Volunteer Day One Completed Activities: The stewardship team cleared the largest winter creeper location of several decaying rabbit hutches that had been dumped into the woods many years earlier. They were consolidated in a pile at the edge of the woods for future disposal. Larger dead tree branches and several small fallen dead trees were then dragged off the winter creeper site further into the forest. The site was moist but did not have any standing water as has occasionally been the case in previous visits.
The first surprise was the almost complete lack of winter creeper’s dark evergreen leaves poking above the thick layer of leaves on the ground. Upon closer examination there were numerous leaf stems (petioles) poking through the leaf litter, but the leaves had been nipped off. White-tail deer had eaten virtually all the winter creeper leaves above the leaf litter!
Although numerous winter creeper leaves still remained hidden on the vines under the leaf litter there were far fewer than anticipated. With less than half the original leaves surviving could this reduce the effectiveness of herbicide? The leaf surface is the primary entry point for a foliar spray herbicide application.
The deer herbivory also reduced the vines’ ability to photosynthesize carbohydrates during the winter period when sun can reach the forest floor. This would have decreased the winter creeper’s fitness. Deer browsed the English ivy that is scattered here as well. So that is working in our favor.
The reason we planned to spray this time of year is to avoid spraying the numerous ferns and herbaceous plants that would soon be growing amongst the winter creeper in the warmer months. We will be checking to see how well today’s treatment worked. We were already planning a fall re-treatment after the first hard frost when the herbaceous plants stop growing.
The second surprise was the size of the winter creeper colony which turned out to be twice the estimated size. Hidden from view under leaf litter were long wintercreeper runners that has spread 10 to 20 feet beyond the obvious periphery of the visible part of the colony. We only discovered this after raking off the leaf litter when trying to establish the boundary of the colony. It took us an hour to complete this task. Trees were examined to clip any winter creeper vines that were attaching to them preventing them from climbing trees.
After establishing the boundary of the primary colony, Rob led the way to the smaller colony about 100 yards to the southwest, just south of the Main Trail. At Rachael’s suggestion, Rob headed back to the original patch to initiate the backpack spraying of the herbicide on the now exposed winter creeper. Rachael, John, and Carrie Phillos began raking the boundary of the smaller patch which also was larger than anticipated due to hidden winter creeper runners spreading all directions from the center of the patch. They completed uncovering this smaller and less dense colony in 40 minutes.
Rob was spraying the first primary winter creeper colony when Team Phillos returned. After gathering their tools, they headed out for lunch, while Rob finished spraying. By 2:00 PM he had finished treating both patches, packed up his gear, and left Persimmon Tree Woods.
