The difficulty of monitoring growth parameters of climbing invasive plants subjected to different control options can be overcome by using standardized support structures (trellises). The utility of such support structures on aboveground biomass accumulation and fruit production was demonstrated using the invasive climber, bridal creeper in three invaded nature reserves near Perth in Western Australia. Mean above-ground plant biomass for plots provided with trellises ranged from 204 ± 38 g/m2 to 336 ± 31 g/m2, whereas it ranged from 66 ± 10 g/m2 to 118 ± 10 g/m2 in plots with no trellises. The mean number of fruits/m2 produced on shoots in plots provided with trellises ranged from 424 ± 159 to 3,787 ± 873 and was up to almost four orders of magnitude greater than the number of fruits produced on plants in plots with no trellis (ranging from 0 to 5.25 ± 7.9). The use of standardized trellises also showed that fruit volume and fruit seed number can vary significantly between sites. Standardized trellises have been installed at sites across Australia to assess the long-term impact of biological control agents introduced to manage bridal creeper.
Nomenclature: Bridal creeper, Asparagus asparagoides (L.) Druce
