Plants Vs Beetles

Every Enchanted Forest has it’s villain, whether it’s a witch, sorcerer, giant spiders, dragon. Ours is a plant. A very evil plant.

The first couple of years after we moved to our Enchanted Forest, we were busy fixing serious erosion along and across the driveway. It was so bad that I used to joke that we’d need a donkey to make it up the driveway. We had several dump truck loans of gravel, stones, and dirt brought in, which we spread out with shovels and rakes. We planted plants and built a series of small rock dams along the sides of the driveway to slow the rush of rainwater that washed away soil. It was difficult work.

[FYI: Although we were eventually successful in controlling the erosion at the sides of the driveway, we often get some erosion ON the driveway after a heavy rain. This morning we got a deluge of rain so I’ll be out filling in the eroded gullies soon. If I can, I’ll wait until the weather isn’t so very hot and humid.]

After a couple of years, we were glad to spot a couple plants with greenish-yellow flowers growing along the driveway. It meant that our erosion control efforts were working! But a couple years later I was happily trying to identify the wildflowers growing on our property. It was then that I learned that the greenish-yellow plants were an invasive species called “leafy spurge.” It spreads quickly, is difficult to eradicate, kills native plants, and is toxic. I was trying to figure out how to get rid of it when I was distracted by the 2020 lockdowns, EJ’s stroke, and other life experiences.

A couple of days ago, I happened to notice that leafy spurge was growing along both sides of our long driveway and spreading. Oh, bummer! I began trying to pull it up–although there’s a lot of it–and then went back to research. I had forgotten just how evil this plant is. I hardly slept Thursday night because I was anxious about how much effort and or expensive it would be to eradicate leafy spurge. I imagined “Cha-ching!”

I emailed our country Conservation District office Thursday night and then called them Friday afternoon. The woman I talked to said they had researched leafy spurge ever since they read my email. They gave me tips and also referred me to the nearby county’s Conservation District office because they have an invasive species specialist.  They also suggested that I report our invasion to a Michigan invasive species site, which I did. Basically the advice I received from everyone was:

Mow the leafy spurge, which won’t affect the deep, deep roots, but will prevent the plant from developing seeds. Problem: The rock dams and steep hills on our property make mowing mostly impossible. We can’t mow over rocks. In addition, mowing can spread leafy spurge so we’d have to make sure we thoroughly cleaned up the site afterwards. The plant also gets on the mower, which also spreads it. 

Dig or pull up leafy spurge. However, if we didn’t dig up ALL the root–which goes 10-15 (some say 30) feet deep–it will spread. In fact, if we pull up leafy spurge and drop it on the ground, it can replant itself. When leafy spurge is dug/pulled up, we’d have to take it to a waste removal place or put it in a plastic bag until it’s completely dead or it will replant itself. 

Use herbicides. We have tried never to use herbicides because it is toxic. It adversely affects the wildlife and can contaminate ground water. Also, herbicides kill ALL vegetation, which means we’d be back to square one with our battle with erosion. 

Also, a person has to be careful to protect himself when using chemicals. We could hire a professional, but that would be expensive. Plus, I’ve read that often leafy spurge has to be sprayed several times a season and/or over several years. Cha-Ching!

Rent a goat or horse. Yes, you heard me correctly. Goats and horses eat leafy spurge with no adverse effects. There’s actually an organization called “Goats on the Go” which rents out goats to eat noxious weeds. They bring fences and everything. It would be fun to have goats visit, but unfortunately, there are no rentable goats in our area. I know because I checked the website. It’s just as well. I’m sure that renting goats would be more expensive than we can afford. 

Ok, so we were running out of options. It looked as if we’d have to use herbicides. Then I remembered that there are some insects that eat leafy spurge. In fact, I’ve spotted spurge hawk moth caterpillars on our spurge plants in the past, but I haven’t seen many/any in recent years. What if I could order more of the caterpillars? They eat the leaves of the plants. I researched online and didn’t find any places to buy the caterpillars, but I did learn that flea beetles eat the ROOTS of leafy spurge, which seemed much better than eating just the leaves. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t trading one invasive species (plant) for another (beetles) so I asked my Conservation District people about it. None of them were aware of insects being used. Neither were experts at MSU, which I also contacted. So I went online and after some searching, I found a place in Montana that provides leafy surge flea beetles. This is what they say:

“All the leafy spurge insects we handle are approved for release in the United States by the US Department of Agriculture. They are also host specific, meaning they only feed on spurge, nothing else. There is no danger of them feeding on native plants or crops. Once established on a site, the insects reproduce rapidly and spread to other weed infested areas (Aphthona lacertosa females lay 28 to 130 eggs). One release of insects can grow to over a million in just a few years. They are adapted to cold climates and do not die off in the winter. There is no need to purchase additional insects in following years. Because the insects’s only source of food is spurge, as the density of the weed decreases the insect’s population also decreases, a classic predator-prey relationship. Eventually the weed and the biocontrol come into equilibrium with each other at a low population in the environment. Since the insects spread to many acres and achieve permanent control of spurge, the cost of control is very low, possibly less than a dollar per acre for a large area. This makes biocontrol a very attractive option compared to the high and recurring cost of chemical control. All of these factors make biocontrol “The Smart Choice” for control of leafy spurge.”

They sounded perfect: We wouldn’t have to handle toxic plants, we wouldn’t have to use toxic chemicals that kill EVERYTHING, we wouldn’t have to hire professionals, and we wouldn’t have try to find goats. Late yesterday I called Weedbusters Biocontrol in Montana. Many states (including Michigan) require federal paperwork be filed for permission to ship insects across state lines. I will place my order for 1,000 flea beetles for $135. That is much cheaper and safer than any other method. 

After all my research, I now feel like the leafy spurge expert in Michigan.