October 18, 2023
Kaidi Tingas
Steam engines, geotextiles, and treatments with herbicides find their way into educational films
Starting this summer, we will be experimenting with innovative methods to combat four invasive alien species - reynoutria, goldenrods, false spiraea, and the snowberry. In addition to the usual mowing and trimming, we treat invasive species with hot steam and herbicide, cover them with durable geotextile and shred plants with a chain shredder. The combating attempts will be carried out by the Estonian Environmental Board, which has agreed on the works to be carried out in the next five years with all owners of the 44 test areas! The test areas will be labelled accordingly, and 16 control areas have also been selected.
The aim of the trials is not to clean up large areas, but rather to test the effectiveness of different methods and, based on the results, to draw up combating guidelines that will enable landowners and local authorities to combat invasive species more effectively.
The first summer's activities have resulted in five educational films, which can be viewed on the project's YouTube channel. If the combating trials continue successfully, we hope to provide demonstrations of the steamer to interested municipalities, as well as private individuals and gardeners, and to introduce other combating methods as early as next summer.