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NATIVE PLANT
MONITORING AND COMPOST
TEA
Launching
our Native Plant Monitoring Program in 2006
River Walk has always been upheld as a prototype for using native plants to
reclaim dramatically altered banks of the Housatonic, and our success is clear
to the naked eye. But we are now going a step further by measuring and
monitoring our planting efforts. This will provide us with hard data with which
to report and assess our progress. These results will also help guide our
decisions about future planting schemes.
Under the leadership of Suzanne Fowle, the 2006 growing season was the beginning of our plant monitoring program. We
started by setting up experimental plots near the River Garden, in the south
section. With the help of the Marconica crew and Simon’s Rock interns, we
pulled plants and rototilled the soil in a roughly 6m by 4m flat, partially
shaded area that had not yet been worked by planting crews. Within this area we
sectioned off eight 0.5m by 0.5m “quadrats.” In each quadrat, we planted one
of each of the following native, perennial species: Viburnum acerifolium
(maple-leaved viburnum), Helianthus decapetalus (thin-leaved sunflower), Lindera
benzoin (spicebush), Agrimony striata (woodland agrimony). Four of the quadrats
(randomly assigned) are receiving “compost tea” treatments, while 4 remain
controls.
On each plant, we measured plant height, number of leaves, number of
flowers/buds, and number of side branches. In October, we collected the
herbaceous plants (Helianthus and Agrimony) from the base of the stem to dry
them and weigh them. We have also tallied the numbers of weeds and weighed them.
All of these data points will be used to compare treatment and control plots,
thereby quantifying the effects of the compost tea. These data will also shed
light on which species are most successful at River Walk, which in turn will be
the species we propagate and plant most frequently.
Native Plant Monitoring in 2007
In 2007 we expanded our monitoring program to other parts of the River Walk to
gain insight into whether our study species grow
differently at different sites (i.e. due to soil, slope, and sun/shade
differences). Click HERE for a Progress Report
and Preliminary Results.
Native Plant Monitoring in 2008
The year 2008 was our second year of
monitoring plant growth and testing the effects of compost tea at four of our
five experimental sites at River Walk. For the Rain Garden site, this was the
third year of monitoring and tea treatment. Click HERE
for a Progress Report and Preliminary Results.
Native Plant Monitoring in 2009 and Final
Summary Analysis and Report
The year 2009 was our third and final year of
monitoring plant growth and testing the effects of compost tea at four of our
five experimental sites at River Walk. For the Rain Garden site, this was the
fourth year of monitoring and tea treatment. Click HERE
for a Summary Analysis of Native Plant Growth and Effects of Compost Tea
(2006-2009) at River Walk.
By Suzanne Fowle, Conservation Biologist. 
Compost Tea Applications 2006-2009
Most native plants in North American forests have
a complex symbiotic relationship with bacteria and fungi that inhabit the soil
of healthy forests. This is lacking at River Walk where most of the “soil”
is a compilation of debris, fill and just plain junk that disables these
relationships.
Under the leadership of Heather Cupo, aerobically brewed compost tea is used on
various areas of the River Walk to improve and diversify the life in the soil.
The tea is a coldwater extract of compost; essentially a microorganism farm
where bacteria and fungi are grown before dispersing onto a crop or soil. It is
made from fully finished compost containing a specified number, type and
proportion of desirable microorganisms and fungi. The non-toxic tea is tested to
assess the quality and quantity of its microorganisms, then applied to the soil
to assist plant growth. Click HERE
for a Summary Assessment of Compost Tea Applications from 2006-2009. By Heather
Cupo, Plant Euphoria. Click HERE for Soil and Tea Analyses year by year.
Compost Tea Application and Native Plant
Monitoring programs were funded in large part by the Natural Resource Damages (NRD)
Fund, paid by General Electric for PCB Pollution.
Donations to River Walk are tax-deductible and should
be made to:
Housatonic River Walk
P. O. Box 1018
Gt. Barrington, MA 01230 USA
Please consider
DONATE
ONLINE to RIVER WALK FUND
Through the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation
Safe, Secure and Appreciated
Contact: Rachel Fletcher, Director - 413-528-3391 or river@gbriverwalk.org
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© copyright 2006 Great Barrington Land
Conservancy
