Invasive plants can be controlled in desert environs

Question: I have a narrow area, and the Las Vegas nurseries have Japanese privet. However, I have read on various blogs that birds eat the berries, and they get dropped in other areas of the yard and gardens, sprouting up all over. They say it is considered an invasive species in many areas. Have you found this problem to be true, and if so, is there anything that can be done so that the plant will not produce berries?

I have not heard this to be true in desert landscapes. We can control most growth by controlling water. Where water is applied to desert landscapes is where weeds and other unwanted plants will grow. There are many invasive species in California and Florida that are not invasive in home landscapes in our desert for this reason.

However, invasive species can be a problem in persistent or perennial waterways, such as the Colorado River basin, washes such as the Las Vegas Wash and irrigation ditches. So you do have to be careful with invasive species, but in the middle of the desert with no such waterways, it is not usually a problem. During the establishment period, you would want to push stem growth as quickly as possible with deep irrigations and light fertilizer applications about four times a year. Pruning should be done about monthly during establishment and to keep the trellis looking neat and trim.

Bob Morris is a professor emeritus in horticulture with the University of Nevada and can be reached at extremehort@aol.com. Visit his blog at
xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com. For more advice, check Thursday’s Las Vegas Review-Journal.