Last updated on September 23rd, 2022 at 04:27 pm
Have you ever planted a herb in your garden, only to notice after weeks that it had multiplied in your garden? If you have, it may have been an unpleasant experience because you may want a clean garden.
So, it isn’t a surprise when you consider the invasiveness of a plant before planting it. And if pineapple sage is a plant you’re thinking of growing in your garden, you may ponder on whether it spreads.
So, is pineapple sage invasive? Pineapple sage is an invasive plant; it grows rapidly and fast when planted, and it has an estimated height of 4 feet. Its flowers are also large and clumpy, and the leaves shed a lot which is why it covers a large area of space when planted in the garden.
Due to its shallow roots and drought-resistant ability, it takes longer to be planted and spread to other parts of the garden. Nevertheless, pineapple sage is an aggressive herb.
Does Pineapple Sage Spread?
Yes, pineapple sage spreads to several areas quickly. It has a clumping ability and, when planted in its season, blooms spontaneously, provided its watering pattern, sunlight exposure, and temperature, as well as pH, are appropriately available.
Sages do not like the heavy sun or too much cold, which means it is a sensitive plant and requires tender care. However, sages are drought resistant at planting, and you may not necessarily need to water them once firmly rooted constantly.
Although growing in nursery beds, pots and containers is effective in stopping other plants from spreading, it isn’t so with pineapple sage.
Unless you isolate pineapple sage from your garden, potting will not stop it from spreading to other parts of your garden.
Pineapple sages have bright red and green flowers that attract pollinators which aids their fast blooming. Furthermore, pineapple sage has tiny and light seeds that are easily dispersed.
Pineapple sage is loved by pollinators such as butterflies, bees, and birds, especially hummingbirds. The activities of these pollinators carry seeds that are formed from flowers of pineapple sage to other parts of the garden.
Then, these dispersed seeds grow and develop into new pineapple sage plants.
Other dispersal agents of pineapple sage are wind, water, and erosion. The aftereffect of the dispersion is that the scattered seeds germinate, which brings about spreading.
However, because the roots grow fast, they produce very well, irrespective of the means of dispersal.
Although it disperses rapidly, spreading from a pineapple sage is easily affected due to the time of the year or the season in which blooms are formed.
This effect season has on the dispersal of the sage plant because its seeds start from the flowers.
Does Pineapple Sage Repel Other Plants?
Pineapple sage may restrict or stunt the growth of other plants, thereby causing them to fall off, get rotten and eventually die.
In addition, pineapple sage may kill or destroy other crops in the garden if you attempt planting them close to each other.
So, to prevent sage from affecting your plants, it would be best to give a space of 4ft between these plants and pineapple sage.
Some particular plants do not immensely grow well with sage. They include the following.
- Cucumber.
- Onion.
- Garlic.
- Wormwood.
- Rue.
- Fennel.
These plants may grow well with each other but never with pineapple sage.
Does Pineapple Sage Attract Other Plants?
Pineapple sage is a good attractant and plant growth booster. Apart from being an excellent ornamental and minty herb, sage acts as an attractant for other plants and a growth booster.
This feature means that they beautify the environment and protect, aid blooming, and compliment its surrounding plants.
Nevertheless, these beneficial effects of pineapple sage only apply to certain plants; some of them include the following.
1. Tomato:
Combining pineapple sage and tomatoes helps to reduce the risk of pest attack on the tomato. Pineapple sage also shields it from tomato flea and beetles.
2. Mustards:
Pineapple sages have proven to stimulate cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli. Pineapple sage takes advantage of the soil cover these mustards provide.
In return, it wards off insects, worms, moths, and all other insects and pests that affect them.
3. Strawberries:
Pineapple sage naturally enhances the taste of strawberry and boosts its flavor. Planting sages and strawberries in rows over each other helps the sages use their protective ability to destroy pests and diseases that may likely affect strawberries.
4. Carrot:
Another plan that benefits from pineapple sage is the carrot. Although carrot is a root crop, it is still a good companion with pineapple sage.
In addition, Pineapple sage helps in repelling carrot fly. Apart from this, it also aids in maintaining carrot’s natural flavor.
How to Control The Spread of Pineapple Sage?
There are specific steps you can take to inhibit the spread of pineapple sage in your garden. These steps include the following:
- Manually weeding unwanted pineapple sage stands: When the plant is young and not yet established, pineapple sage is pretty easy to pull out from the soil. It would be best to uproot the weed sage stands as soon as you notice them reduce their spread.
- If you plant cover crops, it will be pretty tricky for pineapple sage to spread. This difficulty would be caused by seedlings of pineapple sage’s inability to grow without sunlight which cover crops would block.
- Carefully using herbicide also controls the dispersion of pineapple sage.
Conclusion
Pineapple sage is an invasive plant that covers different areas in a garden because of the height it grows and the numerous stands from germinated seeds it dispersed.
There are several effects sage could have on your plants once it gains preeminence. Firstly, it could hamper their growth by competitively absorbing nutrients and water from the soil. Furthermore, it can also attract pests that don’t usually bother them.
So, it would be best to control unwanted pineapple sage before it has all these effects on your plant.
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