Symposium Addresses Invasive Mile-A-Minute Vine

By Kendra Bobowick

New crops of mile-a-minute vine in Connecticut towns including Newtown have prompted scientists to coordinate a symposium later this months regarding the invasive species.

The Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group (CIPWG) will host a full-day symposium about invasive plants at the University of Connecticut in Storrs on October 25. Registration begins at 8 am and programming runs through 4:20 pm. Walk-in or mail-in registration is $55; the student fee with valid school identification is $25. Credit card registrations can only be accepted online (not by mail). Registration is nonrefundable. Walk-in registrations only if space is available. Register online at www.hort.uconn.edu/cipwg.

Information about the symposium and printable forms for mail-in registration are available online at www.cipwg.uconn.edu. According to the site, “This conference will address the development of practical solutions and methods for invasive plant management and detail the actions needed to promote native species, improve natural areas, and benefit wildlife. All interested people, including municipal staff, nursery, tree and landscape professionals, educators, students, landscape architects, gardening enthusiasts, state and federal employees, and members of conservation organizations are encouraged to attend.”

Donna Ellis, senior extension educator at the University of Connecticut and project coordinator for the state biological control program, said, “We have attracted a broad audience in the past.” Ms Ellis has participated on teams monitoring certain mile-a-minute sites in Newtown. Seminar registrations are already more than 300, she said. “Our numbers are looking amazingly good, but there is always room for more.” She looks forward to a full day of invasive updates and diverse programming, and information on restoring and growing native plants, she said.

Be On The Lookout

UConn officials hope residents will also be on the lookout for the invasive vine. “This is a great time of year to get outside, and it is also the best time of year to look for mile-a-minute vine, since these annual plants are at their largest later in the season. If you find a plant you think might be mile-a-minute, please let us know about it before pulling it up or throwing it away,” said Connecticut Invasive Plant Coordinator Logan Senack in a recent release. “We may need to collect more information about the plant, confirm that it is mile-a-minute and not a similar species, and look for the beneficial insects at the site before the plants are removed.”

To report a suspected mile-a-minute invasion, visit the CIPWG website at www.cipwg.uconn.edu, e-mail mileaminute@uconn.edu, or contact Donna Ellis at UConn at 860-486-6448.

As of this summer, seven additional towns have a confirmed mile a minute presence “It’s a mixed blessing,” said Ms Ellis. “It’s unfortunate that we are finding more, but there are more people looking for it, so we can have a lot more control, and more hands pulling in the spring.” She said, “We rely on the public as much as our colleagues to control the plant as much as can be.”

This year, new populations of mile-a-minute were found in Groton, Madison, Middlefield, Milford, Old Saybrook, Prospect, and Stratford for the first time. Additional spread of the vines occurred within many of the 24 towns where mile-a-minute had previously been confirmed. Scientists at UConn, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), and the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) are continuing efforts to control the plant, which outcompetes native species. Mile-a-minute is an annual vine that spreads by seed and quickly grows into dense stands that can cover and shade out native vegetation.

Photos and additional information about mile-a-minute and the biological control agents are available at www.cipwg.uconn.edu (follow link under “Focus Species” on right of page).

The Weevil Program

Ms Ellis and others have been monitoring sites in town to where weevils — small insect introduced experimentally in several location to combat the plant — have made progress.

At several locations where new mile-a-minute populations were confirmed, weevils were observed already feeding on the vines.

Based on comments in a recent release, Ms Ellis said, “It is encouraging to see that these beneficial insects are spreading on their own to help reduce the amount of mile-a-minute present in our landscape. The insects are very good at locating small patches of this invasive plant and can fly from an area where they are established to a new site, where they begin feeding on the vines.”

Monitored in recent years, weevils — small Asian insects that feed solely on the invasive vine — have been experimentally introduced to vine populations in towns including Newtown. Ms Ellis said, “We are seeing damage [to the plants] and the weevils are spreading.” The weevil populations are also good at dispersing. “That’s the beauty of biological control. The spread can take a number of years,” she said.