My fiancé and I are in the process of closing on a house, 7b. While it is (will be) wonderful, as tree huggers and native wildlife supporters, the planting in the front is "😱" ; and the back is…. a straight-up nightmare. We have a 10 year old dog that, despite my best efforts, still nibbles on grasses when we walk in the woods; so I especially don't want to take any chances with toxic leaves, berries, or the like. The house has been vacant for a some time, so being frustrated with "how did it get this bad?!" gets me nowhere; we just have to address it quickly, but more importantly, effectively.
What I'm asking for:
- Advice on how to safely and completely remove the invasive and toxic plants without hurting myself, my fiancé, the good plants (if possible), our friends and family who are kind enough to help us, our dog….
1b. Any product recommendations would be greatly appreciated; we're gunna need the heavy duty stuff! (hazmat suit?… haha just kidding….. no fr tho)
- Confirmation/Denial on the plants (I think) I have identified. I will edit the list below if any consensus is reached in the comments. Listings will be Left –> Right
Front 1:
Front Row: There's something by the light fixture that idk what it is | surrounded by so many Lily of the Valley.
Back Row: Double Pink Knockout Rose Bush | idk? | Rhododendron
Front 2: Adams Needle Yucca
Front 3: Lily of the Valley
PTree 1 & 2: Oriental Bittersweet Vine on Pine
BY1 & BY2: Oriental Bittersweet on ??? | Others ?
BY3,5: Poison Ivy | Virginia Creeper
BY4: Honeysuckle
BY6: idk? anything new?
BY7: Aster? Goldenrod? | ?
BY8: Cardinal Flower (?) | ? | Pokeweed (?)
BY9: (?) | I can't tell if it's Joe Pye Weed or Japanese Mint (?) | More poison ivy….
BY10: "help…. it's again"
BY11&12: Poison Ivy & Virginia Creeper
by Chiron1350
16 Comments
Help it’s again is a perfect cr quote for digging up invasives. I’m a novice but here’s to you for fighting the good fight.
Whereabouts are you located?
Yep, that’s a rhoda in the front and a crap ton of bittersweet in the back. I think there’s a lot of hacking and dabbing in your future. Possibly also hiring a goat herd to eat down some of it?
What is your location? 7b is the amount of cold tour get on average – it can have different nativity of plants depending on where you are.
BY-4 has poison ivy, japanese honeysuckle (it should flower white and if it does then super invasive) and a tiny sapling of American holly.
BY-7 to the right has either asters at the back and front or goldenrod of sorts. Middle right looks like pokeweed – all should be native to at least Eastern part of the US
Get a goat herd and an arborist for the back. Leave the front till you have a safe space in back for your doggo.
Look, I love native plants and am doing my best to convert thousands of square feet of yard to native gardens and wipe out the numerous invasive species I have… But sometimes you just have to nuke things. Targeted applications of glyphosate will save you countless hours and days of dealing with the invasives. Cut the Chinese bittersweet off at the ground and immediately apply concentrated glyphosate to the stump. Same for Lily of the valley.
Also can you get a better photo of BY7 I am 90% sure that isn’t stiltgrass but can’t be sure. Stilt grass tends to start low with lots of short leaves and then it goes up. It looks a lot like Nimblewill (native) with shorter leaves. It also pulls out of the ground super easy.
BY3 is Virginia Creeper and Honeysuckle. I would keep the Creeper because it is pretty in the fall and native, but get that honeysuckle out, it is a menace.
Obviously lots of poison ivy, just nuke it. Also I THINK there is a raspberry bush in the front of BY10. Put that somewhere you don’t care about being overrun.
I’d definitely suggest hack and squirt, and be patient. Like, this whole summer will be the clean-up phase, maybe even next summer, too. But then you’ll have a clean slate.
I’ve never applied chemicals, but I have removed lily of the valley. Yours really doesn’t look too bad. Think about what you would rather have in those areas, then go in with a shovel. You need the shovel because there will be tons of roots and you need to remove all of them. They are bright white so they’re easy to find. Once you’re done, the up side is that you’ll be all ready to plant.
1. Get the goats and get rid of the poison ivy 😭
2. Focus on #1
Congratulations on your new home! As a gardener with ADD, pick one or two things to focus on, get those done and repeat.
So i was looking up goats but u still need to dig up the roots of a lot of species of plants because they’re just gonna pop back up. Honestly renting a mini excavator is probably gonna be cheaper than the goats, and you can get rid of all the roots and take the chance to even amend the soil for anything u plan to plant later. Just make sure before u do any digging to get someone out there to survey and check if theres any lines under the dirt before u dig, wouldn’t want to stab your shovel into a water line. I mean if u wanna go the old school route tho just wear long sleeves and long pants with gloves cover your skin and cut everything and dig up their roots yourself. But if u really have poison ivy like your saying diy might be more trouble than its worth. When ur pulling the poison ivy the clothes and gloves u were wearing cannot touch your skin either cuz it has the residue on it.
Mindful and correct application of glyphosate, especially on a small scale like this, has very little footprint and would give you the time and labor to start restoring habitat much more quickly and predictably. Watch a couple videos, carefully read the entire label (I know, it sucks) and add a marking dye to make it easier on yourself.
I’ve led a couple projects where the site owners refused essentially all herbicides for site prep. After the first time, I always warn them several times about the ongoing management required, provide an example of the schedule and labor costs they’d be looking and, and have them sign that they understand we did not remove completely remove invasives and they will return without management. All but one called me back 2-3 years later with— as I warned would happen— most of what we removed starting to come back or fully re-established. We usually finally nuke and start over. The exception was a senior center with some lovely volunteers 🙂
You can skimp on quite a few things in restoration but never site prep.
Most of the native plants pictured would tolerate living in large nursery pots for a bit. They won’t enjoy it, but they’d probably limp along for long enough to be put back in ground.
Test.your.soil!
Life needs things to live…
Ugh here we go blah blah blah ypu have Lilly of the valley on your property and I read one doug tallamy book so I can tell you to rip it up even if you like it cause I know more than you kind of mentality
If you like the Lilly of the valley keep it its bordered and not a problem if you hate it just douse it in glysophate it’ll kill everything and disrupt the beneficial bacteria in your soil but who cares.
For the bittersweet, you can try cutting and pulling now. But the most important part is to paint herbicide on fresh cuts in the late, late summer. Gloves, goggles and a shower should be adequate PPE
Everyone saying rent goats … I wonder if they have actually ever done that. I live near a lot of famers and literally none of them will rent a goat. Not even the ones that do mobile petting zoos.