Re: another reason to dislike barberry

**"* P* L* <l*@hort.net>**

----- Original Message -----
> Hi, Teri!
> 
> As a Ct Advanced Master Gardener, we were made aware of the Ct
> Agricultural Experiment Station's work on this a few years back.
> There is also an element of this that has to do with earthworm
> activity beneath the barberry from the increased humidity. A Google
> search will turn up about 6 articles on this subject from various
> credible sources. One of them quotes a study of removal of the
> barberry resulting in lower Lyme disease incidence.  Hard to argue
> with the data and yet another voice to be added to the chorus on
> increasing our use of natives as we remove the barberries.

I think it's not so much the use of barberries in the landscape that's
an issue; it's the invasiveness.  The seeds spread to woodlands where
they germinate and grow, providing an ideal place for deer ticks to live.

Harold Pellet at University of Minnesota has been working on colchicine and oryzaline-
induced tetraploidism of various invasive species for over a decade now; Jonathan Lehrer
at University of Connecticut has been targeting barberry specifically and trying
to create sterile cultivars using the same methods.

For what it's worth, the less vigorous/more dwarf forms of barberry
have been shown to produce fewer seeds and lower viability naturally:

   http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/41/3/762.full.pdf

So there may be an answer coming soon.  Right now it might be 'Don't
plant barberries', but later it might be 'Only plant the right barberries.'

It's the same message we've been trying to send with burning bush and
the 'Rudy Haag' cultivar.

Chris
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