Commencing the Battle

Angelica Battle

An update to this battle, 8/22/2014:  This was an afternoon of work by a few people.  We expected this year to be worse.  What happened is we appear to have slowed down and in some areas stop the spread.  However, new areas are appearing, and it appears that as long as the source of seeds along the bay is not eliminated it will be difficult to stay ahead of it.  

We have learned that some plants re-sprout in multiple stems, but realize that by removing the flowers and seeds we have prevented another generation of plants.  This year we are trying to smash any stems we cut to the ground in hopes it will be harder to heal and introduce fungi.  

The good news is that eliminating plants at the colonizer stage (one plant alone in a new area) is VERY effective.  Working the outside edges of an infection to the inside is the most effective way to go.

This year we are using limited trials of 10% acetic acid, which is double strength vinegar diluted 50/50 with 20% agricultural acetic acid (obtained at the Farmer's CO-OP in North Sydney.  We take a small bottle that emits a fine spray.  We try to pull the plants when possible, and when not we cut the flowers from the stem as close to the flowers as possible(to keep the seeds from forming and maturing, cut the stem off at about 10" and immediately spray the cut stems, trying to keep the acid off other plants and ourselves (it stings).  Slugs really hate this stuff, so it should be used carefully.  We applied some to foliage also to study the effects.

We are also being more careful to collect and pile plants when they have roasted in the sun for a few days so that the contaminated material is in the smallest area possible.  This is workable for small to medium sized infections. 

We collect any flowers that have hard green seeds forming, bag in black bags, leave in the hot sun for a few weeks, and then take to the dump.

Please, please, please report any findings, discoveries, victories, and failures on the Facebook Page Cape Breton Invasive Plants.


On 8/14/2013 seventeen members of the Bell family and their friends became concerned enough about the angelica spreading on the Beinn Bhreagh road. Thank you, thank you, thank you! We gleefully decapitated the flowers from the plants before pulling or cutting them to keep the dying plants from finishing the maturing of any pollinated seeds. 

It was generally agreed that a swing of the machete to lop off the flowers, then a firm rocking pull with the other hand to remove the plant with the most roots was effective.  However, not all plants come easily, though most do.  If it resists, the machete comes down as low as possible, into the ground, if muddy to sever as much as possible.  

Soil on root balls should be knocked off, and if not possible the plant should be hung off the ground in other vegetation, preferably upside down.    

Then we made an appalling mess by scattering the plants in the hot sun to die quickly.  This also dessicates the water from them greatly reducing the volume.  They shrivel into nothing in a few days, but people who had other things to do that day found them unsightly. I thought it was a wonderful sight!  

The discouraging thing is that there is so much of it, and the Berberis thunbergii, the Japanese Barberry, is a "thornier problem" and widespread on the mountain.
Here is an area we cleared of angelica only to find it backed by barberry, which likes the drier land on the forest floor and suppresses forest regrowth.

Once people see this the angelica, it is an undeniable reality that it is crowding everything out, marching well up into forests.  I hope that word will spread, and we all will become active and regular predators of this plant.  It will take the more adventurous of us to get the ravines and unstable shore slopes, as the plant really likes disturbed land and is salt tolerant.  So this is a challenge to the more athletic folks to help with this.

Hats off to Dana, Jackson, Graham, and Lee who were the last people I found on the road at five PM that day. Dana had said that morning, "we only have an hour."