How weather impacts invasive plants in Missouri

Anytime you have gone on a car ride and have looked out the window, you've most likely observed invasive plants without even knowing it.

John George is a regional resource management supervisor for the Central region with the Missouri Department of Conservation and walked me through a local prairie to break down the issues with invasive plants just earlier today. "Invasives are as valuable to the native insects and birds that that we all enjoy. When you get something that spreads really quickly, really aggressively, and out competes natives like the field behind me you can lose you the battle to the invasives."

MDC spends large amounts of money and labor each year fighting these invasive plants. John George, "In the central region alone, I think between herbicides and staff labor, we're probably spending between $250,000- $350,000 a year."

Weather plays an important role in the fight against these plants. One important factor that can lead to large spreads of some invasive species can be tied to high amounts of rainfall contributing to flooding in rivers. In this past year, above average rainfall totals have wiped out drought that have caused numerous flooding events this summer and past spring. John George, "As the river comes up and maybe gets out of its banks, it can put invasive species in places where they weren't before." This can lead to invasive plant species seeds sometimes being carried even miles downstream, therefore introducing them to a new ecosystem, making treatment even harder. On top of this, temperatures play a large factor in the treatment of some species.

John George demonstrated treatment of some invasive species near a neighboring property from the MDC regional office in southern Columbia, "If I want to spray this, I really need it to be under 80 degrees if I'm gonna spray all the leaves." This means above average temperatures can cause difficulties for temperature dependent treatment options.

Above average rainfall we've seen this past summer in spring means that both invasive and noninvasive plant species are doing really well throughout much of mid-Missouri. If you have any questions about which species are invasive, you can go to https://mdc.mo.gov/trees-plants/invasive-plants to find out more.