Overboard on what's considered invasive

Joined
Jul 14, 2014
Messages
261
Reaction score
102
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6a
This year in New York they added Parrot Feather to the invasive list and now you can't buy it at any NY nursery. Funny thing is there is no way Parrot Feather could survive a NY winter....
 

Mmathis

TurtleMommy
Joined
Apr 28, 2011
Messages
13,893
Reaction score
8,087
Location
NW Louisiana -- zone 8b
Hardiness Zone
8b
Country
United States
This year in New York they added Parrot Feather to the invasive list and now you can't buy it at any NY nursery. Funny thing is there is no way Parrot Feather could survive a NY winter....
Interesting! It would be interesting to know the rationale. Maybe they're looking at it from the viewpoint that if it was "turned loose" in a NY waterway, that it could travel to other areas......?

I'm still amazed that ferrets are still banned as pets in some states and/or cities!
 
Joined
Apr 22, 2011
Messages
1,305
Reaction score
806
Location
carolinas
Hardiness Zone
8a
Very popular pond plants tend to be the target of nurseries who would rather sell more expensive items

No never mind native plants are far more devastating in native habitats
 

Meyer Jordan

Tadpole
Joined
Oct 10, 2014
Messages
7,177
Reaction score
5,674
Location
Pensacola, Florida
Hardiness Zone
9a
Country
United States
Parrot's Feather is hardy to Zone 7a. This covers part of New York including New York City.
An invasive plant in a conducive environment can quickly crowd out native species and cause other environmental problems....in a single season.
 
Joined
Apr 22, 2011
Messages
1,305
Reaction score
806
Location
carolinas
Hardiness Zone
8a
A lot of folk have over fertile shallow ponds which are neglected and badly managed. Always going to be silting up and choking with something

Some have large badly managed ponds which they hope to exploit for 'watersports'

A convenient opportunity for nurseries to scapegoat popular pond plants which are a heck of a lot easier to control than native invasive plants
 

addy1

water gardener / gold fish and shubunkins
Moderator
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
44,338
Reaction score
29,089
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6b
Country
United States
My parrots feather has survived down to a zone 6 level. Frozen solid in ice in shallow ponds, for the winter, and it comes back.
 

Meyer Jordan

Tadpole
Joined
Oct 10, 2014
Messages
7,177
Reaction score
5,674
Location
Pensacola, Florida
Hardiness Zone
9a
Country
United States
A lot of folk have over fertile shallow ponds which are neglected and badly managed. Always going to be silting up and choking with something

Some have large badly managed ponds which they hope to exploit for 'watersports'

A convenient opportunity for nurseries to scapegoat popular pond plants which are a heck of a lot easier to control than native invasive plants

I don't remember ever seeing a 'native' invasive specie of anything.....plant or animal.
 
Joined
Apr 22, 2011
Messages
1,305
Reaction score
806
Location
carolinas
Hardiness Zone
8a
Yup, Winters knock back all parrots feather except that which survives below the freeze line.

It's going to be destroyed in most positions except the most sheltered ice free places

A big plus of parrots feather, its one of few pond plants which, early in the summer can provide good shade and shelter for small fish and critters when the first hot sun starts to turn ponds into deadly places, deadly with hot oxygen depleted waters which provide easy pickings for predators

In the Carolinas, most native ponds are dead, more or less sterile with whatever pollution run off makes it worse

On ponds where versatile pond plants get going, water temps are improved, critter diversity is a treat, and parrots feather does an especially big favour for fish spawning and tiddlers. What has not been noticed about PF, it is allelopathic when it masses up, it can 'wipe the slate clean' of really nasty hard to eradicate native plants when it chokes a pond, you let PF loose, where it takes control over the junk plants then you drag it all out easy, to replant...

Cattails, duckweed, Elodea, hairgrass are native plants. Very invasive, capable of destroying ponds in a season

Definition. Native Species: a species that occurs naturally within a region, either evolving there or arriving and becoming established without human assistance
 
Last edited:

addy1

water gardener / gold fish and shubunkins
Moderator
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
44,338
Reaction score
29,089
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6b
Country
United States
Winters knock back all parrots feather except that which survives below the freeze line.
Weird mine is doing great, in a shallow pond, no more than a foot deep, the pond froze solid the parrots feather came back. No fish in the pond.

It took a while to get going but got going just fine.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
30,780
Messages
508,560
Members
13,042
Latest member
lucaryan

Latest Threads

Top