Control of pendulous sedge ( Carex pendula )

[Alan Smith]

Afternoon, new member here although have been a longtime follower.

 

 I manage 40 acres of woodland in West Sussex and I'm currently looking at starting to control non-native or invasive plant species with a view to improving the general condition of the woodland. There are three plant species I want to target, Rhododendron, bamboo and pendulous sedge ( Carex pendula ).   There is plenty of information regarding Rhododendron control but I'm struggling to find anything with regard to large scale control of the sedge.  This is very wet ground, bottom of a river valley, however even in higher, drier areas the sedge has become highly invasive smothering native plants and making natural regeneration of trees very difficult.

  Has anyone got any experience of this issue or any other words of wisdom?

[doobin]

A mini digger on bog mats or wide tracks with a rotating grab is a good method for the large clumps.

 

Whereabouts in West Sussex?

[richyrich]

Good morning. I think it is a native, but obviously it's thriving at the expense of less prolific species.

Spot spraying with glyphosate might help. 

Could you get a farmer type to fence in some pigs or wild boar and see if they grub it out. Fence off small areas at a time. 

[Alan Smith]

Thanks for the suggestions, sorry I've been a bit lax on replying, been fully occupied at the moment.

 

 Doobin, we're just outside Ardingly.  Have got a digger on site so could give that a go thanks.

 

 Rich, yes it's a native but for some reason it has just taken off over these last 10-15 years.  Always fancied having a few pigs in the woods but I've probably got enough on my plate to cope with that as well!  Farmer types around here don't seem to do livestock, they drive Range Rovers and multimillion harvesters!

 

 

[Stere]

Its supoose to be an ancient woodland indicator species but if its only spread in last 10yrs not that ancient....

 

 

[oakandmaple]

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[Alan Smith]

Thank you Oaklandmaple,  that's a useful resource.

[Toberwine]

Hi Alan, just thought I’d add my two penny worth.

I’ve been managing a wood in Wiltshire that my parents bought in 2019. Before that, it seems like not a lot of positive woodland management had been done for a long time, save some felling and replanting (which has really enhanced the species and age class diversity). There are some excellent stoned tracks which has been great for a major thinning carried out in the hot summer of 2022.

Anyway, about the pendulous sedge. The wood is split roughly in two, with one half mainly a PAWS with some nice Douglas fir and larch but some areas overrun with birch - lack of maintenance when it was restocked in the early nineties - and the other half mostly mixed broadleaves dominated by oak and sweet chestnut with some ash and some other natives, and patches of larch. Parts of this area are very tall, over 30m, and it is here that the sedge has started to take off.

A previous owner created a number of paths through the area and these, along with the existing rides, are quite heavily used by deer (as well as people, to a lesser extent!). It seems quite clear that the deer are a vector for the spread of the sedge, as until I started controlling it a couple of years ago it was beginning to form almost a hedge along both sides of one path in particular. They must carry the seeds on their coats. This and the fact that deer don’t like eating sedge gives it another opportunity because it can grow at the expense of more palatable plants when there are too many deer. As well as the path lining, there are a couple of dense patches of pure sedge which have formed in more open areas of the wood and must act as a reservoir for spread. I expect the harvesting operation in 2022 helped to spread seed about too.

Your observation that the sedge has been spreading in your wood seems to back up the deer theory, as deer numbers have exploded in the south of England, and elsewhere, over the last 20+ years.

As to control, I have experimented with a couple of methods, both of which seem to be working but may or may not be practical in your circumstances. Physically cutting the stems that carry the seed heads, as well as the main plants down to ground level, is quite effective at knocking them back and helping to reduce the seed levels and can be done with a battery hedge trimmer very effectively. I did this along the paths and rides for a couple of years and it has made a massive difference to the rows of dense overhanging sedge which used to line them. Now they are regrowing and their babies are popping up in the vicinity (thankfully the sedge still seems to be localised) and I have started spraying them with a knapsack and glyphosate. I did this last summer and have done it again this week (April) as the areas I sprayed last year have been killed. As well as spot spraying the “hedges” and individual plants, I have sprayed one of the large (approx 100 square metres) patches, so we will see how effective that has been later in the year. Although the clumps are sporting the beginnings of seed heads I think they are still only at the flowering stage so hopefully spraying them now will prevent the seed from forming, but I’ll have to wait and see.

I don’t like using chemicals in woodland management but I feel this is justified because it is localised and is helping to keep an unnatural situation caused by an overpopulation of deer under control. Glyphosate isn’t residual and if some other beneficial plants get oversprayed the ground vegetation will quickly recover through natural processes.

I also have rhody and have started using glyphosate in the knapsack sprayer for that too. Thankfully it is in its early stages of spread so there are only a few tall clumps which will require some mechanical control before I can spray them. I have seen woods with wall to wall rhododendron so I know how important it is to eradicate it now.

Incidentally I have been culling the deer over the past two years so hopefully the natural balance will be restored in due course and the sedge can be left to its owner devices - I will be monitoring it!

I see your original post was from a couple of years ago so it would be interesting to hear how you have got on. No single measure with these sorts of problems is normally enough and I hope my multi pronged approach works and reading about it may help others- I Googled “invasive pendulous sedge” and your post popped up so I figure some others may be dealing with a similar problem.

Edited April 21 by Toberwine
Typos

[Alan Smith]

Hi Toberwine,   thank-you very much for taking the time to write such a useful and comprehensive reply.

 

 I can hardly believe two years have passed since I started this thread!

 

 You are correct that the deer numbers are definitely a factor in the increasing dominance of the pendulous sedge. I think in our case by browsing out competitive plant species, I think in our case mainly bramble. 

 We have huge herds of Fallow in the area, it's not uncommon to see groups of does between 80 and 100 on surrounding farmland. Muntjac also are increasingly present and their increasing numbers seem to be resulting in making them less territorial. In an area where 5 years ago there would only be a single pair there now can be 2  or 3 pairs.

 

 In the last two years however progress has been made in starting to control deer numbers as my immediate neighbouring farmer has brought in a professional stalker and between us approximately 130 does were culled in the first season and this past season I think nearly 100.  I have to admit my contribution was only in single digits.

  So overall deer numbers are down but still too early to see any environmental impact.

 

 My other finding echoes what you say about cutting back being beneficial.  We have an area that would once have been part of the outer reaches of the estate gardens  which had been heavily planted with daffodils.  These were becoming badly suppressed by the sedge and so about five years ago I started mowing this area in the autumn with a large pedestrian mower/brush cutter.  I've been convinced this winter/spring that the sedge in this area is starting to reduce.  The sedge plants don't seem to become mature enough to produce flowers and I'm sure this will have a long term effect as well as just general debulking and exhausting the sedge resources.

  Interestingly in this area another plant is becoming more dominant. Tutsan (Hypericum androsaemum), another plant that the deer won't browse. 

 

 This year for the first time I can recollect the deer have eaten off all the daffodil flowers,  not just in that area but over the whole estate.

 

 I'm thinking of extending my mowing experiment in other areas,  probably by getting in a flail for the tractor or possibly for the excavator  although I think it's probably a bit too light and old to cope with the high demands of a hydraulic flail.

 

 Regarding glyphosate, we have not had much success with it in our garden, adjacent to the woodland. I think where it might be of value is in controlling seedling sedge plants early in the year possibly after mowing in the previous autumn. 

 

 To be honest the invasive plant control has been put on a back burner for now as I'm up to my eyes dealing with Ash die back and its consequences.  Thanks again for your reply.

 

All the best

 

Alan