Field Trip: Air Potato Roundup

Last week, we joined our Conservation Lands homeschool group once again for another special class. The field trip began with the children learning about non-native, invasive plants and specifically the Air Potato Vine. Because this plant is considered a noxious weed in Florida, parks hold annual "roundups" to prevent the spreading of these plants. 

We attended one such roundup on January 19th. It was a great success. In less than one hour, the children had gathered 1,672 potatoes! We used a few for a craft project and placed the rest into black trash bags to throw away.

For a brief lesson on the plant itself, view my post at Air Potato Vine: A Threat to Florida's Native Plants

The child hunting potatoes

Alexis picking potatoes off the vine

Here's one!!

Potatoes which had fallen to the ground

Entire plants killed off by these invasive vines.

An air potato

Tallying up the booty!

One potato, two potato, three potato.. MORE!

The children gathering their crafting supplies

Threading ribbon through her potatoes to make a necklace

Here are some photos of our class trip. For more information on this particular roundup and plant, please see my post at Air Potato Vine: A Threat to Florida's Native Plants.


Happy Homeschooling!