Bushes taking over

The berry is close to the high bush cranberries we have here, but the leaf is wrong.
Ak high bush:


Not familiar with that bush.

Those are common out east. I don't know the correct name, but they're often referred to as a $hit tree. Completely worthless except for the berries providing food for the birds. They of course sprout like crazy since the birds carry the berries everywhere.

They'll grow as tall as 20' or so if you let them. They'll also grow in strange ways with twisting limbs. Often they'll split parts of themselves if they grow too big.

Keep mowing them down.

Autumn Olive aka Russian Olive.

I had one of those grow out of control and came down in the Oct snow storm last year. I cut it all up for firewood as it seems hard and its burnable. Mine was about 15' high. I put a picture on the forum of some wood I cut up and no one could seem to put a finger on what it was. Maybe nrford's right, Im going to look into that right now.

nrford said:

Autumn Olive aka Russian Olive.

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Your right with the Autumn Olive but according to this web site and pictures Ive looked at Autumn Olive and Russian Olive are two separate species. It appears to be Autumn Olive. Theres also a similar American Silverberry but that appears diffferent than whats the OP has pictured and what I had.

http://www.ehow.com/how_7179448_identify-autumn-olive-trees.html

yep autumn olive..very avassive ..get ya some goats..thats what i did...not a trace of even one bush now..if u dont wanna get goats ur gonna have to spray them often to kill em...and they are a pain to get rid even by spraying them

Maybe it is time for us to get some goats. Wife nags me at times about getting some.

This thing has really invaded our area big time over the last 10 years or so. Can hardly believe how fast they grow. We had one pop up in one of our old gardens some time in early June. I could hardly believe how big it got. Yes, I cut it down and now will try to pull the roots.

In May, those things blossom and have a very stinky scent. Gives me a headache too so I hate them. Trouble is, they spread so fast, it is hard to keep ahead of all of them. I'll be attacking more this winter.

russian/autumn olive is an invasive species here. Pretty much the only thing growing in the unactive gravel pit next door.
Deer have been feeding on them there all Summer. I pull them out with a backhoe and just a tiny bit of a root broken off will sprout right back. Thorns can get ya good, too.

I've got 'em everywhere.
They grow like crazy. I noticed the scent a couple years ago in the spring.
They'd be a good windbreak if not so invasive.

The berries on Autumn Olive are edible, and reportedly best in late fall after a few frosts. I'd still kill all of the bushes that you can kill, but at least there is a bit of a silver lining.

I agree with BS that the scent of the flowers is noxious.

Maybe let them grow and use them for firewood, I got a good stack Im going to try this year, Ill let you guys know how it burns.

Anything that grows as fast as this stuff I would expect to be very low in btu. Sort of like willow.

weatherguy said:

Maybe let them grow and use them for firewood, I got a good stack Im going to try this year, Ill let you guys know how it burns.

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I have a bunch of Autumn Olive in my stacks and I am disappointed how light it feels. I have burned it only a stick or two at a time mixed ith other wood so it is hard to say how much heat it gives off. It is not easy to cut into firewood since it grows small, branchy, and creeoked and has a lot of thorny small branch stubs. Kill the Autumn Olive and plant Black Locust if you want to grow firewood.

Backwoods Savage said:

Anything that grows as fast as this stuff I would expect to be very low in btu. Sort of like willow.

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But if it grows super fast, it's free low btu

Like my poplar grove idea one day...

Eric, I hope that is not hybrid poplar...

On the autumn olive, I did find one tree on some state land and was amazed at how large it was. Not that crooked either. But I would not be interested in cutting it down for firewood...

Backwoods Savage said:

Eric, I hope that is not hybrid poplar...

On the autumn olive, I did find one tree on some state land and was amazed at how large it was. Not that crooked either. But I would not be interested in cutting it down for firewood...

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Poplar poplar, I was reading about hybrid poplar a while back, but I do remember the anti hybrid poplar article I was reading. But the general idea, grow it till it's 5-6" and no splitting. Just set up a compound saw with a rip blade and buzz 16" over and over...

And you'll never see anything that has more limbs! Rotten smell too when cut and when it dries, it is super light which means...Poff and it's burned up.