How To Get Rid Of Invasive Ball Moss Plant - WAFB

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Experts say the invasive plant ball moss has been in the Baton Rouge area for the last 20 years. It’s possible you’ve passed by it every day, but didn’t know it existed.

It sort of looks like a tumbleweed, but it’s not, and it grows in various shapes and sizes.

According to Kyle Huffstickler, director of the Department of Maintenance for East Baton Rouge Parish, ball moss is an air plant that doesn’t require soil or water to survive.

It’s closely related to Spanish moss, except people don’t want this. Louisiana is a breeding ground for it.

“They pull nutrients from the air,” said Heather Kirk-Ballard, horticulturist with the LSU AgCenter. “So they’re not actually a parasite or anything like that on the tree, they’re just using the tree as a structure.”

Experts say the seeds are dispersed by wind, like those of a dandelion. All it takes is a little wind for the seeds to float to a structure, sometimes making a permanent home on buildings.

Kirk-Ballard says you won’t be able to get rid of the ball moss totally; it’s going to be about management.

Horticulturists say it’s less of an issue for the trees and more of an eyesore.

“It’s taking away from the aesthetic beauty of the tree,” Huffstickler said.

She says the moss can hurt trees when they become heavily infested and that could lead to a secondary disease or an increased presence of insects, but that happens over time.

Lack of sunlight can also be a problem.

Homeowners can get rid of the ball moss is by removing it by hand, but that’s just the first step in the treatment process. The next step is using a home remedy.

“You can use either a baking soda solution, which is a two to one. You want to use two parts water to one-part baking soda. That would be five pounds to ten gallons of water and spray it on the ball moss," Kirk-Ballard said. The spray can be applied using a pressurized sprayer to reach each ball of moss.

Huffstickler says if homeowners use the spray method, they should wash off surroundings vegetation so other plants will not dry out.

He says they’re adding ball moss upkeep across the city-parish to the general maintenance program. The best time to treat the ball moss is during the winter months when leaves are off the trees, according to Huffstickler.

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