Bush Honeysuckle Questions

[timrod]

Ok, seriously, nobody freak out on me over my questions.
Personally I have seen a lot of deer in the winter time browsing this stuff bigtime. When I was younger I hunted a huge stretch of timber, and by far the best place on the 600 acre chunk was a honeysuckle thickest. They bedded in it, and when snows were on, all you had to do was set up on the only green in the woods.

Fast forward to today... I now understand that everything that I was taught wasn't always good.

Therefore, why is honeysuckle so bad?

If I kill it, what replaces it that is so much better?

From what I've seen, it only tends to grow down in deep bottoms around here. The kind of places that don't get much light in the summer due to the hardwoods canopy. I guess in order for me to remove this stuff, the juice had better be worth the squeeze. I also do not want to remove it, only to find out that now nothing positive can or will grow due to the amount of shade it will receive.

 

[Native Hunter]

You have a situation I have never seen with bush honeysuckle - growing only in deep bottoms and not spreading to other places.

If that's actually the case, maybe you don't have the same issue that seems to be more common - spreading everywhere and literally taking over everything.

The reason most people want to get rid of it is because it takes over and chokes out everything else - forming a monoculture. I've seen woods that eventually will not even have any native trees once the old trees die, because the BH is not allowing any new native trees to regenerate. If future timber sales is important (and it is to most people with woods) that is a very bad thing.

There is no doubt that deer eat it and that turkeys eat the berries. There is also no doubt that it makes dense cover in shady places where cover would be hard to achieve with anything else.

So, I guess you have to decide just how aggressive it is for you in your location and make a decision based on that.

Good luck.......

 

[Doe Shooter]

Honey suckle or bush honey suckle. Huge difference. If deer have nothing else , I'm sure they will eat whats there. Have never seen any sign of deer browsing bush h.s.. BHS is never green here after the first killing frost in WC IL.

 

[Heart shot]

Yes, people get honeysuckles mixed up. The single WORST invasive is Bush honeysuckle. It will grow anywhere, I just pulled one growing thru a 4 yr old cedar tree. They are the only plant I know that can grow under a dense cedar grove. It is terrible. I seriously worry what our wood lands will look like in 30 yrs as it will be nothing but bush honeysuckle. Terrible stuff.

There are other honeysuckles, even some native one. But if you have bush honeysuckle kill it or your entire property will be covered in no time

 

[catscratch]

Just searching here, but is there any way to spray something like 2-4d that will kill it (assuming it will kill it, I don't know) for several yrs. with a boom sprayer. Let the grasses grow/take over, then spot treat it after the majority of it is gone?

 

[timrod]

Whatever honeysuckle we have growing ng through the creek bottom does stay green in the winter... must not be bush honeysuckle.

How can you tell the difference

 

[j-bird]

Honey suckle is a vine that will remain green to some extent for the vast majority of the year.....even now. Bush honey suckle is a shrub it will loose it's leaves - like now.

I deal with bush honey suckle here and it SUCKS! Vine honey suckle simply needs to be contained and monitored but eradication isn't always needed. Here is some various ways to determine if you have jap bush honeysuckle. Hollow stems, red berries in the fall and white or yellow honey suckle flowers in the spring/early summer. it will grow anywhere there is enough light from what I have seen - at least here.

 

[timrod]

That's exactly what I have in the creek bottom... whatever the exact stuff we have is, it does stay green a ways into winter. The leaves don't turn and fall off like what many are describing when it gets cold. Either way, foliage application of gly would be pretty easy for me to do, but what then? Do I need to get in ASAP and plant something, or just see what comes up next year, and keep attempting to kill it?

 

[timrod]

What about hack and squirt?

 

[j-bird]

I have had my best results with hack and squirt - but I don't have an "infestation". I use tordon...because I want the stuff gone.....which is a pipe dream but I gotta dream!

So does it have it's leaves now? All mine here are bare. It helps to find it as it tends to be the first shrub to green up here in the spring and one of the last to not be green on the fall/winter.

The worst part about the stuff is it leaves nothing else. It displaces all the native plants. It shades everything out and even the roots produce a toxin to kill off competitive plants so all you tend to find under JBH is bare dirt. This makes poor habitat for lots of other critters as well. Yes it can produce cover and food, but I do not see ANY browsing of it here in farm country and it can easily take over and dominate a habitat.

Good luck with it.

 

[Doe Shooter]

What about hack and squirt?

yes. straight 2-4-D or gly. I use tordon also. It's shallow rooted and easy uprooted by loader bucket

 

[Podad]

We don't have in here. Sounds like we don't want it either

 

[Fish]

Bush honey is still holding leaves here. They arent green. More lime in color in this point in the season. Cut it with a chainsaw and treat the cuts with herbicide. I think Geo used 50/50 gly and water.
I treated a large bush honey with tordon last winter and it came back enough to throw out a few shoots.

Yes, it's great deer cover in places but dang it just cant be allowed. There are better choices for a mindful landowner. Kill it and let the natives grow in thick.
George Sheperd on Youtube has some great videos cutting and treating.

 

[Doe Shooter]

Bush honey is still holding leaves here. They arent green. More lime in color in this point in the season. Cut it with a chainsaw and treat the cuts with herbicide. I think Geo used 50/50 gly and water.
I treated a large bush honey with tordon last winter and it came back enough to throw out a few shoots.

Yes, it's great deer cover in places but dang it just cant be allowed. There are better choices for a mindful landowner. Kill it and let the natives grow in thick.
George Sheperd on Youtube has some great videos cutting and treating.

Herbicides work better when actively growing or transition periods. Dormant applications less effective.

 

[j-bird]

I need retract some info I spewed earlier. I was wrong and I am not afraid to admit as much. The JBH here is still holding its leaves here.

This pic was taken just earlier this evening.....Nov 22nd!!! This is the shrub form with the details that I noted in the earlier post.


Just for a visual reference here are some pics taken today of the vine honey suckle. This isn't as bad as the JBH - I suggest monitoring the spread of the vine honey suckle, but it can provide cover and food for deer in the winter, but it can and will smother out trees and shrubs if allowed.

 

[OHIOShedder]

Jbird- I am about an hour southeast of you. Our Amur bush honeysuckle leaves are just starting to turn yellow and drop

 

[j-bird]

Jbird- I am about an hour southeast of you. Our Amur bush honeysuckle leaves are just starting to turn yellow and drop

I will be honest - this year is the first time I really noticed how long the leaves are on it here......not sure if it is a fluke or what, but I just wanted to correct my statement earlier. But the soonest to green and the longest to stay green is a very true statement of it at least in my area.

 

[OHIOShedder]

Agreed on both accounts of first and last green. I am certain that it is normal in my area for Amur bush honeysuckle to hold leaves into first week of Dec (week of Ohio gun season). Haven't paid attention to exactly when most leaves drop, but I would guess by end of December most years. This wet windy weather today might accelerate that.

 

[g squared 23]

How do I tell the difference between bush honeysuckle, autumn olive and russian olive?