Start Date
05/21/2025
End Date
05/23/2025
Description
Is your landscape being invaded by overly aggressive plants? Examine the problems caused by non-native invasive plants and discover management strategies for controlling them. Learn how to identify common alien invaders and how to distinguish them from similar looking native species. Help stem the tide and give natives more room to grow.
Agenda
Saturday & Sunday: November 3 & 4, 2018
10 am – 2.30 pm
Total: 7.75 PDHs
Day 1 (3.75 PDHs)
9:45 – 10:00 am:
Registration
10:00 – 10:40 am: Lecture: The Invasive Species Challenge
•Definition of an invasive plant
•History
•Identifying characteristics
10:40 – 11:00 am: Lecture: How Invasive Plants Change Ecosystems
•Soils, waters, and plant communities
•Discussion: Human-altered ecosystems
11:00 – 12:00 pm: Field and Classroom: Identify the top 20 worst local invasive species
•Look at specimens indoors
12:00 – 12:30 pm: Lunch
12:30 – 1:45 pm: Field and Classroom: Identify the Top 20 Worst Local Invasive Species
•Field – Field ID of local species and discuss impacts of species identified
1:45 – 1:50 pm: Break
1:50 – 2:30 pm: Lecture: Managing the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
•Early detection, response, and restoration
2:30 pm: Dismissal
Day 2 (4 PDHs)
9:45 – 10:00 am: Sign-in
10:00 – 12:00 pm: Lecture: Control Measures
•Review in class
- Manual and Mechanical (pulling, cutting, uprooting, mulching, flame weeding)
- Chemical (safety, selective and non-selective herbicides, contact and systemic herbicides, application techniques)
•Biological Control (insects, grazing animals)
12:00 – 12:30 pm: Lunch
12:30 – 1:45 pm: Field Examples and Practice
•Field examples and practice – control and restoration
1:45 – 2:30 pm: Lecture: Restoration
•Native plant communities (focus on meadow and forest)
•Ecosystem processes
•Native plant alternatives to invasive ornamentals
2:30 pm: Class evaluations and plant giveaway. Class dismissal.
Location
Hockessin, DE
Distance Learning
No
Course Equivalency
No
Subjects
Horticulture / Plants
Health, Safety and Welfare
Yes
Hours
12.0
Learning Outcomes
1. Understand why invasive plants are problematic.
2. Become familiar with twenty invasive plant species.
3. Understand the fundamentals of how to manage invasive plants and restore lands.
Instructors
Ellen Lake, PhD, and Nathan Shampine, CERP
Course Codes
Provider
Mt. Cuba Center