You must have the bush honeysuckle. We have the japanese honeysuckle that creeps along the forest floor, climbing into trees when it finds one. We only have 2 acres, but it is still overwhelming to look out into the woods and see thousands of tendrils waving at me. Each one needs to be hand pulled and even then some will sprout back. I do it after a good rain to make it more successful. I think I finally have it out of the trees so it can't fruit and make seeds, however, all neighbors are not so inclined so it will come back.

But let's keep fighting the good fight! It's worth it.

Good luck to you esh ga,
Even though he is chopping down all this big stuff, the forest floor is covered with new little seedlings. It's very overwhelming. And I can see our neighbors' property with it coming up........so even if we get rid of it here, like your's, it will come back here again. What's funny (not!), garlic mustard is filling in all those temporarily blank spaces! Again, good luck to you!

I learned something about shrub honeysuckle when I had 5 acres of invasives in NY. You can lean on a shrub or bend it over and pull on it and it will come right out of the ground. Cut stumps regrow and must be sprayed. Pushed-over shrubs don't resprout. Winter is a good time to work with eradication of these since there are no mosquitoes and the ticks aren't out yet. I used to go out on any day when temps were above 20 - even if there was snow.

Don't have a problem with either of those species here. All the land is utilized in farming. No chance for seedlings gone wild.

Catherine, those will resprout unless you spray them or dig them out. I was at my parents last Sun and we took a walk into the woods where we cut a bunch of honeysuckle out last fall. They're all resprouting. My dad is old school and thinks round-up is a cure all. I'm trying to talk him into waiting until all the spring wildflowers are dormant. I was so excited to see toad shade and mayapples out there....his response? One man's flowers are another man's weeds. I kid you not. He's my dad, so my reply had to be somewhat on the nice side....lol...he got my drift anyway. sheesh.

Thanks terry,
Yes, those stumps are sprouting. Those stumps were huge, and DH's approach is to cut them down to that size one year, and then cut them again the next year, and they start dying out and then by the next year, he can usually dig them out more easily. The smaller ones he's pulling out completely.
At first, he was just cutting the honeysuckle down of any size, and I told him that was just making it worse.....since they do seem to come back with a vengeance. So he finally realized that it's a multi-year project. But.....what's so danged disheartening is that the forest floor is covered with baby honeysuckle!!
Oh well....what else do we have to do, right???? ;)
Plus......... now that the big honeysuckle is gone, the garlic mustard is taking it's place.

Catherine, they look about the size I cut down at my dad's. They ranged from little to big to humongous. My dad has a bush hog, but these stumps are just to big to go over. So the little ones, he'll mow down, but these big ones he wants to spray. And yep, multi year project! I don't see any garlic mustard...but then again I don't know what it looks like. That's kind of how I feel too, my dad thinks my husband and I have nothing else to do....:o)

If you have cut down large honeysuckles, you can speed the process of dying by knocking the new shoots off of them a couple of times during the summer. I use the sharp end of a regular garden shovel to chop/break the new shoots off before they get more than a foot or two tall. Once they get taller a pair of shears works better. I try to get them while they're still very short, and i try to do some extra damage to the stump such as shredding bark if I can.

If I am vigilant (knock the shoots of at least two or three times) perhaps 50% of the shrubs I cut in a winter will be dead by the end of summer. The other 50% - the ones that are still producing shoots in August - I usually spray with roundup to finish off.

Autumn Olive is particularly susceptible to killing this way. Honeysuckles (I have Lonicera morrowii and L. maackii) can also be killed this way.

By the way, I find that I can pull large L. maackii out of the ground, but L. morrowii are much more deeply rooted and I often have to cut medium sized plants.

Thanks terry and ladyslppr.
I took a walk today, and I'm so bummed out. It's just going to be impossible.......but I guess we have to try.

No Catherine, don't get that mind set! It won't be easy, but it will be possible!

Thanks for the pep talk Terry.
I guess now that everything is green, it's showing up alot more. Here's a pic of just one little section of our creek. Almost everything green on the left and right of the creek is.....you-know-what.

You're welcome Catherine. I wish I'd have taken a camera out to my dad's. The stuff is sure tenacious, I'll give it that. That plants we hadn't gotten to yet, I noticed still full of berries. Makes me wonder what exactly eats the fruit.

We will get it all. We WILL!

Terry

Hi Terry,
The birds eat all the fruit on ours before Fall is over. They love it. Especially robins and catbirds. When I first noticed these shrubs on our property, I actually really liked them because the birds liked them so much. Wish there were a way we could make the fruit sterile. Those berries do look good enough to eat. What my husband's focus is, is to at least cut down the tops of all the ones that are old enough to make berries. After we finally get rid of ALL our honeysuckle, we'll probably find out that the berries cure cancer, or keep us all young. lol!

The birds out at my parents are probably too busy eating all the hips off the multi flora rose....that would be my luck! They actually have quite a few of the wild black cherries out there, so hopefully, the birds eat those and leave the bad berries alone.

You eat the berries for the next year and see how much younger you look. If it works, then I'll start eating them too...but shhhh..it'll be our little secret! LOL!

Terry

Catherine....we're in the same war! Lord, it's bad in our woods. This is what you need to apply to the stumps....just squirt on the stumps after cutting. I've never had anything resprout including Rosa Multiflora (arrrrghhhhh!!!) Bittersweet, Poison Ivy and Norway Maples we had cut down in the spring...and of the course, the Honeysuckle.

Here is a link that might be useful: Stump Killer

It's either me or this bush. First I bought a hatchet, then an axe, then a small chainsaw. My neighbor sent me an article from the New York Times discussing the appropriate clothing to wear while using a chainsaw. I hurt my hands chopping away this week. I snip off all new growth almost every day. I don't want to use anything poisonous because of the small wildlife. I say "DIE, DIE!" The center wood is so hard. Why haven't they made furniture out of this?

You've got three choices with an invasive shrub:
1. Constant cutting until it gives up and dies.
2. Pull it out or dig it out (Weed Wrench is good).
3. Poison the cut ends immediately after cutting by brushing it on.

Anything is better than nothing. Keep up the good fight!

I have found the perfect spray to kill honeysuckle by mistake. I bought some of the Round Up Poison Ivy spray and was using it to kill a big batch of ivy in the middle of some honeysuckle. I went back 3 days later to check on the ivy and to my surprise the honeysuckle was dead as well.I have honeysuckle all over my yard and have been pulling and cutting for years,I even did the brushing the cut ends and that did not work,but this spray did.