Sick and tired of the pandemic era? Going a little stir-crazy? Break through the winter blues and take action on invasives!
February is a great month to attack some invasive plants because they are more visible and approachable.
The Caterpillar Connection
Fun Fact: Chickadees need between 6240 and 9120 caterpillars to raise a family. Wow! Why?
Caterpillars are the premium food for our black capped chickadee friends: they are soft and easy to eat, relatively large, nutritious, low in non-digestible chitin (vs. beetles, for example), and among the highest of any foods in carotenoids, which are essential for the birds’ immune systems, overall health, sexual attraction mechanisms and vision. Bird seed is great, especially when other sources are covered in snow. But to reproduce, birds really need caterpillars.
Problem is, a huge number of caterpillars are host plant specific: they depend on just one plant. Think Monarch butterflies and milkweed. It takes a long time – eons – to evolve these specialized insect-plant connections. Those prize cultivars and imports from other continents that we showcase in our gardens are useless to most of our native caterpillars.
Worse, when a host plant disappears, the insects that depend on it can’t switch to another host, and they disappear. When invasive plants like Multiflora Rose, Oriental Bittersweet, Japanese Barberry and others dominate, overwhelm, outcompete and ultimately eliminate native plants that caterpillars depend on, the bird population declines or disappears as well.
When we replace woods with imported shrubs and trees, when we replace fields with monocultures like lawn, when we disrupt natural light patterns with artificial floodlights, we drive away crucial sustenance for birds and cripple the fragile diversity of our natural world.
What to do?
But not just any native plants. Some native plants are super valuable; others not so much.
At the top of the list: oaks! Oaks support about 500 species of caterpillars.
Other “keystone” trees (and the number of butterflies and moths whose caterpillars use them as hosts in our area): native versions of cherry (410), willow (377), birch (376), aspen/cottonwood (319).
Top flowers (and their dependent caterpillars): goldenrods (123), wild strawberries (77), native sunflowers (58).
Most of this comes from “Nature’s Best Hope,” a great presentation by the celebrated Dr. Doug Tallamy, Professor of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware (search: Tallamy’s Hub). Dr. Tallamy recommends three essential resources:
More resources, including UConn and Extension Service and other local publications, are available at www.GranbyInvasivePlants.weebly.com.
We are the leaders we’ve been waiting for
Working together, we’ll shift Granby fields, forests and yards choked with invasive imports to a healthy, sustainable mix of native plants beneficial to wild life and human life.
NOT WANTED: Granby's Conservation Commission's campaign to educate about and take action on invasive plants
February is a great month to attack some invasive plants because they are more visible and approachable.
- Cut big Multiflora Rose and Japanese Barberry shrubs and Asiatic Bittersweet vines to the ground.
- Let the winter weather pack them down and start the decay process.
- Make plans to pull the stumps in the spring and plant native replacements.
The Caterpillar Connection
Fun Fact: Chickadees need between 6240 and 9120 caterpillars to raise a family. Wow! Why?
Caterpillars are the premium food for our black capped chickadee friends: they are soft and easy to eat, relatively large, nutritious, low in non-digestible chitin (vs. beetles, for example), and among the highest of any foods in carotenoids, which are essential for the birds’ immune systems, overall health, sexual attraction mechanisms and vision. Bird seed is great, especially when other sources are covered in snow. But to reproduce, birds really need caterpillars.
Problem is, a huge number of caterpillars are host plant specific: they depend on just one plant. Think Monarch butterflies and milkweed. It takes a long time – eons – to evolve these specialized insect-plant connections. Those prize cultivars and imports from other continents that we showcase in our gardens are useless to most of our native caterpillars.
Worse, when a host plant disappears, the insects that depend on it can’t switch to another host, and they disappear. When invasive plants like Multiflora Rose, Oriental Bittersweet, Japanese Barberry and others dominate, overwhelm, outcompete and ultimately eliminate native plants that caterpillars depend on, the bird population declines or disappears as well.
When we replace woods with imported shrubs and trees, when we replace fields with monocultures like lawn, when we disrupt natural light patterns with artificial floodlights, we drive away crucial sustenance for birds and cripple the fragile diversity of our natural world.
What to do?
- Replace big chunks of lawn with native trees, shrubs, wildflowers and groundcovers, with deep woodchip mulch (not bark).
- Replace traditional floodlights with motion detector lights, yellow lights and LEDs.
- Control the invasive plants we have imported.
- Plant native plants.
But not just any native plants. Some native plants are super valuable; others not so much.
At the top of the list: oaks! Oaks support about 500 species of caterpillars.
Other “keystone” trees (and the number of butterflies and moths whose caterpillars use them as hosts in our area): native versions of cherry (410), willow (377), birch (376), aspen/cottonwood (319).
Top flowers (and their dependent caterpillars): goldenrods (123), wild strawberries (77), native sunflowers (58).
Most of this comes from “Nature’s Best Hope,” a great presentation by the celebrated Dr. Doug Tallamy, Professor of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware (search: Tallamy’s Hub). Dr. Tallamy recommends three essential resources:
- Native Plant Finder at the National Wildlife Foundation (source of the numbers above) -- www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder
- Essential Native Trees and Shrubs for the Eastern United States, Guild to Creating a Sustainable Landscape, by Tony Dove, Imagine, 2018
- HomegrownNationalPark.org, the grassroots movement to plant natives, restore biodiversity, and together grow a new national park, one home at a time: https://HomegrownNationalPark.org.
More resources, including UConn and Extension Service and other local publications, are available at www.GranbyInvasivePlants.weebly.com.
We are the leaders we’ve been waiting for
Working together, we’ll shift Granby fields, forests and yards choked with invasive imports to a healthy, sustainable mix of native plants beneficial to wild life and human life.
NOT WANTED: Granby's Conservation Commission's campaign to educate about and take action on invasive plants