That's right. This terrible weed that you can probably find all around you right now is an extremely prolific grower. It forms a dense root network underground which makes eradicating it near-impossible without drastic and expensive interventions. Pulling it only signals it to grow more while it strangles all of the other plants in the area. It would be incredibly irresponsible of you to cut a vine into slivers with one leaf each, dig little holes around the property, and plant them. You will cause thousands of dollars of damage to the property which can't be traced back to you and that's wrong.
new adventurism dropped: destroying arable land and introducing ecologically destructive invasive species
It wouldn't destroy the arability of the land because you can always UV sterilise the lawn which costs a lot and devalues the property, but it would absolutely ruin a nice grass yard and smother ornamentals that don't support wildlife.
What's the difference between destroying arable land and making land arable only after an expensive intervention?
The first involves longterm soil degradation. If you salt the earth or dump oil on it or erode the topsoil, it would take years of rehabilitation for it to grow again.
The second takes a couple weeks and a few cardboard boxes before it's back to normal. It just forces you to either reseed the expensive grass lawn or to change to xeriscaping of some kind, which around here has HOA-proofing and rebates which increase with more native biodiversity. The shrubs around infested areas won't die, but they'll look less healthy while while drawing the attention of the HOA with the large flowers. Again a layer of cardboard on the mulch around them would stop it.
If you introduce a non-native species, you're a bad person. Do not do this unless it is native to the area you are doing it. Seriously. The ecological damage of invasive species is really REALLY bad. "Just solarize" can't be applied to millions of acres, or if it is intergrated within an ecosystem.
There is a massive patch of an invasive grass near me. The owners want to destroy it and rewild the area. It will not be cheap or easy.
A landlord would not do this tho, they'd blast the area with roundup and re-sod.
Roundup is pretty bad at controlling it. You'd have to spot treat on a weekly basis and that's expensive. Laying down new sod, while expensive and requiring close attention, wouldn't control it either. Smothering it is the only thing I use professionally unless I'm just pulling it for aesthetics. That method works great and the area can be reseeded with whatever.