WSIU InFocus Video Player

Chris Evans, Coordinator of the River to River Cooperative Weed Management Area, shows John Preece, a professor in SIUC Plant,Soil, and Agricultural Systems, how to identify and remove invasive plant species that can overwhelm native plants and flowers. Evans explains how many of the invasive species were originally introduced as ornamental plants or for conservation purposes, such as erosion control, but quickly got out of hand.

Preece and Evans visit a test plot at Giant City State Park where experts are developing new ways of managing problem plants like Autumn Olive, Japanese Honeysuckle, and Bittersweet, which can choke out native wildflowers that don't stand a chance in the dense, heavy shade they produce. Evans demonstrates how to cut down species like Multiflora Rose, and then treat their stumps with herbicides to prevent them from growing back.

Evans also shows Preece how to use a weed wrench device that literally wrenches problem plants like Autumn Olive up by the roots in seconds.

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