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.

Phragmites has started spreading around my county. Is that as bad as I fear?

You realize that cottontails are easy to clean and really, really yummy, right?