Have honeysuckle and some kind of thorn bush with a red berry and vine killing trees. Any advise how to kill these things off? Some of the honey suckle is 4-5 inch diameter. I might be able to pull up some of the honeysuckle but worry about leaving roots to regrow. The thorn bush has a ton of shoots from a central area.

Round up brush killer

Would I need to cut the vine and apply the killing agent to it where it goes into the ground?

^^^ May take more than one application.

I would spray the bush as it grows and give the roundup time to move down to the roots.

No spray the leaves.. it has to transfer through leaves and stem

For vines that big I'd hack with an ax and spray with Tordon. @ tractor supply, among others.

Cut them. off and apply roundup to the stumps. Only need to apply it to the outer growth area (cambian). Will take it into the roots and kill it. I had a big mat of honeysuckle and set it on fire, it never came back.Burn in the spring when it first shows sign of waking up.

do not pull you will leave roots and then honey suckle comes right back from the roots you need to kill the roots

cut about 4-6 inches above grade , put herbicide on the fresh cuts within 10 minutes , before the stump has a chance to get dry surface

loppers , chain saw , brush saw what every you like to cut , cut off one plant , treat stump . repeat on each plant

some follow up the next spring early when any new is popping up from roots that didn't get killed or small stuff you missed. if you catch it early enough you can just spray the leaves of the young shoots with a herbicide.

Honeysuckle type:
When in full leaf spray with Crossbow generic equivalent. Do not use too much as it can translocate - can travel from the plant roots in the soil and kill neighboring trees or plants.
Or cut and treat the stumps with Tordon RTU.

Vines growing up a tree - chop out a 6” section. Do not chop into the tree bark. When new growth starts in the spring treat it with roundup. No Tordon because the vine roots are too close to tree roots.

I've been dealing with an infestation of buckthorn in my woods. I cut off the plant near the ground and paint the stump with undiluted Crossbow. It kills the plant and the roots.

I can give you some cotton tails to solve the problem they eat trees like crazy here.

Cut them,pile them up and burn them.

I have cut some of them because they where in the way of cutting down some pine trees and I burnt them. There's a ton of the honeysuckle, so the thorn bush is called buckthorn? It's yellow inside when I cut it and burnt it. Thanks for all the information guys .

Not sure what you've got there if it's buckthorn or not. You could google buckthorn to be sure. The larger plants have black berries. Buckthorn also stays green into winter longer after every leafy plant has lost it's leaves. I also am plagued with Prickly Ash in my woods. I use the same method to kill it as I do for the buckthorn. Prickly Ash is much easier to kill than the buckthorn. Both are an unwanted invasive species.

Looked up both and it's neither one. It looks like a rose bush with a red berry

It’s probably multi flower rose . It grows wild here, it died off about 20 some years ago and now it’s coming back . I don’t think that spelling is correct.

Cut them at the base, then spray the bases once the new growth starts.
If they are that big then don't use round up, use a dedicated woody weed poison like Tordon

Prickly Ash bark has more value pound for pound than a coon hide. There is always a market for it.

Tordon X2

Has anyone been eradicating buckthorn this winter? I'm pretty sure garlon is design for +28°.

It may be barberry, it's an ornamental that went wild. We have it down here I'm sure you probably have it up in that country. Birds love the seed and spread it like crazy

For harder killing woody species I have considerable better luck spraying the whole plant than cutting and treating the stump. Treating the stump doesn't take as much chemical into the roots and some stubborn species regrow about a hundred shoots from the roots then it take years of spraying the shoots to get the roots killed. Just food for thought. And we spent a couple weeks each year spraying trees and brush.

This has not been my experience. Are you treating the root collar too, because that is suggested with garlon. I cut stump garlon all the time for buckthorn and it's dead as dead. Much safer and less expensive than your method (not as fast though). It's important not to treat the stump in the spring when sap is flowing up.
I cut the stump very low to the ground.

Cut the bushes off slightly above ground and
Brush Tordon on where you cut the bush.
Roundup doesn't work on woody plants.
just

cut and apply glyphosate to the fresh stump.

Maybe different species

Tell me where I can sell it. I'll be a millionaire!
Saying it has more value pound for pound than a coon hide doesn't make it worth much.

Prickly Ash is not an invasive specie.

Its a native and atho you may not like its throns it does serve as host to 2 swallow tail butterflies.

Op's bush is Barberry.

Barberry and Honeysuckle are both Invasive non-natives.

Killing is best done by cutting down and treating stump with glyphosate.
I use an approx 25% glyphosate mix with water.
You have to treat right after cutting.
Honeysuckle is very sensitive to glyphosate.

Don't spray the foliage, you'll get drift and kill everything else that it lands on.

Always best to target unwanted plant only and use as little herbicide as possible while effectively killing only the unwanted plant..

Trouble with round up is the concentration levels are all over the place. Look at the ingredients, what's important is the percent of glyphosate in the mix.
If its less than what you want, say 25%, its a waste of time and money.

I buy Gordon's Big N' Tuf. Its a 41% glyphosate mix. Its much cheaper than Round-up.

Round Up won't kill buckthorn and isn't very effective on prickly ash unless you use the concentrate undiluted. To kill both of these plants, I use Crossbow concentrate on the stumps. The swallow tails will have to find another host in my woods.

I've been trying to figure out what to use as a cut stump treatment for honeysuckle. I may have gotten my answer. I attended a forestry seminar yesterday & the DNR forester told me to use Milestone. I've never heard of that herbicide, but will look into it.

For cut stump treatment Tordon RTU is registered for use along with Triclopyr and Trimec. They all have residual toxic properties to surrounding root systems so neighboring trees 10-15' away can be harmed. I have used Milestone (Chaparral) for 15 years and am not as impressed with the results. It is less dangerous to its neighbors than the previous 3 products. We use 2,4-D mixed 50/50 with a small amount of oil to paint or spray cut stumps as it has no residual and is far less costly than the other products. If concerned about the oil you can use vegetable oil at a slightly higher cost. Here all these products mentioned DO NOT need a Certified Pesticide License to purchase and/or use so for a homeowner (WHO READS AND FOLLOWS THE DIRECTIONS) these are very safe................................ the mike....... P.S. Honeysuckle is very susceptible to 2,4-D spray, so small areas of seedlings can be controlled with it....................... the mike again

Tordon will do it same as agent orange not sure if you can still get it without permit took several showers in it in 1970.

Tordon works best when applied to the cut stumps, crossbow, grazon, and a couple others are meant for foliar applications, glyphosate and even 2-4d can kill trees if applied heavy enough, but it sounds like you want to keep some trees so the cut and apply to the stump method is probably the best where as a foliar application may drift onto the trees you want to keep and damage or kill them.

The way I do it:

Either cut the bush off as close to the ground as you can, and treat the stump with a 50% mix of Roundup and water or Diesel fuel. Dump a bottle of cheap food dye in the water so you can see where you've treated already.

OR: Cut the brush off about 3-4 ft above ground to leave a handle, then use a Mattok to chop the roots around the stump and pull it up. I have found the root nearly always radiate out from the stump, and very rarely have a tap root, and I have never had one re grow.

[quote=BigBob]The way I do it:

Either cut the bush off as close to the ground as you can, and treat the stump with a 50% mix of Roundup and water or Diesel fuel. Dump a bottle of cheap food dye in the water so you can see where you've treated already.

This method works! The Bush Honeysuckle is trying to take over Eastern Kansas. I used 25% Roundup and water and got a 100% kill

I use a puller bear or I take a shovel full of dirt from the base of the bush and cut off below ground level with a sawzall and pruning blade. Doesn’t dull like a chainsaw. Done 1000’s this way. Mow over the area and they never come back. Dewalt 20v sawzall is awesome for this. No chemicals this way and cheap.

This is what I use for buckthorn, then I treat the stump w/ garlon (Dow Pathfinder II RTU). Garlon applied to a cut stump supposedly doesn't have the negative residual effect on nearby desirable trees like can happen with Tordon. I prefer cut stump over basal bark treatment...not as fast, but it takes less herbicide. I've been told this herbicide MIGHT work for honeysuckle

Not quite. I sold some bark which has to be dried prior to selling. You have to pay the shipping which will cost about $18 per 10 pounds. They pay $6 per pound. That comes out to $60 minus $18 for a total profit of $42. Stripping the bark off prickly ash is a lot more work and harder on the back than bringing a coon hide to market.

do this

https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/F-68

Foliar Spraying

Honeysuckle sprouts as a result of cutting off the shrub at the ground. A follow-up foliar herbicide application can now be applied. Photo by Kathy Smith, OSU Extension, School of Environment and Natural Resources.
Foliar spraying is a method of control in which diluted herbicide is sprayed directly on the leaves of the targeted plants. This can be a very effective method of controlling honeysuckle but should only be used when the target plants are within easy reach of the sprayer. Spraying directed at less accessible plants can damage or kill valuable non-target plants through herbicide drift or overspray. In addition, care needs to be taken to ensure that herbicides are sprayed to wet the foliage but not to the point of runoff.

Bush honeysuckle leaves remain green and active late into fall (mid to late October) when most native plant species have gone dormant. Foliar applications of some herbicides can be used at this time with little or no impact to non-target species especially after the first hard frost in the fall. Herbicides recommended for foliar spraying of bush honeysuckle are listed in Table 1.

T​able 1: Herbicides recommended for foliar treatment of bush honeysuckle.
Herbicide Example Brand Names Comments1
glyphosate Roundup, Accord, and other herbicides containing at least 41% glyphosate Apply solution of 2% herbicide in water (vol/vol) when leaves are green; add a surfactant if not in herbicide.
2,4-D + triclopyr Crossbow Wet foliage and stems with 1–1.5 gallons Crossbow in 100 gallons water; spot spray with 0.25 pt (1/2 cup) Crossbow in 3 gallons water.
triclopyr Garlon 3A, Tahoe 3A Apply solution 3–5% (vol/vol) of herbicide in water when leaves are green.*
*A surfactant at .25% vol/vol rate may be added to the various triclopyr formulations when foliar spraying.
1These comments are not intended to be a substitute for the herbicide labels. To ensure the safe and effective use of the herbicides recommended in this publication read the label and SDS (Safety Data Sheet).
Cut Stump Herbicide Treatment
Cut stump treatments are a very effective method for controlling many undesirable woody shrubs and work well on bush honeysuckle. This method involves cutting the shrub off close to the ground and applying an herbicide to the cut surfaces (and sometimes the bark) with a spray bottle, paintbrush, roller, or wicking device.

Whether to use an oil or water soluble herbicide depends on the timing of the herbicide application after the cut. Herbicides carried in water should be applied to the outer 1/3 of the top of the stump within minutes of making the cut.

Utilize an oil soluble herbicide when planning to cut and later return to treat the stumps. Apply the oil soluble herbicide to the entire top and sides of the cut stump but not to the point of excessive runoff. Apply anytime as long as the stumps are dry and not frozen.

Herbicides (both water- and oil-soluble) recommended for cut stump treatments of bush honeysuckle are listed in Table 2. Late summer, early fall, or dormant season applications have all proven to be effective. Avoid applications during sap-flow (spring) as this lessens the effectiveness of the herbicide application.

T​able 2: Herbicides recommended for cut stump treatment of bush honeysuckle.
Herbicide Example Brand Names Comments1
glyphosate Roundup, Accord, and others Apply 20% active ingredient to outer third of cut stem/stump surface immediately after cutting.
2,4-D + picloram Pathway, Tordon RTU Apply undiluted to surface of cut stem immediately after cutting.
Tordon 101 Apply undiluted or diluted 1:1 with water.
2,4-D + triclopyr Crossbow Apply solution of 4% Crossbow in diesel fuel, fuel oil, or kerosene.
triclopyr Garlon 4, Garlon 4 Ultra, Tahoe 4E, Remedy, and others Apply 20% Garlon 4 + 10% penetrate (e.g. Cide-Kick II) in diesel, fuel oil, kerosene, or basal oil (penetrate not needed with basal oil).
1These comments are not intended to be a substitute for the herbicide labels. To ensure the safe and effective use of the herbicides recommended in this publication read the label and SDS (Safety Data Sheet).
Basal Spraying

A basal application of herbicide needs to be made to the lower 12–18 inches of the honeysuckles' stems. Photo by Kathy Smith, OSU Extension, School of Environment and Natural Resources.
A basal application for bush honeysuckle refers to the spraying of a labeled herbicide mixed with an oil-based carrier on the lower 12–18 inches of the stem. The herbicide is sprayed, ensuring that the stems are wet but not to the point of runoff. Basal treatments should only be applied when the areas to be treated are dry and not frozen. The basal treatments recommended in Table 3 should be applied during the dormant season (winter or spring). Due to the arching nature of bush honeysuckle shrubs, access to the lower portion of the shrubs trunk is not always easy to achieve. Care should be taken to ensure that the chemical being applied is reaching the lower portion of the shrub's trunk and not merely being applied in its general vicinity.

Table 3: Herbicides recommended for basal spraying of bush honeysuckle.
Herbicide Example Brand Names Comments1
triclopyr + imazapyr Garlon 4 and Stalker Apply a solution of 15% Garlon 4 + 3% Stalker + 82% Ax-It basal oil mixed by volume.
triclopyr Garlon 4, Garlon 4 Ultra Apply a solution of 20% Garlon 4 in basal oil (Ax-It or Arborchem). Diesel fuel may also be used as a carrier but this requires that a 10% penetrant (such as Cide-Kick II) must also be added.
2,4-D + triclopyr Crossbow Apply a 4% solution of Crossbow in diesel oil, fuel oil, or kerosene.
1These comments are not intended to be a substitute for the herbicide labels. To ensure the safe and effective use of the herbicides recommended in this publication read the label and SDS (Safety Data Sheet).

Round Up (or any killer) and Dawn dish washing detergent. The Dawn breaks down the protective coating on the leaves and allows the round up to do its job. Works great on poison ivy and lily pads in ponds as well.

ALSO: According to the USFS, the seeds will remain viable for up to 10 years on the ground, so your gonna get new sprouts, but, in the spring, when the soil is wet and loose, you can just pull up small plants by hand and just throw them down, when the roots dry they're dead.

Glyphosate falters once brush gets woody. I've been fighting trifoliate orange (mock orange, flying dragon) on our farms for years. It is very thorny, with waxy leaves. Glyphosate kills about 25% of the time, but usually just stunts it and it comes back resistant. The triclopyr herbicides, I like Remedy Ultra work great. It works good on most any tree you can get the leaves covered. I have even had success spraying eastern cedar foliar. I use a hot mix, 6 oz Remedy, 2 oz nonionic surfactant per gallon. Here you need a license for it.

When you mix Roundup (glyphosate) with anything better take note that you could be lessoning its potential control for plants. Non-ionic surfactants and/or sprayer grade AMS are the only additives recommended by the the manufacturer. So anything that has some free ions like soap or oil, diesel, kerosene etc., has an antagonistic reaction with the glyphosate and you are only getting a part of its killing power. Use distilled water if mixing a small batch or some AMS with your tap water when mixing Roundup (softened water with salt is also a no-no.).......... Manufacture's recommendations are always a good way to go.............. the mike

I made good progress on the invasive honeysuckle today. This is the best time of year to attack it. That is some dastardly stuff.

This

Drill some holes in the trunk and use a syringe to fill the holes. Or just cut off some of the limbs and apply.

In about a month I will start hitting the wild parsnip with Roundup. Then in July I will switch to Buckthorn.

Diesel fuel ?? ..... Can i use 12 year old single malt scotch ?? ... Its cheaper

oriental barberry

Goats and sheep work great for controlling honeysuckle.

41% Gly mixed at 2oz per gallon of water will kill EVERYTHING.

I just sprayed a bunch of fence line earlier in the week.

Hit the bigger bushes last Saturday with a mix of Remedy and diesel using basal spray method and already seeing results. Anything bigger than 2-3" diameter gets the "hack and squirt" treatment.

Tordon is good for small jobs (premixed quart) of saplings. I killed some 6" diameter honey locusts and sweet gums with it. Drilled a 1/2" hole at a downward angle and filled it with Tordon. Smaller stuff I used hack and squirt method

WHATEVER you do, read the label and/or get professional advice.
If you have an ag chemical sales place they can advise you on what to use and rates to apply

I hit the Honeysuckle and Buckthorn starting in july. I'll hit any other woody plant then too that I find. I find they are easier to kill later in the summer when they are putting energy into the roots rather than pulling energy out as they are in early spring.

Cut stump treatment is the best for several reasons.
1) it targets the specific plant only, foliar spray will kill anything and everything else that gets hit with the spray. You don't want to kill those trilliums growing under the honeysuckle bush your targeting for example. You don't want to create dead zones that foliar spraying gives you. Those dead zones are openings for other invasive stuff.
2) you use less herbicide, just a small dab on the stump kills it. Use herbicide with a dye and foaming agent in it and you can see which ones have been treated and the herbicide stays where you put it.

I go after garlic mustard first in the spring as soon as the ground is soft enough to pull plants. I pull it, it seems to work best.
Right now I'm going after Reed canary Grass, I use a grass specific herbicide spot treating plants.
Next I go after Dame's rocket, again pulling it.
Then I'll go after sweet clovers, again pulling it.
Then Honeysuckle and buckthorn, cut stump and treat.

I don't have any wild parsnip so I'm glad for that.

There other invasives that I'll hit when I run across them, birds foot trefoil, barberry, autumn olive, musk thistle and multi flora rose. those are far and few between tho.

Also burning is a good thing, smaller hineysuckle, garlic mustard and smaller buckthorn are killed by fire. Fire helps to tamp down further invasions. Most natives are immune to fire when timed properly.

Tordon!!

2 ways to kill Honeysuckle Bush:

Chainsaw it off as short as you can, treat stump with Roundup mixed 50/50 with Diesel fuel or water with a bottle of cheap food color added so you can see where you've been, quickest but expensive.

Cut off 3-4 feet from the ground, and using a mattock, chop 360 deg around the base to cut the roots, and use what's left of the trunk as a handle to pull it up. They rarely have a tap root, that's why they do so well in thin soil and glades. Once the root is dry the plant is dead.

The seeds are fecond for up to 10 years, and you will have to follow up annually.

The tops can be piled up for Rabbitat. (habitat for Rabbits)

I rarely use Tordon anymore. It presents too much of a risk of killing nearby desirable trees.

I attended a fantastic invasive workshop Thur @ Ft McCoy. They talked a lot about garlic mustard. They said a bio control is in the works to potentially be able to naturally fight garlic mustard. That would be a game changer.
Maybe bio controls will be available for other invasives in the future. Of course there is always the concern that a well intended insect release could unintentionally cause another problem if the insect itself turns out to be a pest.
They handed out free boot cleaners at the seminar...a device to pick & brush seeds out of boots.

I typically just put my goats in an area I want cleared out.

Goats, for that purpose, are gaining in popularity.

I have heard of garlic mustard being hit by a virus or disease.

here is an article about it.
another good thing is its in the Chicago area, hope it makes it way north fast.

https://my.chicagobotanic.org/tag/garlic-mustard-disease/

No thanks. It might be OK in an area that is nothing but invasives but at that point you could just as well nuke the place with glyphosate.

Most of my place is mostly native plants with invasives here and there.
Another downside of goats is they don't eliminate alot of the stuff, they just knock it back. Most stuff just will regenerate from the roots.

True to a point. The seeds they eat will not grow when they pass them unlike cows and horses due the the way their stomach works. If you only put them on it tell it is cleared out once often it can grow back thicker ( good for me so I have forage for my goats and cover for my deer and small game like rabbits and quail) . Because The thick stuff is now gone that allowing light to get to the ground. Add in the goat fertilizer and chicken as well since I run my chickens inside my portable goat fence to help with predators in a few months it starts growing back and in a year is very thick. But if you put the goats back on it every time it starts to grow back it zaps the plants resources eventually killing them. I have areas I have done that and you can still see the difference where the fence was obviously 4 years later.

Yes it's faster and easier just to spray if you don't mind chemicals. I did chemicals on an over grocery fence line and it came back just as thick the next year. I don't like chemicals and have dairy goats due to my daughter's milk sensitivity so goats were the obvious solution for me. Chemicals kill the plants but the seeds allready in the soil will grow right back so will take several year to get rid of the invasive plants since seeds can stay viable in soil for years and grow even conditions become right for them. ,

Good info on goats and also on garlic mustard, guys. Thanks

japanese barberry is what it sounds like, bright yellow inside when you cut it?

Some might like trying this. It was displayed at the invasive workshop I attended Thursday

https://www.nachusagrasslands.org/u...r_application_of_basal_bark_oil_2016.pdf

Others might like this tool that was demonstrated at a recent workshop I attended:

https://prairienebraska.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/making-a-killstick.pdf

Rent a couple goats and put them out in the bushes chained to tires so you can move them around and they will remove all evidence of any thorn or berry bushes .When they are done return the goats !

I have used basal bark applications and find it less than precise. My go to for killing small trees/brush is cut and treat stump.

I use the dropped tree/brush for brush piles that I later burn or use as cover for seeded areas that keep deer and turkeys away from seed/seedlings.
If I burn the piles they make for excellent patches for seeding. All the competition in the seed bank is killed.

this is my weapon of choice for stumps and foliage treatments



Green Shoots

Definitely sounds like Japanese Barberry. It is incredibly invasive and non-native, but almost impossible to eradicate. We do some removal of it up on federal land, and we have to bring in brush hogs, and a licensed sprayer. Truthfully, that just controls it's spread.

I have dug the roots up, burned the spot, doused with roundup and prayed and it did the trick for a few years.

Tordon pellets

Cut stump is my preferred method too, Dirty D.

Prayer must be the one thing that works. I'm serious.

No thanks. It might be OK in an area that is nothing but invasives but at that point you could just as well nuke the place with glyphosate.

Most of my place is mostly native plants with invasives here and there.
Another downside of goats is they don't eliminate alot of the stuff, they just knock it back. Most stuff just will regenerate from the roots.
[/quote]


True to a point. The seeds they eat will not grow when they pass them unlike cows and horses due the the way their stomach works. If you only put them on it tell it is cleared out once often it can grow back thicker ( good for me so I have forage for my goats and cover for my deer and small game like rabbits and quail) . Because The thick stuff is now gone that allowing light to get to the ground. Add in the goat fertilizer and chicken as well since I run my chickens inside my portable goat fence to help with predators in a few months it starts growing back and in a year is very thick. But if you put the goats back on it every time it starts to grow back it zaps the plants resources eventually killing them. I have areas I have done that and you can still see the difference where the fence was obviously 4 years later.

Yes it's faster and easier just to spray if you don't mind chemicals. I did chemicals on an over grocery fence line and it came back just as thick the next year. I don't like chemicals and have dairy goats due to my daughter's milk sensitivity so goats were the obvious solution for me. Chemicals kill the plants but the seeds allready in the soil will grow right back so will take several year to get rid of the invasive plants since seeds can stay viable in soil for years and grow even conditions become right for them. ,[/quote]
I learned something new today. Thank you.

Interesting

Burning will kill honeysuckle. But the fire must be hot enough. If you have a clump or a couple of them get a bunch of wood and start a fire on top of them and it'll kill them. But if you have them scattered all over your property its an unpractical way to kill lots of them.
I burn my woods every year. Its a natural fire that is burning leaves, grasses and forbs that have died. Its in the woods so rarely a fire in the woods produces much heat. The fire generally creeps along slowly. These small light creeping fires will kill the tops of small-midsized honeysuckles. But they resprout. The fire will kill very small baby honeysuckles. It won't usually harm a big honeysuckle bush. Of course if conditions are right, really dry, lots of leaves and enough wind to push the fire along so it has more heat it'll kill bigger stuff too. Burning is best done in spring or fall when the woods are dry, low humidity and a decent breeze. As far as killing honeysuckle it doesn't matter.

Burning a woods is good for it. It thins out the woody undergrowth, encourages the growth of forbs and grasses. Damages tick populations and many invasive stuff is harmed by fire while most natives are helped by fire.

Around here it seems like no one burns their woods. I've never heard of anyone doing it deliberately in the woods. I can only speak for my area, where the concern for the fire getting out of control is on people's minds.

Interesting though; I'm glad it works for you.