In the Lesser Antilles, Triphasia trifolia has been importated from Asia for ornemental purposes. This shrub forms now thickets and monospecific stands in natural coastal forests. These stands are most often lower than 1 meter high but with some individuals reaching more than 3 meters ! This species re-sprouts from stumps and roots (like Leucaena leucocephala) therefore it appears necessary to re-treat former removal sites. The only long-term solution I found in the literature was to dig around and remove all the vegetal material with heavy machinery, which is impossible in remote locations, too expensive and imply too great impact for other species.
Do you have a tried and tested solution ? or some advices to deal with this species ?
I don't know this species, but two non-chemical methods which might be worth investigating are mechanical control like Lever and Mulch(TM) (see http://www.highlandbirchwoods.co.uk/userfiles/file%5CIntro%20to%20Lever%20&%20Mulch.pdf) and use of cut and cover techniques like Buckthorn baggies (http://www.buckthornbaggie.com/).
In Scotland, Lever and Mulch has been used against rhododendron, which is difficult to control, as it layers, and re-sprouts from buds around the root collar. This method includes a variety of manual techniques, but is based on using the trunk as a lever to break the plant up as much as possible, with the dead material left as a mulch to smother remaining layers. I don't know whether the structure of Triphasia would be suitable for these techniques, but it might be worth trying.
Cut and cover is useful for plants that resprout from a stump - you basically zip-tie thick plastic bags over the stumps to kill the plant. It has been used in America against buckthorn, and we are testing it in Scotland against beech, but only on small sites where the bags can be collected up again. It should be possible to develop something like this using a biodegradable material. However, this is unlikely to be useful for something that spreads via rhizomes.
I imagine that you could try to apply Roundup on what is left after doing hard work and this also before the fruits are clearly produced. I read it recently when looking for parasites since it was used in some fruit trees to prevent the regrowth of these.
Thanks José but Roundup is about to be forbidden in my country and in fact I would like to set up a more ecological/biological technique.
I don't know this species, but two non-chemical methods which might be worth investigating are mechanical control like Lever and Mulch(TM) (see http://www.highlandbirchwoods.co.uk/userfiles/file%5CIntro%20to%20Lever%20&%20Mulch.pdf) and use of cut and cover techniques like Buckthorn baggies (http://www.buckthornbaggie.com/).
In Scotland, Lever and Mulch has been used against rhododendron, which is difficult to control, as it layers, and re-sprouts from buds around the root collar. This method includes a variety of manual techniques, but is based on using the trunk as a lever to break the plant up as much as possible, with the dead material left as a mulch to smother remaining layers. I don't know whether the structure of Triphasia would be suitable for these techniques, but it might be worth trying.
Cut and cover is useful for plants that resprout from a stump - you basically zip-tie thick plastic bags over the stumps to kill the plant. It has been used in America against buckthorn, and we are testing it in Scotland against beech, but only on small sites where the bags can be collected up again. It should be possible to develop something like this using a biodegradable material. However, this is unlikely to be useful for something that spreads via rhizomes.
Thank you very much Jeanette. Lever and Mulch or Buckthorn Baggies are exactly the kind of techniques I would like to test on Triphasia trifolia stands. However I did not find enough literature on T.f. ecology or ecophysiology to be sure that they will succeed. Does anyone have experience on the techniques proposed by Jeannette or experience with other removal techniques ?
Prunus serotina (American alien under-story shrub in European temperate forest) is controlled at high labor cost manually for decades, but not eradicated. Recently, the cutting/sawing is combined with a purposive fungus infection of the stump. If you want to know details let me know.
However, the record of controlling alien invasive plants is not encouraging (e.g. attached). I know only a few out of the more than thousands alien invasive plants that have been controlled effectively (see my various Q&A on RG). Three fundamental issues are relevant for efficacy: who owns the land /use rights or in other words who are the stakeholders to be involved, consider the invasion as a symptom of a land use change, not the primary cause of the cover change and design and quickly establish a new cover replacing the removed invasive.
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Hi, I am also support very much the idea on identifying a group of native species (woody species or grasses) that present suitable traits, for regenerating habitats invaded by Triphasia trifolia can be the best option. Machinery is more costly and that might more stimulate the growth than before. Restoration would contribute to enrichment of biodiversity and repairing the food web, which could lead to substantial decrease of invasive species growth and distribution.
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