Hi. I'm Jerry Goodspeed.
I'm here at the Utah State University Extension Education Building
at the Ogden Botanical Garden.
And today I'm here to talk
about a problem that we're seeing,
an invasive species
that is moving into our area
and becoming more and more of a problem
to homeowners and to landscapes.
And that problem is the garden gnome.
Now the gnome, we believe was introduced
into our area from England.
They're very attractive at first,
a little bit of a cheery smile, if you will...
but over time, they become very invasive
into the garden.
You'll find them creeping up, or showing up,
in the herb garden,
next thing, in the vegetable garden,
and pretty soon,
in the annuals and the perennials.
And once established,
they are very difficult to control.
Here in the garden in mid-February,
and in Ogden we're about a zone 5 or zone 4,
and you can already see their cheery little red hats starting
to poke through the ground.
Now this is very typical of our area.
Usually about the end of January,
first of February,
you will start to see this red cone
just after they've germinated.
Now, they're very hardy
and this is why we see them germinating so early
in the spring or late winter.
Here we've got an over-wintering dome.
Here we've got an overwintering gnome.
This is very typical.
They are very hardy.
Normally, to overwinter they will seek a hiding place,
some place that gives them a little bit
of protection from the weather,
and you can see that this gnome has chosen
behind this rock.
Last fall, it went undetected and unnoticed.
It was able to overwinter and you can see
that now it's become a quite large gnome
and quite a nuisance, quite a problem.
If left unchecked,
they can outcompete other lawn ornaments
and other parts of the landscape.
Here we see an gnome
that has taken up residency in a pagoda.
This particular gnome overwintered
in this pagoda, and if left unchecked,
it can destroy this particular lawn ornament.
As with all pests,
gnomes can be very difficult to control.
It's always best if you can control them
when they're quite small.
As they get larger,
it can become more and more difficult.
We have a couple of tools
that we use here in the gardens
to control some of our pests,
especially the gnome.
One is called the Winged Weeder.
And we've found that very early in the spring,
if we can go out and do a little bit
of winged-weeding, if you will...
Ah! There's one right there.
Pulls them, pops them, right out of the ground.
Easy to control that way.
On occasion in the fall, we'll go through
and do some tilling, some heavy tilling;
a little bit like what a rake would do
to bring them back up to the surface
when they're very small,
and hopefully over the winter,
it will destroy them.
As with all aggressive species,
gnomes have a genius method of dispersal.
In fact, they've been known
to travel three, four, up to five miles, a day.
It's been reported
that they've even been seen hitchhiking.
In their peak populations,
they'll gather in small groups
and they'll go out in search
of food, entertainment, recreation.
And most people associate gnomes
with the ground.
It's a known fact, though, that gnomes can,
when hungry enough,
move up into the trees.
Here you can see a small population
that has defoliated this tree.
It's just a sad sight.
I'm here with our extension forestry specialist, Mike Kuhns,
who has also noticed the problem
that we've had with the garden gnomes.
One of the more...surprising...shocking discoveries
that we've found with the gnomes is
that they're starting to show up in house plants.
(Kuntz) Hmm.
And, we stuck a surveillance camera
in our own office, let it run at night,
and we were shocked with what we saw.
[gnomes indistinct chattering and squeaking]
So, what have we learned
about garden gnomes?
Let's sum up.
First off, they are a very aggressive
and invasive species.
We also know that they can overwinter
in secluded and protected areas
around the landscape.
We also know that they germinate early
in the spring,
and a lot of times it's best to control them
in the early spring when they're quite small.
There are some mechanical methods
we can use for control.
We can do some tillage in the fall.
We've also seen some promise
in some biological controls;
pink flamingos, garden mirrors,
small dogs have shown some promise,
as well as some chemicals that are now starting
to show up on the market for their control.
The bottom line is don't be fooled
by their cute nature.
They really are a vicious pest.