PDA Panel Votes to Ban Barberry with Two Year Enforcement Grace Period

HARRISBURG – On July 15, 2021, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s Controlled Plant and Noxious Weed Committee (CPNWC) voted unanimously to list Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii) as a Class B noxious weed. Tom Tilley of Tilley’s Nursery in Coopersburg. Pa. represents the horticulture industry on the CPNWC.

Being listed as a Class B noxious weed prohibits the possession, propagation, growing, sale or transportation of that plant species in Pennsylvania.

However, the action of the CPNWC included two provisions: 1) that enforcement of the ban be delayed for two years to provide time for the industry to adjust and sell existing stocks of barberry; and 2) that the CPNWC accept petitions for exemption from this listing from growers who have cultivars which are proven to be non-reproducing.

The CPNWC also tabled listing callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) due to uncertainty over how this would affect the pear orchard industry in Pennsylvania, since callery pear is used as a root stock for many edible pear varieties. Gregg Robertson, PLNA’s alternate representative to the CPNWC, was appointed to a subcommittee to research this issue.

The panel also voted to list two addition plant species as Class B noxious weeds: Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) and Japanese stilt grass (Microstegium vimineum).