Arundo donax var. procerior Kunth.

Anecdotal evidence cited in reviews (e.g., [11,28,95]) indicates that giant reed is top-killed by fire, and in most circumstances underground rhizomes survive fire.

More info for the terms: association, cover, fire management, fresh, grass/fire cycle, natural, presence, rhizome

Impacts: Bell [11] considers giant reed to be the greatest threat to southern California's remaining riparian corridors. It is so widespread and problematic in this area that more than 20 public and private organizations came together to form the Santa Ana River Arundo Management Task Force, also known as Team Arundo [54].

Once established, giant reed often forms monocultural stands that physically inhibit growth of other plant species [11,80]. For example, Douthit [26] describes a 1993 preliminary riparian assessment of the Santa Ana River basin where in the Riverside West Quad, 762 acres (308 ha) of 1,116 acres (470 ha) of riparian vegetation are impacted by giant reed. Of the impacted acres, 535 acres (217 ha) are monospecific stands of giant reed.

Although evidence is entirely anecdotal, several accounts (e.g., [11,20,29,84,95]) describe changes in fuels, fire characteristics, and/or postfire plant community response in southern California riparian areas invaded by giant reed that are suggestive of an invasive grass/fire cycle. The result of such cycle is loss of native riparian species, and continued dominance and spread of giant reed. See Fire ecology for more details.

Canopy structure of giant reed colonies differs from that of native vegetation, resulting in changes in water quality and wildlife habitat. The lack of stream-side canopy structure may result in increased pH in the shallower sections of rivers due to high algal photosynthetic activity [9,17]. In turn, high pH facilitates conversion of ammonium (NH4+) to toxic ammonia (NH3), which further degrades water quality for aquatic species and for downstream users [9]. Several species listed as endangered are further threatened by giant reed invasion and control efforts in San Francisquito Canyon including least Bell's vireo, unarmored threespine stickleback, and Nevin's barberry (Mahonia nevinii) [95].

Giant reed is becoming a major biological pollutant of river estuaries and beaches. It is often ripped out of the soft bottoms of rivers during storms and washed downstream into flood control channels [25]. Giant reed growing in flood control channels necessitates constant removal. It can form debris dams against flood control and transportation structures such as bridges and culverts [29,37]. Because the rhizomes of giant reed grow close to the surface, they break off during floods. When the root mass breaks away during these floods the riverbanks are destabilized. Destabilization of riverbanks is the leading cause of flooding in southern California [99].

Iverson [50] provides insight into the economics of giant reed's impact on water use. He estimates giant reed transpires 56,200 acre-feet of water per year on the Santa Ana River, compared to an estimated 18,700 acre-feet that would be consumed by native vegetation - the difference being enough water to serve a population of about 190,000 people. If that amount of untreated water (37,500 acre-feet) was purchased from the Metropolitan Water Association it would cost approximately $12,000,000 in 1993 dollars [50].

Control: A suite of methods is needed to control giant reed depending on presence or absence of native plants, size of the stand, amount of biomass involved, terrain, and season. The key to effective treatment of established giant reed is killing or removing the rhizomes [11].

To be successful, a program to eliminate a riparian invasive plant like giant reed must start at the uppermost reaches of the watershed and work down stream. This means there must be coordination with all of the landowners and land managers, top to bottom, in a watershed. Regulatory agencies must provide technical assistance and required permits, and private landowners must provide work crews access to land [99].

To adequately coordinate removal of giant reed in a watershed, 3 programs need to be operating: 1) create a functional mapped database that contains hydrology, land ownership/use, infestations, project sites, etc.; 2) coordination with regulatory agencies to plan mitigation project sites to fit within other current projects; 3) regular meetings of stakeholders to share information regarding threats from giant reed, control techniques, funding opportunities, and each stakeholder's direct role and responsibility [99].

Prevention: Grading and construction can spread giant reed [80]. Care must therefore be taken in areas where it occurs such that soil disturbance and movement of plant parts is minimized.

Integrated management: A popular approach to treating giant reed has been to cut the stalks and remove the biomass, wait 3 to 6 weeks for the plants to grow about 3.3 feet (1 m) tall, then apply a foliar spray of herbicide solution. The chief advantage to this approach is less herbicide is needed to treat fresh growth compared with tall, established plants, and coverage is often better because of the shorter and uniform-height plants. However, cutting the stems may result in plants returning to growth-phase, drawing nutrients from the root mass. As a result there is less translocation of herbicide to the roots and less root-kill. Additionally, cut-stem treatment requires more time and personnel than foliar spraying and requires careful timing. Cut stems must be treated with concentrated herbicide within 1 to 2 minutes of cutting to ensure tissue uptake. This treatment is most effective after flowering. The advantage of this treatment is that it requires less herbicide and the herbicide can be applied more precisely. It is rarely less expensive than foliar spraying except on very small, isolated patches or individual plants [11].

An investigation to test the effectiveness of glyphosate for control of giant reed was conducted in southern California by Caltrans, the state transportation agency. Results indicate cut-stem treatments, regardless of time of application (May, July, or September), provided 100% control with no resprouting. In contrast, virtually all plants that were left untreated following cutting resprouted vigorously. Foliar treatments produced highly variable results with top die-back varying from 10 to 90% and resprouting ranging from 0 to 100% at various sites. The authors conclude treatment of cut stems appears more effective than foliar spraying in controlling giant reed with glyphosate [34].

In 1995, a full-scale project for control of giant reed was initiated in San Francisquito Canyon in the Angeles National Forest. The standing giant reed was mulched in place, using a hammer flail mower attached to a tractor, and then glyphosate was applied to the resprouts. Initial mulching occurred in October and November, 1995. Resprouts in spring, 1996, were treated with a solution of glyphosate in April, May, July, and August. Resprouts were treated again in June and September, 1997. In 1998, giant reed continued to resprout in the treatment area, but comprised only 1% of vegetative cover, as compared to 30% to 80% prior to treatment [8]. No information is provided about the composition of the plant community posttreatment.

Physical/mechanical: Minor infestations of giant reed can be eradicated by manual methods, especially where sensitive native plants and wildlife might be damaged by other methods. Hand pulling works with new plants less than 6.6 feet (2 m) in height, but care must be taken that all rhizomes are removed [49]. This may be most effective in loose soils and after rains have loosened the substrate. Giant reed can be dug using hand tools and in combination with cutting plants near the base. Stems and roots should be removed and burned on site to prevent rerooting. The fibrous nature of giant reed makes using a chipper difficult (R. Dale personal communication in [28]). For larger infestations on accessible terrain, heavier tools (rotary brush cutter, chainsaw, or tractor-mounted mower) may facilitate biomass removal followed by rhizome removal or chemical treatment. Such methods may be of limited value on complex or sensitive terrain or on slopes over 30%. These methods may also interfere with re-establishment of native plants [49]. Mechanical eradication of giant reed is extremely difficult, even with the use of a backhoe, as rhizomes buried under 3 to 10 feet (1-3 m) of alluvium readily resprout (R. Dale personal communication in [28]).

Cut material is often burned on site, subject to local fire regulations, because of the difficulty and expense involved in collecting and removing or chipping all material. Stems and roots must be removed, chipped, or burned on site to avoid re-rooting (Dale, personal communication in [28]).

Fire: See Fire Management Considerations.

Biological: Tracy and DeLoach [93] provide an exhaustive summary of the search for biological control agents for giant reed in the United States. Areas dominated by giant reed in North America are essentially devoid of wildlife. This means native flora and fauna do not offer any significant control potential [11]. It is uncertain what natural controlling mechanisms for giant reed are in its countries of origin, although corn borers (Eizaguirre and others 1990 in [11]), spider mites [31], and aphids [65] have been reported in the Mediterranean. A sugar cane moth-borer in Barbados is reported to attack giant reed, but it is also a major pest of sugar cane and is already found in the United States in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida [94]. A leafhopper in Pakistan utilizes giant reed as an alternate host but attacks corn and wheat [1].

In the United States a number of diseases have been reported on giant reed, including root rot, lesions, crown rust, and stem speckle, but none seem to have seriously impacted advance of this weed [11].

Giant reed is not very palatable to cattle, but during the drier seasons they will graze the young shoots, followed by the upper parts of the older plants [108]. In many areas of California the use of Angora and Spanish goats is showing promise for controlling giant reed [21].

Chemical: Application of herbicides on giant reed is most effective after flowering and before dormancy. During this period, usually mid-August to early November in southern California, the plants are actively translocating nutrients to the root mass in preparation for winter dormancy. This may result in effective translocation of herbicide to the roots [11]. Comparison trials on the Santa Margarita River in southern California indicate foliar application during the appropriate season results in almost 100% control, compared with only 5 to 50% control using cut-stem treatment. Two to 3 weeks after foliar treatment the leaves and stalks brown and soften creating an additional advantage in dealing with the biomass. Cut green stems might take root if left on damp soil and are very difficult to cut and chip. Treated stems have little or no potential to root and are brittle (Omori 1996 in Bell [11]). Bell [11], Hoshovsky [49], and Jackson [52] provide detailed information on specific herbicides and concentrations used to treat giant reed.

In the proceedings from a workshop on giant reed control published online, Bell [11] asserts pure stands of giant reed (>80% canopy cover) are most efficiently and effectively treated by aerial application of an herbicide concentrate, usually by helicopter. Helicopter application can treat at least 124 acres (50 ha) per day. In areas where helicopter access is impossible and giant reed makes up the understory, where patches are too small to make aerial application financially efficient, or where giant reed is mixed with native plants (<80% canopy coverage), herbicides must be applied by hand.

Cultural: Giant reed appears to be insensitive to flood regime. It survives and spreads through vegetative propagation during long periods without flooding but spreads during flood events as well. Because it does not reproduce sexually, giant reed is not affected by the timing of spring flows, but can establish any time that flood flows carry and deposit stem fragments or rhizomes. It thrives along edges of reservoirs, irrigation canals, and other structures where timing of drawdowns is incompatible with maintenance of native species [97].

Conversely, native riparian species and communities depend on natural flood regimes for maintenance and reproduction. If natural flood dynamics are maintained as part of an integrated management approach, native species may have a better chance of competing with giant reed in the long term [11].