Koa haole is becoming a big problem for Hawaiʻi

[@EliF-ge5bu]

That’s called ipil-ipil in the Philippines. They grow fast, and can create a forest in just a few years. Not the hardest wood, but they make good charcoal. The green seed can be eaten, and is reputed to be an effective dewormer.

[@gordogunso]

Thanks for offering some ways to get rid of them!

[@savoirfaire8979]

@@gordogunso Lolz. Good luck with the will of nature.

[@veramae4098]

Madagascar's forests are vanishing, being cut for firewood. Maybe thiss should be introduced.

[@AndoyVillafuerte]

To add, the leaves are used to feed pigs

[@R9D6xC29]

In my place, those are so useful now a days that those are hard to find, most of the time those plant grow on private property.

[@sudoym3484]

They are called ipil ipil in the Philippines. They’re really good for feeding goats and cows, leaves and all

[@remliqa]

We call them "petai belalang" here . We actually ate the seed and pods of these planst.

[@Hunyoatnobyembre]

We also make charcoals out of ipil-ipil.

[@rosalynepallay5906]

Sila yong "invasive'' hindi yong ipil ipil😅

[@awe_sang]

​@@rosalynepallay5906😂

[@studiohq]

You saying Hawaii needs goats? 🤔

[@redpill7452]

As far as I know, this plant (Leucaena leucocephala) is one of the best nitrogen fixers in the world with decent biomass production. Cut off the leaves, put them under other trees and you no longer need nitrogen fertilizer. Only problem: in humid regions you have to cut the seeds from the plant before they mature, otherwise you will have a jungle in just a few vegetation periods.

[@flipsolo]

There are other nitrogen-fixers, but this species is just incredibly aggressive and can get quickly out-of-control outcompeting native species.

[@redpill7452]

@@flipsolo True, you should regularly take care of this plant. I maintain by necessity (I am not the landowner) about 200 of this species, but realize that there are much more aggressive plants (eg Rubus sect. Rubus or Poaceae) than this.

[@jnak974]

Yeah but unfortunately Hawaiis got other plants that aren’t found anywhere else and they have to compete with these plants.

[@redpill7452]

@@jnak974From what I saw in the video, no one seems to have taken care of the plants for decades. Leucaena jungles do not develop overnight.

[@remliqa]

@@redpill7452 No, it only needed a few years for these plants to grow to that extents.

[@WooLiz]

Omg what?!? My family in Mexico eats these!!! They even sell these in the farmers market :) they’re yummy, people need to open them up when they’re green and try them, in Mexico we call them *guajes*. I like to sprinkle the green little seeds in my bowl of beans

[@DanielRojas-nw3mv]

Make salsa with them in southern part of México 🇲🇽 🧐

[@thinkcasting3182]

Dry the bean and crush it into flour to make Hawaii taco shells? Invasive means these people lack imagination and are not being inclusive (they're undercover racists).

[@howdyfolks5134]

in Hawaii, people call them invasive.

[@yvonnecortes_]

My dad eats them with salsa n beans too. Hed be in the backyard just picking as they grow wild here in Texas. But they are invasive though at some point we chop em down n use weed killer.

[@HI967tree4]

Yes, all these years I did not know they were edible 🤯, until a friend from South America came to visit us here in Kailua, Hawaii (it’s everywhere here). He had me taste it.. it was really good, like a garlicky bean when eaten raw. It is now on my “emergency food for scavenging list” incase of famine or when the SHTF😌. If you can recommend a recipe I should try, I would be grateful 🙏🏼. I’d love to harvest some and make a meal out of them 🥰🙏🏼🥰.

[@davea5884]

Tip for Plants that resprout from root systems. Chop it flush and allow the plant to send out shoots. Instead of cutting those shoots, making the plant start another shoot at little energy expence. Let it keep growing and immediately remove foliage. This way the plant will continue to devote its energy to the saplings growth, but receive no energy being put back down into the taproot.

[@OswaldBeef]

I watched the bamboo removal video too

[@ydne]

As well, it appear as if a lot of the parts are edible and the young trees make good firewood or can be turned into charcoal.

[@mattdixon6396]

I work in bush regeneration in Australia. We call this Leuceana. It’s a horrible thing to get rid of but it can be done. Takes about five years of follow up and encouragement of native plants recruitment but it’s well worth the effort. Good luck

[@trinisadu]

We call it River Tamarind here in Barbados and use it as fuel at the sugar mill, for instance. They are a pain in the butt to get rid of on your property if they go unchecked..

[@Allinmyworld]

Yes, i would love to see more native plants for landscaping around the islands and yards as well.

[@bookmark2846]

Maybe if they advertised its usefulness and benefits it could turn pain into gain.

[@keithrobertson9075]

That's not the modern Hawaiian Way, which is to whine about everything and blame America for all their problems while demanding funding.

[@JL_Loki]

Agreed

[@josiahhockenberry9846]

And grain...

[@robeasy13]

Thought was a story about all the people storming the islands and buying up all the property! 😮

[@federalreservebrown2507]

esp the chinese, kicking the japs out

[@barbeerian]

I follow a Hawaiian surfer named Koa Rothman and I thought it was somehow about him at first.

[@emkay7486]

That is the true invasion!

[@maryvoigt8763]

Funny

[@officernasty2648]

Frickin howlies

[@SunFlower-cy7lv]

Took my dad to Hawaii and we toured an organic farm where we learned that these plants are weeded out. We also learned the origin of it’s Hawaiian name. My dad started eating them and made dinner with these. He grew up in Thailand where this plant is a staple food. Expensive to get these on mainland.

[@cd3121]

My mum is thai, thai folks eat these when they are young an soft, but yes you can eat the seeds as well when i use to go visit, the kids an ranging from adults snack on these, one thing for sure man, it sure did make you pass gas 💨…. Lol, everyone their says it has high nutrients..

[@martinmartin691]

Yap seeds are edible and are excellent fire wood too.

[@AutanCalifornia]

We ate this “huaje” in Mexico is very delicious if you put the green seeds in salsa .. is a great food 😢

[@SunFlower-cy7lv]

@@AutanCalifornia- will have to try!

[@moung4185]

It is a good source of vitamin A. Eat raw seed still green, not hard brown color seeds. Good for your eyesight.

[@skorpyo45]

River tamarind here in Barbados. Easily spread, hard to rid. I cut the seeds first so they don't get the chance to spread them cut the trees and coat cut surfaces with herbicide like 2,4 D-Amine or you can even use basic diesel oil! I then shred the branches and leaves to compost and burn the thick trunks to make potash

[@CassVanCat]

I don't live in Hawaii but I am all into native plants. My tenants planted this Asian vegetable in the front garden. Now I am back in my home and 3 years on they still come back every year. They also have the long tap roots. My back garden is 100% native and love all the birds and squirrels coming to munch. (I'm from Southern Ontario so birds, squirrels and chipmunks is exciting as it gets lol but those little hands make up for it) 🐿🐿

[@EliF-ge5bu]

And what is an Asian vegetable. Looks you have a perennial that gives you veggies year after year. Learn how to use them.

[@i_like_ferns3033]

They showed the wrong species of yellow hibiscus for the state flower😅. The one they should have shown is hibiscus brackenridgei.

[@DaveScarcella]

Ya. Well. We're not dealing with the Glee Club from Harvard.

[@oldbatwit5102]

@@DaveScarcella Are Glee Clubs invasive and can you eat them?

[@whereserik]

Virgin Islands here. We battle this same invasive plant. We call it Tan Tan. Also introduced as a feed crop unsuccessfully. It is so prolific that it is a challenge for our slower-growing native species.

[@StickyRiceZ]

The fruit is edible along with the new leafy growth, and also, the seeds are used for medicinal in Asian culture.

[@Critique808]

What is the recipe?

[@johnstamos4629]

ah thats cool

[@johnstamos4629]

@@Critique808 chewing

[@JL_Loki]

We use seed as anthelmintic. They get rid of worms. It's a very useful tree if you know what it's uses are.

[@tommunyon2874]

Resembles the Tangan Tangan on Guam, which was brought in to recover the damage to the landscape from WWII. The wood is used as the local equivalent of mesquite. There seem to be a lot of introduced members of the pea family in the tropics, including poinciana, orcid trees, and flamboyant.

[@luciamary5641]

We have a lot of this in Barbados. It's called commonly river tamarind. Very hard to control.

[@BelovedAznAngelz]

It’s edible. It’s very popular for consumption in Southeast Asia. And it’s expensive here in NC. Bought this the other day and it’s almost $4 per bunch!

[@robertdistro574]

That tress are very common to grow every where here in my hometown

[@kolapyellow7631]

It's an eddible fruit, and it can kill worms and parasites in your tummy, and the big mature trees are a good source for firewood-accordeing to a researcher. . The young green shoots are added to salads.

[@g7enn89]

My classmates in elementary days said the same thing, I thought they were saying BS while we're eating the seeds. We also tried eating the leaves but its very sour. 🤣😂

[@maviskilpatrick7592]

Sounds like a prime candidate for biochar production!!

[@madeinhawaii]

Many seeds make good flour. I like the kiawe flour. Don't know enough about that possibility with false koa. I rember getting soil given to me from a mountainous area with koa. But had to let the seedlings grow to figure out if they were koa or this invasive as they have a similar leaf structure as keiki.

[@hn9790]

In Thailand, we eat young shooting, green seeds and flower (green color flower) of the plant with main dishes that are spicy, like papaya salad (Som Tam) or meat salad (Lab Nua). It's a natural laxatives if you eat too much of it.

[@patpatpatting]

Not to mention the young shoots are perfectly good with raw oysters!

[@frankreyes5570]

We use that as fire wood here on guam 🇬🇺

[@jakeryker546]

Those are great for Chop and Drop! Permaculture!

[@joeatalig5005]

In chamorro we call it tangantagan. We use it for fire wood perfect for cooking outdoors and bbq better than charcoal.

[@stonewallis4373]

It actually looks better now if you ask me🤷‍♂️

[@teachatami45]

Man the truth is the truth.

[@blitzkrieg6318]

Guaxmole can be made out of the seeds very normal in Mexico in other South American countries people don’t know they are edible but yes they are invasive in certain countries especially if there’s a plentiful water source.

[@JL_Loki]

We call it ipil ipil in my hometown. It's good forage food for ruminants and rabbits. The seeds can be eaten and it has an anthelmintic properties. Just like someone said here, they're good nitrogen fixers too for organic farming. I add it to make fermented plant juice since they're abundant. They grow big if you leave them too though the wood is soft lumber. They're used as making charcoal as they can grow quickly though it has to be watch over as they're soft woods. You can even make them as firewoods since they grow quickly. They're rare now in my community as lands are now covered with cement and houses. I have one plant I keep. I trim it to use as nitrogen fixers, FPJ and feed chickens and rabbit. A certain butterfly likes to lay their eggs on it too and so does praying mantis. Guess it's only a problem because people still doesn't know it's uses. It's useful as long as you know what the uses are.

[@warrenpuckett4203]

Chewing tobacco does that too anthelmintic purpose too.

[@BMarie774]

Hawaii reminds me so much of Florida in this way. So many invasive plants and animals.

[@brave9801]

We call them ipil-ipil in the Philippines. It's a natural/organic deworming. I ate those and are good snacks. Also, we cut them for firewood, we use them for fencing , etc. Looks like the people of Hawaii needed to be educated.

[@falcoperegrinus82]

Its usefulness to humans is irrelevant to the fact that it's a super aggressive invasive species, which was the whole point of the video.

[@erictoulon5946]

We remove them from our pastures as the seeds will cause the horse’s hair especially their tails and mane to fall out. They then take a beating from the fly’s as they are unable to flick their tails. Cattle suffer to an extent as well but not as much. I’ve seen people use them as fence posts but they frequently sprout and are not very sturdy requiring them to be replaced fairly regularly. They are a nuisance and while it’s a pain to get rid of them it’s not impossible. Most of the land is workable with machines that could clear the invasive species relatively easily. There are areas that is more difficult to access but ropes and chainsaws still make it doable. It’s all about the will to do it.

[@junglelane]

I've those on my farm in puerto Rico. Very beneficial for farming and edible seeds when young.

[@gilbertclement5427]

Did anyone notice; not one mention of what is being done to iradicate this invasive species?

[@sugar2943]

Go start plucking them from the roots

[@davidd.8519]

How did they get there in the first place? And is the tram still running through there?

[@laserblast92]

Those trees are like weeds....

[@kaipos8601]

Becoming? It's always been a huge problem

[@alexcarter8807]

It was a problem when I was a kid in the 70s.

[@weareone6332]

Right!

[@Critique808]

​@alex carter It was in the back of Waipahu Intermediate School when I went there. Then when I went to Waipahu High, it was all over in the back. Moving on to Leeward CC, it's all over the back.

[@virgiliod.9436]

As children we were encouraged to eat the seeds of ipil-ipil which is the name of this tree in the Philippines directly fresh from the tree. It doesn't taste good but has a tolerable taste which is good for deworming children.

[@betsystone5733]

Looks like what we call mimosa trees. Would need to see the flowers

[@WoziBeatz]

I was thinking the same

[@keithrobertson9075]

They may be remotely related, but it's not the same species. I've worked with both

[@mrEC]

This has been in Hawai’i for a long time. I saw that plant since the 50’s. Why is it a problem now?

[@ur808mate]

because it has spread unabated like cats and chickens

[@jeanneratterman]

How were the plants even allowed in? Due diligence? Is this why the strict customs to enter Hawaii? The two times I went to Hawaii, it is like going into another country, such strict customs clearance. It is often more organized than foreign countries I have visited.

[@bluestormcloud791]

Very few trees were in Hawaii before people got here. Even the state tree, Kukui, was brought to Hawaii by people. There was only one land mammal. Later people brought many destructive animals such as pigs and cats. These are responsible for spreading invasive species and spreading harmful diseases.

[@louisevad6091]

Can it be used for wood pellets or pulp

[@jeffs6114]

That’s a good idea

[@bluestormcloud791]

Yes but fireplaces are very uncommon in Hawaii. As far as starting a paper mill, it would never fly. Getting a harvesting permit would be extremely burdensome. There are a few timber harvesting permits available on Hawaii Island but there has been a lot of conflict around them in the past. The labor costs, fuel costs, and shipping costs would be prohibitively expensive. The only chance of using the pulp would be for hippies selling home made products at craft fairs.

[@smallfootprint2961]

That yellow Hibiscus is beautiful. Yes, please.

[@bradleysmith9431]

Since Hawaii was created by rising volcanic activity, then wouldn't technically all the plants be invasive? I don't know too many plants that live in volcanoes under the sea., That rose up with the land.

[@sgg17003]

Yes, exactly. They act like everythinf "non native" is a big deal. Just like the coqui frogs. They poisoned land to kill them, as if they were some threat.

[@bidenisasnake9932]

You cant just make sense like that. Someone is behind some exploit scheme.

[@njp4321]

There's a gigantic flaw in your attempt at logic. Following that reasoning, because the entire planet was once a churning mass of molten magma, invasive species as a concept is completely impossible because at one time the planet was uninhabitable by currently living species of any sort.

[@jackspencer8290]

@@njp4321 this

[@ph-vf5hx]

That is how all land on earth was formed. Are you assuming that the land should be barren and lifeless like mars? That's seems more far-fetched to me

[@JessmanChicken86]

This is a great piece.

[@blessejhonbayot5265]

It's a good firewoods in the Philippines...and also use as a herbal medicines against intestinal worms..

[@KB-mk9lv]

Omg. Is that the erosion control plant that is found used in CA? I have experienced that monster. Intentionally hard to eradicate.

[@Reginaldesq]

is this the same Koa that they use to make guitars?

[@romoalex]

When I lived in Hawaii a lot of people really got shocked when I would eat them

[@nogunnofear6703]

Can you carefully dose the stump with Roundup shrub herbicide and kill the Taproot? I've gotten rid of some pretty aggressive Invaders doing that. I don't like using herbicide but sometimes it's the only thing that will do the job. Very careful about where it goes.

[@inharmonywithearth9982]

It is NOT biogradable, a plant and animal hormone disruption agent. Goes into the ocean and kills phytoplankton plants. Has created a 350 mile wide DEAD ZONE at the mouth of the Mississippi River in the Gulf of Mexico due to 100% DEAD phytoplankton plants. Phytoplankton plants are the oxygen maker of our World.

[@Guerillaforest]

Should’ve made note of the uhaloa, a’ali’i, and ‘ilima growing along the stairs so people can identify which plants there should be protected. I cleared out some koa ha’ole out of the a’ali’i canopy last time I hiked there. Hope they’re doing good.

[@adriancalma3508]

Ok but how you get up that far in business casual without sweating

[@ripster9713]

He took the rail

[@DulceCatania]

😂😂😂

[@peni1641]

From the camera section it sounds like ppl eat alot of these invasive species.. Why not harvest these plants and sell them, food or fuel.

[@robbieevans6536]

We have those trees here in Delaware...They do have a nice pink puffy flower though.

[@varudboonjoong5594]

1.Young shoot and young pod are edible. Eat it with oyster and you will keep doing that again for the rest of your life.(There are two types, big and small. The small one is edible. In the videos, it seems like a small one to me. 2. Thai people put young greeny seeds on papaya salad( a bag of 10 grams costs one US dollars in the market). 3. Cows and Pigs love it.

[@bobbykiefer4306]

That's some good eating for foragers.

[@FrancisBalgos]

Honestly, the people are the invassives. Lol! This is actually a nice tree, good for charcoal, the green seeds for deworming, its also a good wood.

[@danielhathaway8042]

We have a product made in Grants Pass Oregon it’s called the Up Rooter. It Grabs the plant by the base and levers the plant out of the ground root and all. I’m using one to remove a invasive called Gorse it’s a thorny oily plant that was introduced to the Oregon and Washington Coast. I think this would be a great tool for this problem.

[@SiNFPVGUAM]

In Guam its Tangan Tangan, Used alot for BBQ fire wood, also invasive...

[@Rachels123]

We in the virgin islands call it tan tan. Its a problem, don’t worry, you will never get rid of it.

[@micah_lee]

Thank you so much for advocating for removing invasive plants and planting native ones!!! We need to save our ecosystems

[@nomdeguerre7265]

If you're trying to save the ecosystem from the ecosystem, good luck with that.

[@micah_lee]

@@nomdeguerre7265 Invasive species create an ecosystem in which only a few or one plant species can survive, and where all the native specialist animals and bugs cannot survive. It is an ecosystem because they rely on each other. Many plants are the sole host plant for their native bug counterparts. The bug CAN NOT complete it's life cycle without it. When you introduce a plant that is extremely aggressive, to the point that it outcompetes and totally overtakes NATIVE plants, then you lose both native local plants AND the animals that rely on them. Plus, the threat of losing these native ecosystems to a totally different ecosystem is horrible, because then you lose the whole suite of special ecosystem services that a intact ecosystem serves, where a monoculture can NOT do it all. Plus, it is sad to lose the native plants that used to be here because of a singular exotic plant that is able to outcompete. There is more to it in invasion ecology, and it isn't always so cut and dry I admit. But the ecosystem that invasive plants create is NOT a good thing!

[@nomdeguerre7265]

@@micah_lee For a while perhaps. In general it's up to the ecosystem to deal with the issue, which it will in time, because attempts at control usually just make the problem worse. Recent history is replete with exactly this kind of scenario. Isolated or very limited ecosystems can sometimes, sometimes, be protected, but it's rare and limited to special cases. Life is invasive, and it's nothing new, just accelerated by a species that moves a lot of stuff around, a lot.

[@sweethart2540]

That is used as anti-helminthic in the Southern Philippines. The green pods are eaten by kids for intestinal worms to come out.

[@verucasalt9182]

Apparently in Mexico they eat the seeds too.

[@sonnynagum6554]

The horses behind my house used to eat that stuff

[@kellikelli4413]

TIP ~ for easier root and all removal of any plant - wait till after a medium to heavy rain .

[@PlantaDéChamoy]

I wonder if those roots would make good compost

[@ThisGuy76]

My dyslexia made it say "koala hole"! 😅😂

[@johnjamce1146]

I got that in my country it grows like crazy

[@getthebagnelly]

These are called guajes in Mexico. Really good! My parents and even neighbors have a tree. How are they invasive??

[@remliqa]

They're invasive because they're not native to Hawaii and is threatening the local species.

[@kotk05]

​@@remliqa Are the Hawaiians not eating them?

[@remliqa]

@@kotk05 Trust me as I person who regulars eats their seeds. These guys produce far more seed than what humans can eat. That is if the Hawaiians actually eat them at the rate South Americans and South East Asians did.

[@lourdesjesusislord8160]

We used to have a lot of those on our streets years ago. Thank GOD they're not there anymore.

[@jayrl8833]

The leaves are use to feed many farm animals suh as cows and goats while the trunk is good fire wood and charcoal. The wood is nice to use as a chopping wood

[@jeffgegos7333]

You could use the leave s as fertizller and they got nitrogen from the air and make fertziller it’s related to beans and peas to.

[@noelrdhawaii]

My family eats those in Mexico 🇲🇽 and yes we have them invading our front yard here on Maui…

[@DR.ELEKTRIK]

Awesome hike!

[@lancesay]

Lao, we called it Mak kan tin, we eat the young shoot leaves and the flat pots and their grown peas... with papaya salad. also, the wood we cut down for fire logs; you will always have firewood if you do it right and have a few handfuls of trees in your backyard.

[@mattban4136]

Interesting how much like Mesquite it looks. Both the leaves and the pods. And it takes over the way that Mesquite has in Texas.

[@100GTAGUY]

Crime pays but botany doesn't has some good videos on plants where he describes the similarities of plants on different landmasses and their taxonomy which is surprisingly the same or very close (same family and genus, but usually a slightly different species due to the location)

[@kaleoariola]

Becoming a problem?!? How bout been a problem

[@charliemike5699]

those things are excellent firewood and charcoal materials and are actualy sustainable...the leaves and barks are good natural source for nitrogen in gardens too...

[@1fan164]

Also don’t they prevent landslides?

[@poncepg4991]

This plant is very nutritious, lots of protein and minerals. People can survive on this. They’re not as bad as the narrative and been around for thousands of years don’t weaponize it.

[@falcoperegrinus82]

Their value to humans is irrelevant to the fact that they are a super aggressive invasive species in Hawaii.

[@InappropriateShorts]

0:29 that plant growth doesn’t take 80 years it takes like 5

[@cruzanmongoose]

They're called Tan Tan here in the USVI. definitely one of the most prolific plants in the world, you can cut one down a thousand times and it will always grow back

[@janeblogs324]

Wtf is the usvi?

[@sidneyvandykeii3169]

I'm guessing United States Virgin Islands

[@cruzanmongoose]

@@janeblogs324 US Virgin Islands

[@janeblogs324]

@@cruzanmongoose is that like the Russian Ukraine?

[@Dominus_Maximus]

This is a stupid question, but can you just cut them all near the base, and have someone with a blow torch burn the tips so they don’t grow back?

[@mauxuwon6252]

hello fromThailand, we also have these plants growing here, very fast growing. I just make wood chips out of these plants.

[@localboyn2deep146]

Just get couple Billy goat 🐐 🤷 they will clear area 😁

[@tysons8759]

Sup Hawaiian

[@edwardlansdowne291]

This horrible pest plant is called "Mimosa" here in Australia and it has taken over enormous swathes of the tropical north. Its so bad that I don't think it can be controlled anymore. It's run rampant !

[@GreenCanvasInteriorscape]

Mimosa is the sensitive plant here in the US, touch the leaves and they fold inward, different plant than this one, they both have p i n n a t e leaves but that's about it

[@l0remipsum991]

bring some goats

[@josephpk4878]

I heard that Broom chokes out all other plant life - maybe try planting some of that.

[@louisevad6091]

So it you find a commercial use for the tree it will be in short supply

[@jeffs6114]

Unfortunately the wood doesn’t have much uses since it rarely grows to a big enough diameter. Cattle and goats will eat all the leaves and pods, goats will kill the tree by eating the bark if left long enough with the tree. It’s one good use is a nitrogen fixer, but that positive is overshadowed by its aggressive growth. And it’s impossible to cut down to remove, gotta get the root out. At least it doesn’t have thorns

[@elmernagui744]

called ipil ipil in the Philippines.. the leaves can be eaten by pigs and goats and the wood can be used in wood parquet..

[@remliqa]

I'm not sure if they are the same species, I'm pretty sure these seed of those plants are edible. Where I grew up we collets them before they're ripe and use them raw as complimentary dish (eaten with rice and othe gravy type like curry) or as ingredients in dished like fried rice or similar.

[@donnabotelho2195]

Good info

[@teachatami45]

People it is an awesome plant to prevent land erosion. It is a great invasive species bats an other animal love it.

[@curtiswhiteheadjr1322]

Just reading these comments and you can't tell me some big corporation isn't salivating over the money making 🤑 possibilities of these pesky plants.

[@aemerje]

Same as the plants grow ontop of my roof.. It can make holes in concrete also

[@sepetisionelatu5539]

l may be wrong but that plant is in every Polynesian island which probably means it's not an invasive plant. We Tongans call it "siale mohe" and it's due to when you touch it the leaves fold like it's sleeping or mohe in Tongan. One of the best wood to make "tikis" from. The seeds can be made into leis etc.

[@nw6gmp]

it is very much an invasive plant since it did not originate in polynesia.

[@sepetisionelatu5539]

@@nw6gmp who told you that it didn't originate in Polynesia? That plant is on every Polynesian island and it had never bothered us. It's in South America and in every tropical part of the world. It's not an invasive plant. May the people be the ones invading the habitats of the plants.

[@nw6gmp]

@@sepetisionelatu5539 it originated in mexico/central america and was introduced into polynesia.

[@merk9569]

This is like Bradford Pear trees in the Continental US. Planted as an ornamental tree everywhere, it has escaped and is now forming dense forests which are difficult to eradicate. They are covered in very long spines so birds and other wildlife avoid them. The trees produce abundant fruit that animals do not eat. They make a poor quality tree in landscapes. While they grow quickly, have lovely blooms in spring and gorgeous fall foliage, the branches break easily, leaving huge open and unsightly areas in the tree canopy. Still, they are available at garden center. The US government does not regulate what can be sold in the US adequately. Look at what is happening in Southern Florida. Invasive species of plants and animals are destroying the native populations. Likewise, there are introduced fish which are undesirable in the Mississippi River. You don’t have to look far to see more examples of exotics.

[@erroneous6947]

Bradford pears also smell like rotten meat. It attracts flies not bees. Also I agree as a resident of Florida. Lots of invasive species here. New Yorkers are the most aggressive imo.

[@letthedogsout1]

@@erroneous6947 are you a Seminole Indian or one of the other Native American tribes of Florida? If not, you too are an invasive species in that state

[@erinl9056]

Bradford pears are not covered in spines or spikes or anything close. Wtf. I live in Atlanta and builders love them because they’re cheap and grow tall quickly. But they also block sun from the ground below, killing the grass, which leads to erosion. The base trunk also does not grow much in comparison to the branches, which is why they are prone to storm and wind damage. They’re the trees you see cleaved in half all over the city after a bad storm passes.

[@merk9569]

@@erinl9056 Perhaps the specimen Bradford pears sold don’t have spines; I’ve never looked. The ones that are growing wild are covered in 1 inch spines. If I weren’t housebound I’d take a trip to the nearest river bottom covered with them and take photos. I am a university degrees botanist and a lifelong gardener. I’m not exaggerating about the spines, and have no reason to lie.

[@merk9569]

@@erinl9056

[@giovannirojas3952]

That's guaje. Hecho en Mexico! 🇲🇽 😎

[@OrrusTHX]

The world changes. You can't force it to stay the same. Get over it.

[@kuyamarcmyword8589]

In Thailand they eat that. In Philippines we use that to make a charcoal

[@CHT420]

I think I have these on my patio. Had a tree service cut what I thought was all of them-NOPE they are coming back from the stumps with a vengeance. Wouldn’t recommend the tree service in this case. Tree service did an outstanding job on trimming the many palms on the property

[@ffjsb]

Keep spraying the sprouts with RoundUp, or if you're not allowed to do that, spray straight vinegar on them. I would also drill holes in the stump and use a stump remover chemical (potassium nitrate) to cause the stump to rot faster.

[@CHT420]

@@ffjsb thanks great suggestions. I went to Home Depot but couldn’t find the stump remover

[@verucasalt9182]

Use copper nails on the stumps and put salt on top of the soil .

[@CHT420]

@@verucasalt9182 will try never heard of copper nails have heard of brass, galvanized, etc. Can I buy them at Home Depot or Lowe’s?

[@ffjsb]

@@verucasalt9182 Putting salt in the soil prevents anything else from growing after you get rid of the stump. Not a good idea.

[@danodamano2581]

Cannot always be the masters of nature anymore than you can master the volcano you live on. Invasive species of everything are problematic all over the world causing hardships for many. The most adaptable will succeed.

[@JohnDoe-tx]

Good food sources