I ran a poll on my YouTube channel asking what the biggest problem woody invasive was on peoples property. Invasive bush honeysuckle won by a large margin. Did a video about why it is bad, why some people think it is good, how it has effects that we don't easily see, and what are some good alternatives to it.

Hope you find it useful.

Anthony

We have a mess of them on my place. They are quite prolific.

Interesting and informative video, Anthony T. Thank you.

Good video Anthony. Got lots of honeysuckle at my place. How do you tell native vs non-native?

learch, the non-native honeysuckles will have a hollow stem, the native bush honeysuckles in the genus Diervilla have a solid stem. There is quite a difference in the way the flowers and fruits look also. In the late fall and winter the honeysuckles that still have green leaves should all be invasive exotics. That being said, I haven't found any records of either the native northern or southern bush honeysuckles being recorded in KY. Some confirmed records close to KY though so a good chance it is here but just hasn't been officially recorded. Lots of plants like that.

Anthony,
Always enjoy these- keep em coming!

I planted a honeysuckle bush in my yard. I like it as do the bees. It must not be the non-invasive variety, as it has never spread.

My problem is buckthorn and prickly ash.

I believe the invasive bush honeysuckle in my area is called Tartarian honeysuckle.

Trapper7 - could be invasive or native. If it has small yellow flowers and the leaves turn red/orange in the fall and don't stay green well into late fall and winter it is probably a native Diervilla.

Lugnut - there are 3 main invasive honeysuckles Tartarian, Amur, and Morrow's. Some areas only have one, others are super unlucky and have all 3!

I pulled a bunch of honeysuckle on my property just last week. It wasn't too late to pull it. I hate the way it sprawls.

Invasive non-native honeysuckle is very sensitive to glyphosate and fire. After my burns I find that it is top killed very easily, the bigger ones will re-sprout. The small ones are killed.
I did a major attack on honeysuckle in the late summer of 2021. I got the majority of it from my 20 or so acres or woods.
My next target will be autumn olive. Of course any honeysuckle and other invasive I come across on my kill missions I get. But its less and less and smaller ones for the most part now as all the big ones are gone.
Once all but the smaller ones are gone I'm sure fires will be enough to keep it out of my woods.

I have a native honeysuckle that is a vine and creeps along the ground that is fairly common in the open woods.

Even tho bees and other pollinators may come to the non-native honeysuckles and this goes for other non-natives too usually the pollen is low in nutrition value compared to native plants.

Keep up the good work Anthony, nice to see your posts on here.

X2

AJE
Invasive Species Coordinator
Robinson Creek Preservation Association

Fantastic video. I am always at war with honeysuckle on our place. We mow it and do controlled burns every year. There is 1 aspect that you missed and I have never been told by anyone that this is true but just by my own observations I believe that it has a massive impact on ground nesting birds like quail, turkeys, and whipoorwill. There is zero ground cover below the canopy of a honey suckle patch. People have forgotten what a good set of timer looks like with no honeysuckle or hard maples choking the forest floor of sunlight. Trap your coons, clean your woods up and you too can have quail to listen to during the day and whippoorwills to listen to at night.

DirtyD - fire does hit it hard. The major thing we have to watch for in KY is if you burn where there is honeysuckle you will likely get a huge flush of Japanese stiltgrass after the burn. Our woods are loaded with stiltgrass and it loves fire disturbance. It is easily killed with herbicide, but the seed bank can last 7+ years so it is a long term effort to get rid of it. Stiltgrass is terrible, as bad as fescue when it comes to quail and turkey poults.

Dstone 1992 - there have been some studies on bush honeysuckle and bird nesting. The ground nesters just don't use it and shrub nesting birds tend to selectively choose it since it is such dense cover. The interesting thing is, birds that nest in invasive bush honeysuckle have significantly lower brood survival due to increased predation. But you are correct - sunlight to the ground is a huge step in increasing ground nesting birds.

Great video Anthony!!! I hate that stuff!!! Seems to really take off when cattle are not present.

Get rid of the buckthorn here and honey suckle pops up. Feels like you lose no matter how hard you work

Donnersurvivor - fighting invasives is a never ending battle, but it does get easier after you knock back the first few waves.

At this point I'm just going to focus on the buckthorn, atleast deer browse the honeysuckle. Pick your battles type of thing

Fire.....

I despise honey suckle, but buckthorn is worse around here.

I bought an Uprooter for pulling large honeysuckle that is too hard to hand pull.