The thread in mid october by cordgrass showed some beautiful tupelo gum swampland in south Louisiana.
There is something extremely sad in the swamp pictures. Look closely at those green plants about the size of your thumbnail. That is an imported fern called Giant Salvinia. In the good sunlight and in the summer, that plant is the fastest growing plant on Earth. It is an asexual fern that doesn't have to flower to reproduce, and incredibly one pound of it can generate 1 billion pounds in one month. And it can get 3 feet thick. That plant has ravaged our swamps and many of our lakes in Louisiana. For example, Lake Bistineau in Louisiana is about 16,000 acres in size. It became infected with Giant Salvinia several years ago and had about 8,000 acres of giant salvinia in it. They spayed the lake and then drained it. It takes a couple months for the lake to refill. By the time it refilled, it had about 8,000 acres of brand new giant salvinia in it. Our swamps are infested with it. It blocks oxygen transfer and sunlight into the swamps and changes the ecosystem to an acidic condition and messes up crawfish, ducks, and fish.
Giant Salvinia originated as the plant that people would import to put in their aquariums because it would grow fast. Now it is all over the waters of Louisiana. It is, in my opinion, probably one of the worst environmental disasters the the southern US and is spreading rapidly. Since it is an asexual fern, one can collect some of it, and crush it into a powder and keep in in pitch dark for a year, and then put it in the water, and it will start growing and reproducing like nothing ever happened. It is shocking to see a 40 acre lake completely clear of salvinia, and then come back in two weeks, and you cannot even see the water, and it looks like a 40-acre golf green. Horrible.
So when you look at those beautiful swamp pictures, that green stuff is not duck weed; it is the devil.
In Florida we have a similar problem with water hyacinth's, and now pythons.
And our new friends...
😎
FL/GA PLS., post: 454524, member: 379 wrote: In Florida we have a similar problem with water hyacinth's, and now pythons.
And our new friends...
😎
[SARCASM]RUUNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!![/SARCASM]
That is sad. Same thing is happening up here with invasive water plants people dumped in local lakes from their aquariums. Float planes spread it far and wide. Only takes a tiny piece of the stuff. Closer to home I've been watching this one take over. First saw it about twenty years ago, now it's everywhere. Chokes out everything, but doesn't seem to be able to compete with native vegetation where the ground hasn't been disturbed off the roads. Only positive is my bees love the stuff. Heard it came up in a batch of hydroseed from outside but who really knows. There's at least a dozen others that are well established now.
Bird Vetch
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
Nice pictures...word of warning about posting pictures on your company website. I know of a firm whose renewal on their workman's compensation was turned down because of pictures on their website that the insurance company deemed to hazardous. Like the set up in the swamp 🙂
NYLS, post: 454567, member: 1722 wrote: Nice pictures...word of warning about posting pictures on your company website. I know of a firm whose renewal on their workman's compensation was turned down because of pictures on their website that the insurance company deemed to hazardous. Like the set up in the swamp 🙂
That'd be the least of worries I would have thought.
What about that giant slithery thing about to get its next meal.
Back to the topic, it is so frustrating how simply these invasive pests spread.
I work with a group on weed eradication etc, and the stuff people throw out and end up down water channels is frightening.
Those plants sold for aquariums, pish ponds etc need seriously monitoring.
Even fish themselves that get turfed out into the wilds.
Its a biosecurity risk at the highest level.
Invasion Asian Carp are now taking over our bayous and streams. It has become dangerous to ride down some of them in a motor boat. They usually weight about 5 to 8 pounds or larger and can literally kill you when they jump out of the water.
Water Hyacinth has been here in Louisiana for over 100 years.
Frank Willis, post: 454642, member: 472 wrote: Invasion Asian Carp are now taking over our bayous and streams. It has become dangerous to ride down some of them in a motor boat. They usually weight about 5 to 8 pounds or larger and can literally kill you when they jump out of the water.
Water Hyacinth has been here in Louisiana for over 100 years.
I been knocked in the head a few times with carp and busted a few boat windshields.
So many of these invasive pests have come from Asia. Here in Missouri, I have been spending a lot of money to save a couple ash trees from the emerald ash borer invasion. I wonder if it's a two way street. Are they over there cursing us because of runaway dandelions or some such nuisance?