Today the crew conducted follow up treatments on Giant Hogweed along Hwy 1 in Langley and in North Vancouver. These three sites were treated last year by our crew. These infestations had obviously been present at these sites for some time given their size. Because Giant Hogweed plants can produce up to 100,000 seeds per plant, we were expecting an extensive seed bank would be present at these sites. We were right. The sites looked very similar to last year in terms of numbers of plants (except this time we got to them early in the year when they were small instead of 15ft high). While this could seem discouraging after all of the work we did last year, this is just part of the process of "seed bed exhaustion". The management approach for this type of "seedy" plant is an annual plan to return once or twice during the growing season to treat new germinates until all of the seeds that had been previously deposited by the historic plants have germinated and been treated. Giant Hogweed seeds have been noted to germinate for up to 10 years once deposited in the seed bank though the greatest germination rate is in the first 2 years. This is a great example of how a one-time treatment is not enough. We cannot simply treat and walk away. Treatment of plants such as Giant Hogweed require a committed program for successful eradication. This also emphasizes the point that we should not let these plants become so established as treatment is much more costly at this stage

.