Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Converting invasives to natives, worth the squeeze?

Well the weather snuck up on us this fall. While waiting for more of the tree canopy to drop, the weather was too windy for a spraying last week, then this past weekend we had a pretty hard frost of ~20° overnight low.

Do you guys think the honeysuckle went dormant after that frost? Of course the leaves are still green and all that good stuff, but don't want to spray if it won't accept the chemical. Does anyone have experience foliar spraying after a hard frost? The co-op seems unsure if it'll work, but of course they're happy to do it ($$$). They also tried to talk me into a spring spraying which I am very hesitant about.
 
I was just thinking about the same thing last night. I have a drone lined up to spray, seems like the leaves were late falling this year and afraid of the same.
 
TheBig8 said:
Well the weather snuck up on us this fall. While waiting for more of the tree canopy to drop, the weather was too windy for a spraying last week, then this past weekend we had a pretty hard frost of ~20° overnight low.

Do you guys think the honeysuckle went dormant after that frost? Of course the leaves are still green and all that good stuff, but don't want to spray if it won't accept the chemical. Does anyone have experience foliar spraying after a hard frost? The co-op seems unsure if it'll work, but of course they're happy to do it ($$$). They also tried to talk me into a spring spraying which I am very hesitant about.
Click to expand...
I still plan on doing our BHS spraying this coming Monday. Really don’t want to wait another year to tackle this project.
 
Well, I'm gonna buck the norm (again) lol.
My small piece of Heaven has been invaded by Buckthorn for many year.
Tried for years to knock it down. Could not do it.

Now, I'm literally EMBRACING it.
Invasive or not, it provided extremely great bedding cover during our harsh winters, deer (bucks) especially hole up and rut heavily in BT thickets, and have seen for years, although I didn't pay much attention untill the past few that for the past (??) Many years, my areas biggest bucks have been killed entering/ exiting BT pockets.

I'm done listening to habit expert saying to do this/ that.
If I could start from scratch, my perfect deer habitat would be large amounts of Buckthorn, lots of boxelder with a smattering of oak, basswood.

I walk Many of miles a year and when I come into these spots, it's a 100% guarantee it'll be the best area for deer sign..

Nature/ deer will adapt to our changing landscape.
 
My experience is that Buckthorn is a deer bedding magnet. Killed many bucks in it. I don't love the look of it or how it crowds some species out, but it has its place for sure. I'd rather have BT than an open understory hardwood forest for hunting any day!
 
Bucksnbears said:
Well, I'm gonna buck the norm (again) lol.
My small piece of Heaven has been invaded by Buckthorn for many year.
Tried for years to knock it down. Could not do it.

Now, I'm literally EMBRACING it.
Invasive or not, it provided extremely great bedding cover during our harsh winters, deer (bucks) especially hole up and rut heavily in BT thickets, and have seen for years, although I didn't pay much attention untill the past few that for the past (??) Many years, my areas biggest bucks have been killed entering/ exiting BT pockets.

I'm done listening to habit expert saying to do this/ that.
If I could start from scratch, my perfect deer habitat would be large amounts of Buckthorn, lots of boxelder with a smattering of oak, basswood.

I walk Many of miles a year and when I come into these spots, it's a 100% guarantee it'll be the best area for deer sign..

Nature/ deer will adapt to our changing landscape.
Click to expand...
I have a property in OH where honeysuckle and privet are that "not gonna win" version of your buckthorn. While I plan to sell this place soon after investing all sorts of money and time into "peeing into the wind" trying to kill the invasives, mulcher paths through this junk with follow up spraying have lead to some killer bedding pockets and consistent passage. Just work with whatcha got if you cant beat it is the moral of the story.
 
DOR said:
My experience is that Buckthorn is a deer bedding magnet. Killed many bucks in it. I don't love the look of it or how it crowds some species out, but it has its place for sure. I'd rather have BT than an open understory hardwood forest for hunting any day!
Click to expand...
Honeysuckle is the reason for a one of the bucks on my wall. I've watched deer browse and bed in it. I'd rather try to manage than eliminate it, probably easier said than done.
Russian Olive, multiflora, green briar, poison ivy, are of more concern to me.
 
JNRBRONC said:
Honeysuckle is the reason for a one of the bucks on my wall. I've watched deer browse and bed in it. I'd rather try to manage than eliminate it, probably easier said than done.
Russian Olive, multiflora, green briar, poison ivy, are of more concern to me.
Click to expand...
Sadly I have tons of those too

I am wondering how many for sale properties exist out there that are free of invasives.
 
Bur Oak Trust manages a bunch of local ground and they (and your tax dollars) hire people to clean invasives from the timbers. NO understory, very open. Put a pocket or two of bedding cover and ….


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
gjs4 said:
Sadly I have tons of those too

I am wondering how many for sale properties exist out there that are free of invasives.
Click to expand...
Look into your local nrcs office. Equip pays huge to remove, more than 1 payment as well. Usually 3 rounds of removal. The term to use in the office is "brush management" through equip.

Takes a good amount of work.

Or cut paths and embrace it. I am in the camp id wrather have thick invasive thermal cover that nothing.
 
After the helicopter spray in 2024 the forest floor was covered in various forbes this spring and summer. With the heavy acorn crop this year oaks will be able to sprout without the heavy cover of honeysuckle.
BTW. deer browse on multiflora, greenbriar and poison ivy also.
 
I don't have much experience with any invasives other than honeysuckle but that stuff is a nightmare. It takes over, chokes everything out, and I have seen deer numbers on the property decline due to it. Unless you cut trails in/through it, a person literally cant walk in there when it is leafed out and if you try, you're going to get turned around so quickly.

Just a short ways away from one of the properties I hunt that is covered in honeysuckle is a river bottom with none (or very little) and it has way more deer using it even with much higher hunting pressure down there.
 
Sligh1 said:
Bush honeysuckle- man- hearing great things on aerial treatment. For how bad it is & how it’s done - very little downside & massive benefits for low cost. The timing of BHS staying green after all else is dormant is so huge an opportunity.

Converting invasive to other better stuff including Tsi… 100% I’d do it. The “what about pressure or work load or coming back later” …. Million ways to slice & dice that… one example… say a guy has “40 acres of timber” (whatever)…. Do 10 acres per year for 4 years. Once it’s killed and Tsi is done…. 10 acres of getting the regrowth is probably 1/10th the work of the initial job. Id call it “a maintenance day”. Spend 1 day per year in that 10 acres hitting the regrowth of nasty stuff. Most the seed bank is gone after 2. Still be some but 2 years is the bulk.
After a couple times/years of maintaining…. It’s tiny bit of time after that- way easier.

The most work by far is step 1: killing it & Tsi. Next round - still some work but way less & way easier. Then- years down road- lil touch up’s… easier yet.
Millions of ways to do this. Just take on what’s manageable but aggressive imo. Doing Tsi & even interseeding/planting…. Tons of options there too so fire back on specifics if doing that
Click to expand...

Sligh1 said:
Bush honeysuckle- man- hearing great things on aerial treatment. For how bad it is & how it’s done - very little downside & massive benefits for low cost. The timing of BHS staying green after all else is dormant is so huge an opportunity.

Converting invasive to other better stuff including Tsi… 100% I’d do it. The “what about pressure or work load or coming back later” …. Million ways to slice & dice that… one example… say a guy has “40 acres of timber” (whatever)…. Do 10 acres per year for 4 years. Once it’s killed and Tsi is done…. 10 acres of getting the regrowth is probably 1/10th the work of the initial job. Id call it “a maintenance day”. Spend 1 day per year in that 10 acres hitting the regrowth of nasty stuff. Most the seed bank is gone after 2. Still be some but 2 years is the bulk.
After a couple times/years of maintaining…. It’s tiny bit of time after that- way easier.

The most work by far is step 1: killing it & Tsi. Next round - still some work but way less & way easier. Then- years down road- lil touch up’s… easier yet.
Millions of ways to do this. Just take on what’s manageable but aggressive imo. Doing Tsi & even interseeding/planting…. Tons of options there too so fire back on specifics if doing that.
Click to expand...
I have 80 acres farm with 30 acres of timber. Its a rectangle 80 with road frontage on northend and also west side (northwest corner property of a section). The shape of my timber is pretty much the letter Y that sits in the middle of the property and runs the full length of the 80 north and south with 2 drainages that run through connecting in the middle of the Y. Timber is anywhere from 100-50 yard wide. Saying all that to give a picture of how much edge/sunlight I get. Got FDA cost share and leaning towards drone spraying. THis winter went in and brush cut few areas maybe 5-6 acres total along with cutting and spraying stumps. 90% of my timber is hackberry, elm,and sassafras trees with handleful of shingle/post oaks (4whiteoaks lol). In those pockets I brush cut I did fairly heavy TSI and hinge for cover/bedding alot of sunlight now. I broadcasted some cereal Rye along with little alsike clover yestarday before rain on the bare dirt inside the TSI pockets. BH sprouts are shooting up from the brushcut stumbs. I am aware I should kill then TSI but wanted to see what drone would do inside these cuts with open canopy compared in brush cut closed canopy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom