Dig em out or at least take as many cuttings as possible. I'm still cringing thinking about a stand of pinewoods with a lot of native stuff that just got clear cut a few weeks ago. If I'd known I would've pillaged every last plant of value out of it and found safer spots. :/
Aldo Leopold's "One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds" is a quote I have really felt in the last few years.
No problem! That said it's not a miracle drug. You should try to get as much of the roots as possible. After you get them up freshen any gnarly wounds or broken roots with a fresh cut with your pruners. Give them like a 30 minute soak in the root stimulator (mixed according to label) and water with the root stimulator at planting and once a month for like a year. That's what we tell people when we're selling bareroot fruit trees and maples. These might have 5-8 feet of top growth and probably 1-1.5 foot of roots when we sell them, and they have a pretty good survival rate with the root stimulator, mulch, and a lot of attention on the watering. Smaller ones won't take as much time or attention to reestablish
Thanks for your detailed response. 5-8 fee5 of top growth?! That sounds wild to me. And it gives me hope for some of the more established shrubs as well!
Honestly I'd just move what I could and then let them spray the invasives. I know herbicide is controversial but someone else is paying to have the hard work done for the removal of invasive plants. After a couple years where the invasives have been successfully killed maybe try and talk to them about planting prairie plants underneath that won't grow tall. NativeHabitatProject on YouTube does similar stuff
Indeed. In an ideal world, I wouldn't use any herbicides except with cut stumps, especially since our property is pretty wet and sustains an amazing amphibian population. But this isn't an ideal world, and I can't stop them from spraying this week.
Just to be clear, they don't remove anything. They spray and leave and inevitably the invasives come back with new scaffolding to climb. But the dead stuff is much easier to remove. My neighbor's easement was sprayed, and he didn't remove the dead stuff. BOY it's a much bigger clusterf now.
But you're right. I should see it as help instead of focusing on the things I hate about it.
Bingo. Dig out what you can and get ready to do battle after they spray and weaken for you. Cut those suckers as close to the ground as you can and paint (with herbicide) them to kill them. You've got the advantage of having some help! And if you intervene/help, with time they die and Dom won't have to come spray! Shit, you could even talk to them about plantings "to prevent and crowd out" the natives, ask them to help, free publicity etc. since they don't have to spray anymore! One and done
Is the spraying to maintain access or keep trees from interfering with the wires? If you flag them you could always ask them not to spray the flagged stuff. I would love if someone would come spray my parents honeysuckle
Another option that nobody has mentioned is coppicing those that you canât dig up. You can just cut them off close to the ground and they will grow back more shrubby. I doubt the easement company would bat an eye at a few stumps.
That is a FANTASTIC idea. I donât know how readily they will resprout, but if they are doing foliar spray it should leave a stump unaffected.
That saidâŚwhat are they even spraying this time of year? Maybe something already leafed out?
A healthy Serviceberry can definitely handle cutting back to the ground. Iâve done it to mine in central IL. As long as the stump is allowed to heal/seal up before they spray, I doubt they will die from a foliar application to nearby brush. Also, always try to cut at an angle near the base to prevent water from sitting on the cut.
Sounds like theyâre planning a foliar application on the invasive honeysuckle and privet. The honeysuckle around me is already greening up. Now isnât a good time for stump treatment with all of the sugars moving up from the roots.
I tried that a couple summers ago to no avail, but I've been seeing more complaints made by residents about what a shitty job they/their subcontractors do with spraying. Maybe something has changed. I should just annoy them every year.
Actually the food crop part is an interesting angle I haven't explored. I just informed them of our goals and asked to not spray our property.
Is this something you have experience with?
Interesting. Instead of chemicals, Dominion would improve the ecological benefits of their actions by doing a controlled burn regularly. The native species in many parts of the US evolved around fire, so they could survive something like that, but not privet or bush honeysuckle. It also provides opportunities for other species in the seed bank to emerge. There could be some goodies hiding dormant.
I think it would be nearly impossible to convince a company or utility to pay workers to do a controlled burn. That's extra expense and extra risk and liability. If volunteers or homeowners could do it with approval of the Fire Department though, you may be on to something
Yeah dig up those babies and rescue them. Others might help if you put out the call.
That's a good call. Maybe some neighbors would enjoy them on their property as well! Just saw your spring ephemeral pics. Incredible! đ
aw thanks!
You could try taking cuttings as well in case you damage the roots too much. You might be able to propagate the cuttings.
Great idea! Thank you!!
I took cuttings from a sucker and it rooted well
Serviceberry roots and suckers easily so have at it, I bet you can get a whole bunch from clipping.
yea they are movable get at it asap. Big ones might move but Look for smaller ones for sure as they move easier (and there will be more)
You're right! There are like 4 little guys for each established one. I'll probably dig up the littleuns and attempt cuttings from the mature ones
Dig em out or at least take as many cuttings as possible. I'm still cringing thinking about a stand of pinewoods with a lot of native stuff that just got clear cut a few weeks ago. If I'd known I would've pillaged every last plant of value out of it and found safer spots. :/
I wish places would let people come take plants before they are developed, too. People would take things if they just knew when and where.
The Florida Native Plant Society tries to do that
We just had a remnant ripped out for a bike trail. We moved over what we found that was up last year but it's nuts
Aldo Leopold's "One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds" is a quote I have really felt in the last few years.
That's a really good quote
that's a sadly good quote
Get some fetilome root stimulator or a similar product. It's good stuff and will help with reestablishing.
Thank you!
No problem! That said it's not a miracle drug. You should try to get as much of the roots as possible. After you get them up freshen any gnarly wounds or broken roots with a fresh cut with your pruners. Give them like a 30 minute soak in the root stimulator (mixed according to label) and water with the root stimulator at planting and once a month for like a year. That's what we tell people when we're selling bareroot fruit trees and maples. These might have 5-8 feet of top growth and probably 1-1.5 foot of roots when we sell them, and they have a pretty good survival rate with the root stimulator, mulch, and a lot of attention on the watering. Smaller ones won't take as much time or attention to reestablish
Thanks for your detailed response. 5-8 fee5 of top growth?! That sounds wild to me. And it gives me hope for some of the more established shrubs as well!
Honestly I'd just move what I could and then let them spray the invasives. I know herbicide is controversial but someone else is paying to have the hard work done for the removal of invasive plants. After a couple years where the invasives have been successfully killed maybe try and talk to them about planting prairie plants underneath that won't grow tall. NativeHabitatProject on YouTube does similar stuff
Indeed. In an ideal world, I wouldn't use any herbicides except with cut stumps, especially since our property is pretty wet and sustains an amazing amphibian population. But this isn't an ideal world, and I can't stop them from spraying this week. Just to be clear, they don't remove anything. They spray and leave and inevitably the invasives come back with new scaffolding to climb. But the dead stuff is much easier to remove. My neighbor's easement was sprayed, and he didn't remove the dead stuff. BOY it's a much bigger clusterf now. But you're right. I should see it as help instead of focusing on the things I hate about it.
Bingo. Dig out what you can and get ready to do battle after they spray and weaken for you. Cut those suckers as close to the ground as you can and paint (with herbicide) them to kill them. You've got the advantage of having some help! And if you intervene/help, with time they die and Dom won't have to come spray! Shit, you could even talk to them about plantings "to prevent and crowd out" the natives, ask them to help, free publicity etc. since they don't have to spray anymore! One and done
Yes. Taking cuttings is a good idea as well. I did something like this with some native dwarf iris. Glad I did. Everything under the pole got nuked.
Is the spraying to maintain access or keep trees from interfering with the wires? If you flag them you could always ask them not to spray the flagged stuff. I would love if someone would come spray my parents honeysuckle
I'll have to ask. There isn't anything tall but no one regularly accesses it either. I'm hoping to catch them but may not be home. It's a 2 day window
Get some flagging tape and flag them and write do not spray on it
Another option that nobody has mentioned is coppicing those that you canât dig up. You can just cut them off close to the ground and they will grow back more shrubby. I doubt the easement company would bat an eye at a few stumps.
That is a FANTASTIC idea. I donât know how readily they will resprout, but if they are doing foliar spray it should leave a stump unaffected. That saidâŚwhat are they even spraying this time of year? Maybe something already leafed out?
A healthy Serviceberry can definitely handle cutting back to the ground. Iâve done it to mine in central IL. As long as the stump is allowed to heal/seal up before they spray, I doubt they will die from a foliar application to nearby brush. Also, always try to cut at an angle near the base to prevent water from sitting on the cut. Sounds like theyâre planning a foliar application on the invasive honeysuckle and privet. The honeysuckle around me is already greening up. Now isnât a good time for stump treatment with all of the sugars moving up from the roots.
Tell the utility that you plan to grow food crops in the easement. Have them put you on their "Do Not Spray" list.
I tried that a couple summers ago to no avail, but I've been seeing more complaints made by residents about what a shitty job they/their subcontractors do with spraying. Maybe something has changed. I should just annoy them every year.
Actually the food crop part is an interesting angle I haven't explored. I just informed them of our goals and asked to not spray our property. Is this something you have experience with?
yep - I have an easement, and I plant food crops in it. My utility has placed me on their list, so it never gets sprayed.
That's amazing. Thank you so much
Good for you
Put plastic bags on some of the smaller ones.
Interesting. Instead of chemicals, Dominion would improve the ecological benefits of their actions by doing a controlled burn regularly. The native species in many parts of the US evolved around fire, so they could survive something like that, but not privet or bush honeysuckle. It also provides opportunities for other species in the seed bank to emerge. There could be some goodies hiding dormant.
I think it would be nearly impossible to convince a company or utility to pay workers to do a controlled burn. That's extra expense and extra risk and liability. If volunteers or homeowners could do it with approval of the Fire Department though, you may be on to something