Agriculture officials wage war on purple loosestrife

Purple loosestrife is a beautiful plant, its imperial-purple flowers growing in dazzling carpets across wetlands throughout Sussex County. And if you have some on your property, Bob Chianese offers this blunt advice: "Dig them up and destroy the tubers." Chianese is an entomologist n an insect scientist - with the N.J. Department of Agriculture. His mission is to unleash six-legged predators on those fields of flowers that are as destructive as they are gorgeous. "Don't be deceived by the beauty of this plant. In North America, purple loosestrife is bad news," Chianese said. In New Jersey, this alluring European seductress has ravished thousands of acres of wetlands since its introduction in the early 19th century. Without natural enemies in its adopted home, it has spread virtually unchecked across wetlands, choking out native cattails and making it difficult for endangered bog turtles to move about and feed. The plant is in full bloom now and will continue to flower through September. True to its imperial-purple hue, purple loosestrife colonizes with a vengeance, dispersing millions of quick-germinating seeds. Its tough tubers crowd out cattails, sedges, bulrushes and reed canary grass, said Chianese. In its native-European habitat, purple loosestrife is a passive, stay-at-home type. The plant doesn't dominate European wetland areas, because more than 120 species of loosestrife-loving insects feed on it. Unfortunately, native North American insects haven't been effective at controlling the ever-increasing population of the plant. "Waterfowl won't feed on purple loosestrife seeds, so they don't nest in wetlands purple loosestrife has invaded." Purple loosestrife also harms marsh-loving mammals, Chianese said. Muskrats in particular prefer to eat cattails, and purple loosestrife makes a land-grab for habitat the cattails otherwise would occupy. To conquer the plant, Chianese said you need an army - an army of loosestrife-munching beetles and weevils. In 1991, the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service approved the release of five kinds of loosestrife-loving insects, including two species of leaf-eating beetles, two species of flower-eating beetles and one root-mining weevil. Six years later, Chianese said, state entomologists began releasing hundreds of thousands of the approved insects to combat New Jersey's infestation. Among the sites targeted for insect release in Sussex County are the Wallkill National Wildlife Refuge and wetlands in Hainesville, Whittingham, Paulinskill and Wawayanda, as well as several privately-owned tracts. "We don't want to wipe out purple loosestrife entirely," said Chianese, "but rather to reduce the population to the point that it no longer dominates wetlands, to enable these areas to become more attractive to native wetland plants and wildlife. Many people love this eye-catching plant, and we want to create a balance and keep everyone happy." Chianese said it is unlikely the insects will attack other plants if they run out of purple loosestrife to eat. "The insects will eat multiflora roses, but they can't multiply on them. If they don't find enough purple loosestrife to allow them to reproduce, the beetles will just go into the soil and die out," Chianese explained. Using herbicides isn't a good idea, Chianese continued, because they kill other wetland plants, harm the environment and require continual application. Besides, they are effective only on small, immature purple loosestrife populations. Purple loosestrife is only one of the many members of the loosestrife family. Other family members are more benign. Yellow Native American fringed loosestrife grows sparsely in the New Jersey pine barrens and is considered a rare and desirable wildflower.