A good time to deal with honeysuckles

This is an excellent time to deal with isolated honeysuckles scattered across a natural area. The native vegetation is now senescing and has turned color, whereas honeysuckle bushes retain their green leaves. As the photo above shows, honeysuckle bushes really stand out.

In previous years, when we had quite a few honeysuckles remaining, we used a foliar spray with glyphosate. This worked really well. Honeysuckles are very sensitive to glyphosate, and since the native vegetation has senesced, it is unaffected. However, we have managed to reduce our honeysuckles to a quite small number, so it isn't really efficient to use this foliar spray.

Instead, we are using a basal bark treatment with triclopyr (Garlon 4, in oil). I carry a spray bottle in a belt holster, and when I spot a small honeysuckle I treat it. For the basal bark, I just grab the stems and pull them back, uncovering the stem bases. A few spritzes of these bases is all it takes, as the photo shows.

I am really pleased with how well we have been able to control honeysuckle. I spent some time Monday, when the weather was clear and sunny, looking at areas (such as Unit 21) that at one time had heavy infestations. I found a few small bushes, but they took very little time to deal with.

Incidentally, Unit 21 was the area where I did my published research on honeysuckle control back in 2003. Here is a link to that paper.

I wish buckthorn was as easy to deal with as honeysuckle!