I have a wooded portion of my backyard that used to be shaded by large, native trees until most of them fell during Hurricane Sandy. Now invasive species like wineberry, honeysuckle, garlic mustard, and mugwort have taken advantage of the sunlight and are shading out the natives trying to grow (black cherry, witch hazel, spicebush). How would i clear this area and keep the invasives under control?
a whole lot of hard labor for a long time.
Might not be an option, but I read somewhere online that the honeysuckle can be eliminated by burning it off. I'd love to set it ablaze around here, but then again I don't want to burn everything else down. Controlled burning might be nice.
I am sure any burn a homeowner can manage would not kill honeysuckle roots.
I would agree with the hard labor aspect, but this is still a project that can work. Here is where I think some poisons are actually indicated, although I typically avoid them. I would cut the woody things off low, then put full strength "Brush Killer" concentrate on the stump, to kill off the roots so it won't resprout.
We had a problem with a native tree that after it was cut down.. It still was growing new growths,, My daughter cut them off, then sprayed the "cut off" places with spray paint.. No new problems.:)
actually, spray painting of new leaves might be an easy way to deprive them of light and starve an undesired plant. Intersting!
How interesting! I might have to try it on a stump in my blackberry-English Ivy-Alder jungle.
I have really good luck painting lopped-off stobs with brush killer.
Brush killer (not roundup)! I don't spray it anymore.
I pour a strong dilution up in a plastic pail
I put on my platex living gloves
I get a washcloth and put it in the dilution, squeeze so that it is not dripping.
I grab the plant at the base with the washcloth and pull it up the plant so that everything gets covered.
The honeysuckle, poison ivy, fo ti and sweet briar is dying.
I know most of you will not use chemicals but I have been trying to kill these awful plants for 25 years.
Weeding there is a time and a place for everything. The Texas heat killed my honeysuckle.
Cut, mow, weed whack what you can. Spray new vegetation as it appears. Keep at it unless you want to dig up the roots.
Don't spray brush killer though. Paint it on and keep it off the ground.
The best time to kill all those plants is in the fall. If you time it right, just as they are going dormant, and use some brush killer (full strength) or Round-up mixed a little too strong, the plants will pull the poison down into their roots and be dead by spring.
Daisy
You might try cleaning your coffee pot with vinegar.. Then pour the hot vinegar on the plants you don't want. Worked for me.
It's my understanding that vinager (hot or not) is a soil sterilizer, so if you want to plant in that area again that may not be a good idea. Not sure how it will affect the existing plants.
I've heard some discussion about vineger, and I'm not sure that regular household strength vinegar will cause any lasting damage, even to any large weeds.
Yeah.. The next year after a hot vinegar treatment.. Clover took over the spot:( BUT our Juncos LOVED the dandelion seeds after soaking up the vinegar).. Go figure?
