Illegal Plants?

[Mikaila31]

All right. I live about a mile from the Minnesota border in Wisconsin. In Minnesota Hygophilia polysperma is basically illegal, you cannot posses, import, sell, or buy it. In Wisconsin it is legal, and the chance it will become invasive is low. I originally bought my h. polysperma from a pet store in MN, before I learned that it was illegal. So why is it illegal in MN? Surely it would die in MN during the winter, wouldn't it?

 

[Amerce]

This is why -

[URL="http/plants.ifas.ufl.edu/seagrant/hygpol2.html"]http/plants.ifas.ufl.edu/seagrant/hygpol2.html[/URL]

Quote -
Problems/Effects:

Hygrophila polysperma is a fast-growing and fast-spreading invasive that can outshade and therefore outcompete other submersed plants; it can occupy the entire water column; many adventitious roots at stem nodes means that fragments can easily grow.

Hygrophila polysperma clogs irrigation and flood-control canals; in south Florida, large mats of fragments collect at culverts and interfere with essential water control pumping stations; it interferes with navigation; and it's even able to compete with another aggressive non-native invasive plant, hydrilla, and is replacing hydrilla in some Florida locations.

Hygrophila reportedly grew on Lake Tohopekaliga (Florida) from 0.1 acre in 1979 to 10 acres in 1980 (MITRE). - Unquote

Presumably they don't want the same sort of problems in your local water ways.

 

[frozenbarb]

In winter they may die. But in spring, summer, fall they will flourish and eventually mess up your waterways.

 

[Colin_T]

stupid laws is why you can't buy it. We are allowed to keep barramundi in Western Australia but only if they come from here. If they come from anywhere else in Australia we are not allowed to keep them. There are rivers that flow between WA and the rest of the country and the barramundi swim across the border whenever they want. Yet if they aren't from WA we can't keep them.
Likewise we aren't allowed to bring marine cleaner shrimp into Australia even though they naturally occur in our tropical waters. The government is affraid they will bring in some hideous disease and wipe out the prawn fisheries. The larval shrimp get sent here by the currents that originate in the tropics.

Mod edit: You've made your point, your final comment about what the government should or should not do regarding illegal immigrants has been removed, as that had no bearing on the topic and is general discussion not appropriate for this forum. Thank you for your cooperation

 

[crazyaussie]

yes colin is right people from other country bring back diseases so why cant we inport marine tropical or what eva fish we want from other contries i think its unfair and stupid

 

[Amerce]

This conversation has gone away from invasive plants to cultural intolerance.

Please check out your own historical issues before you go on any further about immigrants bringing in diseases to Australia or any other non European country. Remember you are the immigrants be you 6/7th generation you are not the original inhabitants of Australia so please stick to the question in hand and not go on any further about your countries immigration policies.

As for the issue of Polysperma, whilst responsible aquarist can keep the plants safely in private aquariums it is the irresponsible person who flushes the plant down toilets or whatever during water changes (even a small plantlet can start a growth spurt in the water system) and spread down the water table to area's where the local eco system cannot cope with this sort of invasive and tough plant. The same holds true for duckweed and other floating plants that initially look as though they are going to die in tropical tanks and then in the next generation suddenly have a growth spurt. I bought some duckweed a while ago from a pond shop and thought I'd try it in one of my tanks, initially it died, but there must have been a small plantlet hiding and the next thing I know a few months down the line the top of the tank is covered in the stuff.

I have to be careful when doing water changes and when I clean my nets to ensure it doesn't go down my sink, so I've been rinsing them outside in the garden.

 

[Colin_T]

In any modern city everything that gets washed down a drain goes through a sewerage treatment plant. There are screens and filters and settlement ponds. The effluent is quite often treated with chlorine before being released into the river or sea. I can't see any sort of aquarium plant tolerating that.

Most noxious plants that are in our waterways get there from hobbyists dumping them in the water. Some of it makes it to the rivers from floodwater during storms.

 

[lljdma06]

In any modern city everything that gets washed down a drain goes through a sewerage treatment plant. There are screens and filters and settlement ponds. The effluent is quite often treated with chlorine before being released into the river or sea. I can't see any sort of aquarium plant tolerating that.

Most noxious plants that are in our waterways get there from hobbyists dumping them in the water. Some of it makes it to the rivers from floodwater during storms.

Careful, I'm watching this thread, so keep this on topic.

H. polysperma is an extremely tough plant. If I could grow an entire plant from a single piece of leaf, imagine what cuttings can do if released into waterways. Though, I seriously doubt plants would survive the water treatment process of a sewer treatment plant, I don't recommend flushing any sort of cuttings down the toilet or sink. I don't flush fish either, but that's not the point.

So, how do we dispose of cuttings without damaging native waterways? Well, H. polysperma is so tough that in a humid environment, portions of the plant will survive binnage. I've check this out on occasion, as I used to grow the plant in IL before it was declared a noxious weed there. I'd do my maintenance, bin it, and when I would take out the trash a few days later, the plant was still in good shape, which was not good. I've had plants sitting out for hours in open air, and nothing. I was concerned that this plant would survive being dumped, which I didn't want, so I opted to kill the plants I planned to bin. I would either dry them in open air for a few days and then crush them, or when I got smarter, dump them in a bleach solution. Then I'd secure them in a plastic bag, and then bin. The plants were very much dead when they finally were disposed of. It is unfortunate to see FL waterways, they are choked with the stuff. Unfortunate too, because H. polysperma was one of my favorite aquatic plants and a plant I wanted to continue working with.

I'm sure that with the recent warming trends and the areas of open water in your state, your state government felt that there was enough of a risk to ban H. polysperma.

llj

 

[Mikaila31]

lljdma06 you have some tough H. polysperma, mine dries up and dies in only a few hours. I do flush my plants, but since I have a septic I really don't think anything is going to survive. I'm not sure if I was clear on my first post, but it IS legal were I live, which is in Wisconsin. It is NOT legal in Minnesota which I can see If I look out my window. I follow the law, although it is not very clear. I don't know If I can get in trouble for selling H. polysperma to a Minnesota resident in Wisconsin. So I only ship it to Wisconsin addresses, or if picked up I make sure I see a Wisconsin driver lisences. Which now leads me to ask the question, I am shipping some plants (java moss, H. Polysperma, Cabomba, pennywort). At the moment temp is between 10-20*F (-12- -6*C), would these plants survive priority shipping w/o a heat pack?

This is why I find the law so stupid. In the winter the temp always drops to at least 0*F(-17*C). If H. Polysperma was introduce into a waterway in the early spring. It would grow quiet quickly, but come winter it would surly die from the cold and if it that didn't do it in, would it be able to survive for 4months under ice and snow with barely any light. Most native aqautic plants have large roots where they store food. They then regrow from there roots every spring.

 

[Colin_T]

Careful, I'm watching this thread, so keep this on topic.

This is to do with the thread. It's about stupid laws and how people can keep plants on one side of the border but not the other.