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Japanese honeysuckle

15 years ago

Any suggestions as to how I could eradicate japanese honeysuckle without killing existing native plants? I've got a half acre of woods in which the understory is covered with coralberry, but unfortunately jh has made itself at home. The jh is intertwined with the coralberrry to the extent that hand weeding is very difficult. Don't know much about Roundup applications, but was wondering if I could spray now while the coralberry is dormant but the jh is in leaf.

Any thoughts appreciated

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Comments (5)

laylaa
15 years ago
You may be stuck pulling the stuff up. Roundup is a systemic herbicide - the chemical is taken in through the leaves, and not as likely to be absorbed by a woody stem of a defoliated plant that is dormant. Something like Orthos brush-b-gone is more for woody plants, but in my experience the Ortho works better on honeysuckle than round-up.

With the coralberry dormant it may be okay to use round-up as there are no leaves to absorb the chemical, however I am not familiar enough with coralberry to know how soft the stems are. Soft stems can absorb the chemical. I've got to believe, due to it's family, that they are fairly soft and new growth will stand a chance of absorbing poison. Not really worth the risk.

Honeysuckle is not that bad to pull up, really, not in comparison to other invasives anyway. That's just my opinion, though, maybe because I've pulled up miles of the stuff in my life. It's still a chore and a half, probably take a couple of seasons, but coralberry is worth saving. I'm in my second season of battle with jh which has run over a bunch of natural ferns and unfortunately there is no easy way about it.
stellar.bpo
15 years ago
I've got to believe, due to it's family, that they are fairly soft and new growth will stand a chance of absorbing poison.

Lisa11
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Like most invasive species, it's all a matter of location, location, location!! Japanese honeysuckle is not an invasive species in the PNW (which shares a climate like much of the UK) and is commonly sold and grown, particularly L.j. 'Halliana' and L. j. 'Purpurea', which has a purple tint to the foliage and bicolored flowers. They have a wonderful fragrance when in bloom, especially in the evening, and attract hummingbirds. They also seem to attract aphids more than most other types of vining honeysuckle, which is not a plus :-) Considering the assortment of wonderful vining honeysuckles available that are NOT considered invasive, I see no reason to keep one in any area where this species IS considered invasive.
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Agree with Japanese honeysuckle. Not the bane out here in the summer dry west it is back east. In fact I've even planted it and had it die after a few years! (Timing would suggest the form I was sold was not particularly cold tolerant, otherwise I don't have much idea what the problem was). Only time I have seen one growing on its own here was when it was situated just above lake level at the base of a south facing slope, where its special little spot would presumably be warm and moist all summer. And it didn't appear there was going to be much opportunity for it to form a significant infestation.
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Photos would clarify but I think you are talking about two different plants. The vining types of honeysuckles and the shrub honeysuckles are not the same plants. Japanese honeysuckle, Lonicera japonica, is a vine. If nothing nearby to climb on, it could be a sprawling groundcover. Shrub or bush honeysuckles are different plants. Like the vines, there are a number of desirable ornamental ones but also a number of common invasive species, all of which are native to Asia.
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bob64
15 years ago
I'm not too familiar with coralberry so I don't know how vulnerable the stems would be to RoundUp (glyophosphate). You could use shears or loppers to cut the honeysuckle that is growing on the coralberry shrubs and just spray whatever honeysuckle is actually on the ground. That's still a lot of work but spraying RoundUp will be more effective than handweeding of honeysuckle in the long run since you really need to kill it all the down. If you hand pull and miss some it will regenerate pretty quickly. You can use a snow shovel or cardboard or whatever to protect the stems of the coralberry from drift while you spray the honeysuckle that is growing nearby. In the alternative, you could do a test in a small area and wait until late spring to see if the coralberry in that one small area succumbed to the poison and then you will know for next season how aggressive you can be with the poison.

Here is a link that might be useful: japanese honeysuckle info
arisaemadracontium
15 years ago
I think bob64's idea of careful, selected careful spot herbiciding during the dormant season is the best bet. If prescribed burning is a possibility at your site, that might help as well.
Nell
15 years ago
To make the hand-digging a little more pleasant, why not make wreaths out of the honeysuckle? Or, better yet, have local basket makers pay admission to harvest their own?
Nell

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