Last month, the Cahaba River Society alerted us that there had been a tenfold increase in invasive taro plants infesting Cahaba Lily habitat at the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge in West Blocton.
On August 23, 2017, they began "Project Tarobliteration" working to eradicate the taro. Where possible, they pulled it up by the roots, and where that was not possible, they cut back the stalks and leaves in using string trimmers in an effort to eventually starve the bulbs of energy, causing them to die.
On September 8, seventeen days after the initial treatment, they returned to the Refuge with partners from the Birmingham Botanical Gardens and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The plants had returned with a vengeance, but were still more sparse than before. Because the water was much lower on this visit than the previous one, they were able to dig and cut out more of the plants. read the full article in the latest Cahaba River Society newsletter here.
Pictured at right: Cahaba River Society Education Director Gordon Black cuts back taro with a string trimmer. It will require many more trimmings to eradicate the plants.