[huntscpa]

Hello everyone, I am having a problem on my grandma's property,which is where I live and hunt, with invasives.My biggest problem is the so called "Mile-a-Minute weed".It is beginning to cover everything and is to the point that it is climbing trees.Now that it is dead for the winter what can I do to prevent it from coming back? It covers alot of area,but most of it is to rough of terrain to mow with the tractor.Do I have to go out and physically remove it all or is there some kind of herbicide I can use?

Another invasive I have is the tree of heaven.I dont really see a problem with these though.They are growing in the old fields that havent been farmed for a few years.I plan on pulling them out so I can begin to plant food plots but it seems the deer are using them.They are using them as cover,because they grow in groups of about 30 trees close together, and also the bucks use these trees alot for rubs.Are these trees truly worthless to most wildlife and should I get rid of them all? Thanks for any help guys,I'm trying to make this better habitat and any help would be great.

 

[Live2Bowhunt]

Ah, the Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima)sends shoots off of its roots, just like a American Beech (Fagus gradifolia) does. They do a chemical warfare so to speak, by releasing chemicals into the ground to kill off competition to allow the new shoots to grow without competition. YOU WILL HAVE PROBLEMS GETTING RID OF THE TREE OF HEAVEN as it is a very tough customer to fully extinguish. (If you break a limb and smell it, it smells like an old peanut butter sandwhich).

The mile-a-minute weed your talking about, is related to Japanese knotweed cause it shares the genus name, "Polygonom". The best way to control that would be with a systematic herbicide (one that travels to the roots or kills at the root level). In areas away from water Roundup will work well, around water "Rodeo Herbicide" would be the better choice. (Biological control would use little beetles, but spraying herbicide would be more easier and effective".

Took dendrology this semester and it was a fun, great class. Hope that helps ya!

 

[Guest]

Tree of Heaven- drill into the bark with a cordless drill, 3/8th inch bit. Just have to drill in and inch or so. Downward angle. 2-4 holes per tree. Squirt Roundup into each hole. Tree dies.

Mile a minute- Needs chemical treatment but will die out as woods mature. It needs lots of sun to grow. There are companies that will spray your acreage for you, $150 per acre, but most everything will be killed.

 

[Timberbeast]

Tree of Heaven- drill into the bark with a cordless drill, 3/8th inch bit. Just have to drill in and inch or so. Downward angle. 2-4 holes per tree. Squirt Roundup into each hole. Tree dies.

Yep. Good way to control it. Make sure you use fully concentrated Roundup.
If their not big enough, just mow them down in early July. Let them resprout, I know there may be more, and then just spray them with Roundup. Keep an eye on them the next year.

Mile a minute- Needs chemical treatment but will die out as woods mature. It needs lots of sun to grow. There are companies that will spray your acreage for you, $150 per acre, but most everything will be killed.

Mile-a-Minute(MAM) seed can be viable 5+ years. SO, you may have a daunting task on your hands!
If you don't care where it is growing & what you kill, I would just spray it with Roundup (there are other herbicides that are better, but you would need your applicators license). Make sure you spray it in early June before it goes to seed(this is very important in the control of MAM). Get a pair of leather gloves and get ready to pull out what is left, survives, or germinates. Make sure you get the root system when you pull it. You will have to do this for a couple of years, but at least it will give the other vegetation a chance to grow & shade it out.

If you care what is growing there or can't herbicide, then I would get to pulling.

You said something about mowing. Make sure you are not mowing where MAM may be and if you are make sure it has not gone to seed. If you have you are just helping it out by spreading it. I have seen this happen to often with the job.
Good luck.

 

[huntscpa]

Thanks for the help guys.I dont want to kill the trees that the MAM is growing on so Im probably just gonna try to pull it out.As far as the tree of heaven most of them are still small enough to be mowed over.Sounds like Im gonna be busy for awhile.Also what about a controlled burn on the MAM?Alot of it is just in open fields so no trees would be affected and it will be cheaper than spraying.

 

[Yogislayer]

Tree of Heaven is my personal bane at the Archery Club. We did some selective logging in 06, and that stuff grew like crazy. It will sprout from root fragments dragged around by the skidder, and the distances roots will run underground and sprout is amazing.
Round Poison Ivy and Stubborn Brush Killer is the most effective agent I have found, and I have tried at least a half dozen. I haul a tall stepladder out in the wood and spray all the foliage on the trees that are 12 feet or less. It completely took over areas in just a year or two, and grew far faster and thicker than anything else. it completely shades everything under it when growing in "Monoculture Groves" like it does. But the Roundup PI &SBK kills it all the way down through the root. It doesn't resprout. I spray every little sprout or growing tree in a area that I can find. I am very methodical, and work a specific area very hard, then move on to another area adjacent. About 2-3 weeks later, when the results are obvious, I spray again on any I missed the first time. An d few weeks later I do it again. I have found runners going almost a hundred yards. If it has light it will take over. But with methodical application to it it can be wiped out. It has taken me a couple years to hit all the patches over the last couple years, but I expect to have it almost wiped out this summer, and occasional walks with a sprayer to find any few that pop up will be easy.
Remember to look at the leaves. Sumac and Chestnut have fine saw toothed edges to the leaves, and the TOH is smooth edged.
Sawing off a larger tree at the base, and pouring full strength Roundup PI&SBK on the whole stump will kill that, and seriously impact the stumps and roots ability to sprout, if it does at all. Do it in the spring when the tree is weakest, and follow up.
The "Mile a Minute" is a [censored] too, and smothers many small trees. I go in there when the soil is moist, and grab the vine at the base and pull out as much as possible. It seems to work pretty well, as most of those I do it too don't come back. That stuff doesn't seem to respond too well to some Herbacides, including Roundup PI&SBK.
Good luck with it. Those two, as well as Grape Vines, Russian Olive, and MultiFlora Rose, have taken up a lot of my valuable time.
I hate those Invasive Illegal Aliens.
Roundup PI&SBK works very well on Thisles too.

 

[jimsdad]

I usualy get rid of invasives by shutting off the TV, the lights and running out of beer.... Not necessairly in that order.

 

[Guest]

Here is the website of a company that sprays woodlands for invasives. They have worked for the PGC and DCNR. Interesting site.

http://www.jrforestry.com/

 

[huntscpa]

Thanks for that site Dutch.Very informative.

 

[Featherduster]

I have a good bit of experience with MAM. Timing is everything with it. Herbicides are marginally succesful at best especially if you have bad timing on the application. The major problem with herbicides is generally you kill all the other edge vegetqation that is so valuable to wildlife. I have all but stopped spraying and almost exclusivley hand pull 3 times a summer. YA GOTTA GET ALL THE ROOT. If not your just burning daylight. We pile it up and then burn it in winter. Burning it green in a field as a prescribed burn could be tough becasue the root network is so hearty and that is also why chemicals are not real effective. If you wait to pull it till the berries turn blue you may as well schedule to pull that same spot next year too. It can be controlled in about 3 yrs if you follow a plan to pull it out 3 times a summer and this will also help to benefit your edge growth by not using chemicals . I have seen it in clover plots that are mowed religiously and sprayed as needed. Only way to get rid of it was to pull it out.