometimes I get a good "twofer" opportunity for eradication.
I haven't seen that cogongrass yet on the property, but IF I do, I'll make it a point to nail that stuff daily if that is what it takes.
'it could spread all the way to Michigan.'
But frankly it will probably stop at the Michigan border. Even this weed has its limits...
Well we can chalk this up alongside: The termite colony in England that will soon devour the East Coast, the English Wallaby colony, The devouring rhododendron of Wales, the German Racoon Colony, and lets not forget all those other weeds busy clogging up the waterways of Europe nor the somewhat rampant (and delicious baked in a pie) American Grey Squirrel locked in a Star Wars type war with the Rebel Alliance of Red Squirrels - also in the UK.
Then there's the Florida Pythons (not a new comedy team), South American Fire ants and First Amongst Equals the Cane Toad in Oz.
However I do believe the English landed Gentry managed to finish off the last member of the Coypu Colony (sort of giant hamster) but have had no success with the now wild and thoroughly naturalised Mink which is doing an "Alien" along the clogged up waterways ripping everything with a heartbeat to shreds as it advances further and further North.
Thanks in most part to: Stupidity, Cack Science, well-meaning Animal Libbers, Globalisation and the simple fellow who thought it would be a great idea to have those charming racoons climbing in and out of German wheelie bins (a sort of Euro-dumpster)
Posts, MyBio or Sig, may contain satire, sarcasm, bolded nouns be sardonic or even witty & be Church of SD
Send a zillion seeds and drop them on Mars. Wait. Within years, the planet will be green. Oxygen abundant. Then we can burn half of it, and turn up the heat in the greenhouse~
its a simpsons reference when new lizards are introduced
From Wikipedia:
Since the town considered the pigeons to be a nuisance, they are delighted with the fact that the lizards have eaten all the pigeons. As a result, Bart is thanked and honored by Mayor Quimby with a loganberry scented candle. Lisa worries that the town will now become infested by lizards rather than the pigeons, but Skinner assures her that they will send in Chinese Needle Snakes, then snake-eating gorillas, and then "winter will take care of the rest."
"... the State of Alabama is spending millions of dollars in federal stimulus money to combat Congress, a.k.a. the perfect weed, the killer weed, and the weed from another continent. A weed that 'evokes those old science-fiction movies in which clueless citizens ignore reports of an alien invasion.'
Congress (Imperialista corruptivus) is considered one of the 10 worst weeds in the world. 'It can take over farms and factories, ruining cops, destroying Native Americans, upsetting the economic system,' writes Berry. 'It is very difficult to kill.' But the weed is so resilient that you can't kill it with one election, you have to return two years later and do it again. Left unchecked, Pecot says 'it could spread all the way to Europe.'"
In times of universal deceit, telling the truth gets you modded -1 Troll
I just love the Wikipedia page on this stuff. It's pretty clinical and detached, until you get to the bottom and see where it's listed as a 'native' species:
Categories: Poaceae | Invasive plant species | Flora of the Canary Islands | Flora of Algeria | Flora of Egypt | Flora of Morocco | Flora of Ethiopia | Flora of Kenya | Flora of Tanzania | Flora of Uganda | Flora of Burundi | Flora of Cameroon | Flora of Gabon | Flora of Rwanda | Flora of Benin | Flora of Burkina Faso | Flora of Ghana | Flora of Guinea | Flora of Liberia | Flora of Mali | Flora of Nigeria | Flora of Senegal | Flora of Sierra Leone | Flora of Togo | Flora of Malawi | Flora of Mozambique | Flora of Zambia | Flora of Zimbabwe | Flora of Botswana | Flora of Lesotho | Flora of Namibia | Flora of South Africa | Flora of Swaziland | Flora of Oman | Flora of Yemen | Flora of Afghanistan | Flora of Cyprus | Flora of Iran | Flora of Iraq | Flora of Israel | Flora of Turkey | Flora of Armenia | Flora of Azerbaijan | Flora of Georgia (country) | Flora of Russia | Flora of China | Flora of Japan | Flora of Korea | Flora of Bhutan | Grasses of India | Flora of Nepal | Flora of Pakistan | Flora of Sri Lanka | Flora of Cambodia | Flora of Laos | Flora of Burma | Flora of Thailand | Flora of Vietnam | Flora of Indonesia | Flora of Malaysia | Flora of Papua New Guinea | Flora of the Philippines | Poales of Australia | Flora of Queensland | Flora of Victoria (Australia) | Flora of Tasmania | Angiosperms of Western Australia | Flora of South Australia | Flora of the Northern Territory | Flora of Greece | Flora of Italy | Flora of France | Flora of Portugal | Flora of Spain
I, for one, welcome our silica-edged (!) sawtooth grass overlords.
Genocide Man -- Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass murder can be hilarious.
If the spread of Cogongrass means fewer bugs to annoy us, fewer trees to topple over and kill people, fewer birds who block vents with their nests, fewer deer to ruin cars, I don't think any locals would care. We have too much nature as it is. Alabama turns into a black river of roaches at night, a yellow fog of meat bees during the day, a green carpet of fallen leaves and trees during storms. Every shoe, dark corner in the house is inhabited by aggressive scorpions who come at us. Our walkway is a highway for the local population of leprosy-carrying armadillos. We keep our house very clean, and all food (including crackers) is immediately put in the refrigerator, but every morning, we wake up to a mass grave of dead beetles on the pesticide-treated carpet. Birds have figured out how to break into vent grills and build nests inside. We avoid the woods because the grass carries a black fog of disease-carrying ticks. If you think I'm making this up, you haven't lived here. We live in Alabama's biggest city, and in the countryside it's worse. Every rainstorm means the roads turn into an obstacle course of fallen trees, and it's extremely dangerous. A lot of cows, horses, boars, armadillos, dogs, deer, and other animals threaten drivers. Street lights that work are scarce, so at night everything becomes as dark as a cave. Driving is considered a man's job in the countryside.
Environmentalism is valued by people who live in big cities, for whom forests appear to be a scarce resource.
Grows anywhere? Doesn't need to be watered or fertilized? Sounds like a possible biomass for electricity production to me, and a cheap one. Maybe this plant could also be used to hinder desertification.
Bearded Dragon
It never rains but it pours :-(
Not only do we have the oil fields drying up so alternative fuels are needed to run power stations but now we have this useless, oily, hot-burning plant that grows like crazy anywhere and nobody knows how to get rid of it.
They whose government reduces their essential liberties for temporary security, receive neither liberty nor security.
Isn't this just typical of the American South and Bible Belt?
Here we have a very visible proof of evolution in action (one species moving into a new area and out competing everything else), and what does the Alabama state government do? They try to eradicate that proof in a foolish attempt to show that an intelligently designed ecosystem is better, especially when it's helped by God's chosen: man.
I say to the silent majority of Americans who aren't buying into intelligent design, that you should rise up and fight this atrocity. Go out there and plant Cogongrass in your nears gardens, parks, forests and wildlife areas! Viva la Evolutión!
</joke>
The problem is that we need liquid biofuels. Ethanol production is just not going to happen. The first step in production is fermentation and that wastes 40% of your source energy. Then purification requires a lot of energy. At least with biodiesel, all you're doing is splitting off a glycerol molecule. But then, what do you do with all that glycerol? Back to point, ethanol - not very useful. Let's see if Monsanto can bio-engineer this thing to grow big oily pods.
I'm not sure what this "balance" thing is that people keep on talking about. It's as if they believe that ecosystems without humans are in some kind of stable equilibrium, which is bizarre and counter-factual. Not only do new species show up now and then without human intervention, environmental conditions change, and species-interactions occur, that prevent anything remotely resembling stability beyond the very basic level required for the moderately long-term persistance of life.
And it seems that you believe that because absolute statism is impossible, all changes are equal.
No there's no such thing as "balance" as some kind of permanent thing. Yes ecosystems change without human intervention. But when stated as such absolutes, these statements are essentially meaningless. You are quite deliberately not drawing a distinction between the mountains eventually eroding, and them being bulldozed into the ocean in a week.
If you don't take a literal absolutist definition of "balance" as "statism", then it's obvious that there is a balance in our ecosystems. Yes they change, borders between ecosystems move, species adapt, yet these things all happen together, maintaining over time a balance despite change. Because they aren't mutually exclusive opposites in the real world of shades of gray. The whole reason why these introduced plants are a problem is because they didn't evolve here. Thus their impact in this ecosystem clearly differs from that of any organism that did evolve here, or with their impact in the ecosystem they did evolve in.
That is the kind of balance we're talking about. Not an absolutist balance, but the natural kind where species co-evolve. No you can't maintain anything like this over the long term in the face of ice ages and other geologic/climate changes, no you can't prevent any species from ever being introduced to an environment where it did not evolve and has a disruptive effect, but that's fine, nobody is saying we must. But there's a reason the last major extinction event occurred after humans arrived, with millennia of relative stability before even in the face of advancing or retreating glaciers.
So just because change is inevitable, that does not mean we humans should not try, nor be concerned with, avoiding being the instrument of rapid and destructive change. That's a foolish, irresponsible view which is what absolutism always is.
If you value ecosystemic "balance" then you should be rooting for the weed (as it were) because the sooner humans stop interfering with its spread the sooner a new quasi-equilibrium will be established.
Ridiculous, as the shortest path to "quasi-equilibrium" is to return to the one that the introduction of this weed by humans disturbed. Introduce an invasive species, then don't "interfere" with it -- this is exactly the kind of thing this strawman-based absolutist "logic" leads to.
If, on the other hand, you are simply a conservative, and value the world as it is because that is the world you know, you should say so and argue on that basis, and not impute your conservative beliefs to some equilibrium principle that is false to fact.
Oh please. If you can't see any consequences to destroying the ecosystems that evolved on this continent in the blink of an eye beyond economic inconvenience and sentimentality, then you have no business lecturing others as if you understand the issues here.
The enemies of Democracy are
To save you looking at the slideshow, yes, of course it's a Toyota.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.