Himalayan Balsam Bashing

Preston Montford is trying to reduce invasive Himalayan Balsam from our land that borders the River Severn, and thanks to our Sunday Duke of Edinburgh volunteer group (aged 14-25yrs), we are well on the way to Balsam eradication.

Himalayan Balsam is an invasive species that was introduced into the UK as a garden plant. It tolerates damp ground and is a particular problem along our UK watercourses. It grows from May to September and grows particularly tall and densely, shading out native vegetation which reduces the biodiversity of riverside vegetation. Furthermore, during the winter as it dies back, it leaves riverbanks unvegetated and vulnerable to erosion, releasing sediment into the river, which can be a problem for some aquatic wildlife.

At Preston Montford, the seeds from plants further upstream in the River Severn get trapped on our banks and grow. We have a VERY HEALTHY population of Himalayan Balsam and want to do our best to eradicate it from our land. It will take a long term continued attempt to take the plants out every year and involve solutions on a catchment scale from other landowners to completely eradicate the problem. In the meantime, if we can do our bit, we hope not to make the problem worse. This is where our volunteer crew come in very handy. Literally.

We handpull the Balsam, which is very labor intensive, so we rely on volunteers throughout the summer to come and take out the plants. Here are some before and after shots of one of the sections the team tackled earlier this month. We took 2 hours to clear an area the size of a footbal pitch and our volunteers found it really hard to stop for their cake break as they just wanted compulsively to carry on pulling – hooray! Here is a before and after shot of one 15 minutes of work.

Although it was a cooperative team effort to clear the area, competition for the tallest plant soon started, and it was every person for themselves. The winner was Ewan pictured above with what we estimate to be a 10ft plant!

If you have Himalayan Balsam growing near you, you can pull up the stems from late May until the seed heads form (usually mid-late August). Simply pull them out by the roots, break the stem and leave them scattered to rot on site. You can cover with a tarpaulin to speed up the rotting process. Strimming and grazing with cattle and ponies will also do the trick. (Source: Countryside Council for Wales leaflet & www.himalayanbalsamwales.co.uk)

If you are aged 14-25 and would like to volunteer either as part of your DofE award or just for fun, please contact us at enquiries.pm@field-studies-council.org. We do our conservation tasks here at Preston Montford 10.30-12.30 every 2^nd and 4^th Sunday.