[TributeArcher]

I highly suggest to check properties for PA Invasives. these plants are harful to wildlife and plant species in PA. If you know you have invasives on your property and are unsure of how to get rid of them post here and I will try to help you take care of the problem. Some to look out for that are accepted by the USDA
Garlic Mustard
Japanese Knotweed
Giant Hogweed
Japanese Stiltgrass
Oriental Bittersweet
Japanese Honeysuckle
Mile a Minute weed
Kudzu vine
Japanese Barberry
Autumn Olive
Amur Honeysuckle
Common Buckthorn
Multiflora Rose
Norway Maple
And last
The dreaded
TREE OF HEAVEN.

Any questions I will be sure to help.. the only way to keep these plants in check is to eliminate the problem one property at a time!

 

[bunnybuster]

I'm actually doing a speech on invasives in my public speaking class. Do you know of any good internet sources that I could use to get information for my speech?

 

[HighCountry66]

Good luck with the Japanese Knotweed.

That stuff grows too fast and spreads too easily. We have tried several methods to eliminatate. All it takes is a leaf to float down the creek and it seems like plants are growning again.

Also, I didn't know that Autumn Olive was invasive. It is such a slow grower.

What are some problems with Autumn Olive?

 

[TributeArcher]

http://plants.usda.gov
should help... very good source!!

 

[TributeArcher]

Good luck with the Japanese Knotweed.

That stuff grows too fast and spreads too easily. We have tried several methods to eliminatate. All it takes is a leaf to float down the creek and it seems like plants are growning again.

Also, I didn't know that Autumn Olive was invasive. It is such a slow grower.

What are some problems with Autumn Olive?

You are right about knotweed. herbicide is the only way to kill it.. It is not an overnight thing either. It takes many applications over many years to control. the thing about knotweed is it pushesconservation upstream.. not matter how well you kill yours... if you neightbor doesnt..then you arent gettin anywhere. as for the autumn olive... it inceases the nitrogen in the soil... which black walnut loves.. But changes the ecosystem properties to allow other exotics to grow... I hope i said that clearly??

Autumn olive also makes GREAT jam's and jellies... BUT the trick is to freeze the berries then make the jams and jellies... Also with spice bush, you can dry the seed and they make a great alternative for allspice on pumkin pie!!!

 

[Guest3]

Penn's Corner RC&D Council has a great booklet on invasives and how to control them- in full color. Picked one up at a watershed summit last week in Pittsburgh.

 

[bunnybuster]

http://plants.usda.gov
should help... very good source!!

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

http://plants.usda.gov
should help... very good source!!

Thanks!

Check this site out. Some cool stuff about invasives, regen, and deer problems.

http://www.jrforestry.com/

 

[bake545]

Also, I didn't know that Autumn Olive was invasive. It is such a slow grower.

What are some problems with Autumn Olive?

Slow growing?? Not anywhere I've ever seen it. The stuff grows like crazy on disturbed land, i.e. reclaimed strip. If left unchecked it can easily take over a field or even woods areas that have adequate sunlight. Great cover and food for bears, turkeys and grouse but this doesn't outweigh the negatives for me.

 

[bunnybuster]

Thanks Dutch, will do!

 

[Guest]

I wish I had pics of the Trexler Preserve in Lehigh County. Autumn olive that is 20 ft tall. 12 inches at the bases. Nothing else growing on 100's of acres. No food value for the deer. A wasteland.

 

[HighCountry66]

Well it shouldn't be that hard to eradicate. I would think since it is a woody bush that cutting it down would be a good start.

How did it get so out of control at Trexlar?

Are there any uses for the wood?

Thats a shame. I was going to transplant some to my mothers yard. It smells so good in the spring and I thin its an attractive plant. Better just leave it though.

BTW where it is growing near me is an old strip cut. Between it and all of the dogwood and what I believe to be red chokeberry, it is one of the pretties and most fragrant places I have ever been. Not to mention the apples, crabapple, and hawthornes.

 

[Red Dogz]

In my area if we did'nt have invasives we'd have no plants at all. Vines are horrible in the woods near me.

 

[TributeArcher]

It is also one of the least beneficial to birds! as soon as the bird eats it, it passes thru their digestive tract really fast and has barely no nutrtional value. ( great way of adaption for dispersal of seed) but bad for the bird that eats it.

 

[TributeArcher]

In my area if we did'nt have invasives we'd have no plants at all. Vines are horrible in the woods near me.

Mile a minute??

If so thats under the noxious weed catagory and BY LAW you have to remove it from the property.

 

[jayjaysin]

So what is the preffered method of removing autumn olive? Cutting then painting a mixture of an herbicide and deisel?

 

[TributeArcher]

No tie them to your four wheeler/ truck and pull em out.... make sure you got them.. If you cant pull em... then cut wound channels in the sides... opposite of eachother and pour glycophosphate (roundup) in the wound... the best time is in the spring and now... the plant is sending the sugars down to the roots for storage.....

I hope this is helping ya out!

 

[Bumblehick]

And last
The dreaded
TREE OF HEAVEN.

Luckily Ailanthus is highly browsed by deer. One of our grad students was doing studies on how invasive this tree is, she did her work in the large tracts of forest @ the reservoirs north of Baltimore. Her problem was the plants she found in the woods always "disappeared" (due to browsing). So she actually had to erect Exclosures to get a feel for the growth rates and fecundity of these invasive plants and their dispersal mechanisms!

I always carry a clippers with me and cut every multiflora rose and barberry bush to the ground that I see in the woods. I know I'm not cutting the roots, they will sprout again most likely, but I'm at least easing "propagule pressure".

One of the projects I'm working on now is habitat modeling for specific invasives for the National Park Service. They're finding out even the best of their exotic/invasive eradication programs are at best "marginally successful". We're hoping a bit of our GIS and network theory know-how can shed some light on the best broad scale management actions to take. It's alot more complex than just killing some plants

BH

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Been in the Everglades any time in the last 30 years, darn Eucalyptus Tress have taken over to the point that we could support a population of Koalas.

We have mile a minute, or tear thumb as some call it, thick and pervasive as kudzu. At least goats like it and eat it gone.

Alanthus isn't quite as bad to control. Although I must say, Alanthus doesn't seem to be as bad as when I was a teen. I remember the way it would take over vacant lots. They'd be a jungle in 6 months.

 

[Lynnappelman]

I have a question about autumn olive and multiflora rose. Much of the low woody cover in our hedgerows and bottoms are these two plants. Where these do not exist no cover exists. Both are relatively easy to keep under control in fields with a spray application of Crossbow every few years. I'm not sure every invasive is a problem particularly concerning small game habitat.