One frustrated homeowner recently took to the r/NativePlantGardening subreddit to vent about their constant efforts to remove an invasive plant that is taking over their property.
"I just spent about three hours removing mostly stiltgrass," the poster wrote. "In the past I have hit this hillside with a weed trimmer to try and keep the stiltgrass from reseeding, but I thought that I would try manual removal this year [...] I figure that I'll have to do this again in a few weeks, but it shouldn't take nearly as long."
The plant species that the poster is referring to is most commonly called Japanese stiltgrass, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but is also known as Nepalese browntop, Chinese packing grass, Asian stilt grass, annual jewgrass, and Mary's grass. It was first spotted in the U.S. sometime around 1919.
The National Invasive Species Information Center of the USDA describes it as "an aggressive invader of forest lands throughout the eastern United States" that is "considered one of the most damaging invasive plant species in the United States."
Non-native plant species can be a huge problem for any gardener, as they can outcompete native species for food and resources and spread virtually unchecked.
When deciding what to plant in your garden, it is always smart to do some research first and make sure you're going with native plants, which are already adapted to your local environments and provide food for pollinators that are vital for maintaining healthy local systems and food supplies.
The other members of the subreddit sympathized with the original poster having to deal with stiltgrass, but they were quick to point out that not all hope is lost.
"The only thing I like about stilt grass is how satisfying it is to pull it out," wrote one commenter.
"Keep at it!" another commenter encouraged the original poster.
"After several years of removal from within the turf, along the road, along the woods margin, and other places totalling at least 1000 SF, I've pretty much eliminated it," they added. "A few isolated plants popped up this year, and I'll have to do spot removal basically forever, but overall it has been a fairly easy 3-4 year path to depletion of the seed bank. Manually pulling stiltgrass does minimal disturbance to the soil and can be kind of cathartic, really. So many natives thriving now!"
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