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Ball moss invades LSU campus, downtown Baton Rouge
LouisianaGDELTGDELT event0% biasedFri, Jun 5, 2026, 12:00 AM
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Ball moss invades LSU campus, downtown Baton Rouge.Ball moss invades LSU campus, downtown Baton Rouge Councilwoman Laurie Adams leads effort to manage the spread of ball moss BATON ROUGE, La.(WAFB) - There hasn’t been an easy solution to burying the rapid spread of ball moss.“It spreads very, very easily, so you cannot just leave it on a trash pile because it’s going to continue to propagate,” said Baton Rouge Metro Councilwoman Laurie Adams.Adams has spent a year leading the Ball Moss Abatement Commission.The team is comprised of environmental entities, local stakeholders, and LSU.The goal is to manage the plant and prevent it from further indirect harm on local plants and trees across Louisiana.Funding remains biggest challenge The plant blocks sunlight from reaching trees, in some cases indirectly harming the nature it clings to.Adams said funding has been the biggest challenge.She said they’ll need at least a couple hundred thousand dollars to properly service the project.Climbing the hurdle of public opinion has been a challenge.“I understand why people don’t necessarily put this on the top of their priority list, but I think it’s a critical thing for Baton Rouge to be wrestling with,” Adams said.Ball moss has spread across downtown Baton Rouge and the LSU campus, including Mike the Tiger’s habitat.LSU researchers develop management solutions Professor Raj Singh has been studying ball moss for a decade.He works closely with Adams on the commission and said the plant keeps spreading.“It’s not a pest or a pathogen.But what I have noticed, I would say, during the last five to 10 years is when it has become so obvious that when you look up, you will see ball moss everywhere,” Singh said.He and other researchers at LSU have been trying to develop a substance to help manage the infestation.Singh said an important question remains: when to apply it.“We need to know when we can spray that.So that we can effectively manage the population of those plants that are not going to produce those new seeds,” Singh said.Researchers aren’t just focused on what exists today.They’re trying to prevent the next generation of ball moss from taking root.“So we are trying to target the seed bank rather than the individual plants right now,” Singh said.Adams said if residents see ball moss in their yard, they should remove it using their hands.Throwing it away or burning it is a way of eliminating any spread if caught early.“You have to bag it or you have to burn it,” Adams said.Click here to report a typo.Please include the headline.Click here to subscribe to our WAFB 9 News daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox.Watch the latest WAFB news and weather now.Join The Conversation We want to hear what you think.Create a free account to share your thoughts.Read our community guidelines here.