Eradicating autumn olive

[duff0369]

On the property my wife and I just purchased there is an abandoned field which is roughly four acres in size. The whole field is suitable for multiple purposes but it is totally over run with the invasive autumn olive. It has grown so thick that deer do not even browse it. In the pictures all of the shrubby, lighter(color) looking things are autumn olive with a few other trees that have managed to hang on. It has grown so thick that the deer don't even browse it and nothing appears to live in it. It's so thick that even now(winter, pictures are from summer) you can't see more than fifteen feet or so even without any leaves.

Taken from about seventy feet in a black walnut:

The other side of the field:

Now you may ask "What does this have to do with cutting wood?" Well the autumn olive crowds everything else out and I am planning on planting a few thornless honey locust in the field and using it as pasture for our goats. The locust variety I chose produces seed pods which animals feed on and it's quick growing hardwood that ranks among the best. At some point there will also be some fruit trees on the hillier spots. But anyways, nothing will grow with these AOs being there.

I've heard they are about the hardiest plant you can imagine, that if you simply cut them that they will grow back wayyy stronger. I learned this after I cleared a small area out....but I left stumps that I am going to flush and cover with herbicide to kill the roots as well. It is going to be a time consuming project over the course of years but by then the goats will be eating all of the seedlings that spring up anyhow.

I was just wondering it anyone out there has any experience with AO or tips to add to my control plan?

 

[fossil]

Talked with your County Extension folks (local experts) about it?

 

[duff0369]

Talked with your County Extension folks (local experts) about it?

I wouldn't even know who to ask in this area, there's not too much around. I've researched it extensively and I apply herbicide as part of my "day job" so I'm quite confident that I'm going about it the best and cheapest way possible. I've just never heard any stories from anybody about dealing with such a massive invasion of AO, most people just talk about a bush or two. So I was just hoping to hear from someone who has dealt with it themselves. Even tips for killing one bush on the cheap would be nice, I could try to adapt it to a larger scale.

 

[fossil]

Here's someplace to start:

http://extension.psu.edu/counties

 

[jrems]

The best thing to do is rip them out roots and all. We used to attach a clamp that gets tighter as it's pulled, to a chain which attaches to the tractor. And pull it out with that. Otherwise cut them flush to the ground and spray round up on the new shoots that pop up. You will need to spray weekly for a couple months but it should eventually kill them.

 

[duff0369]

The best thing to do is rip them out roots and all. We used to attach a clamp that gets tighter as it's pulled, to a chain which attaches to the tractor. And pull it out with that. Otherwise cut them flush to the ground and spray round up on the new shoots that pop up. You will need to spray weekly for a couple months but it should eventually kill them.

Phew! Finally someone gives me a glimmer of hope! I went in cutting yesterday and when my chain popped I drove back down to the house(forgot my skrench) and sat reading for about two hours about it and everything I've read is gloom and doom!

 

[aansorge]

There are attachments to skid loaders that pull small trees up Lickety split.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I'd cut when growing and apply 2, 4-D. Glyphosate will work also, but I've had better luck with the former in this sort of situation. IME, the glyphosate will work on a stump when tree is trying to pull nutrients down into the roots for winter. Otherwise it's best on the leaves.

 

[duff0369]

There are attachments to skid loaders that pull small trees up Lickety split.

I wish I had one. I have an old heavy duty gravely but it probably wouldn't pull all the stumps.

 

[fossil]

Perhaps some useful info here:

http://www.google.com/cse?cx=009987...olive#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=autumn olive&gsc.page=1

 

[bsruther]

We have Autumn Olive, but it's not nearly as invasive as what I'm seeing in your pics. Our scourge is Bush Honeysuckle.
It's another wretched plant that we have received from Asia. Bush Honeysuckle is much harder to eradicate than Autumn Olive. I can cut it at the base and it will grow right back. I have figured out a way to kill it though, but that's besides the point. The point is, how to keep them from growing in the first place. I think a canopy must be created to starve these things of light.

Honey locust is a great tree to plant, but I don't think they grow fast enough to keep up with these damn things. If you want really fast growing trees, plant Tulip trees, Boxelders and Sycamores. Not the best firewood, but they will make a faster canopy and you can plant hardwoods between them. This is what I'm doing and although most of my trees are young, they're growing fast, much faster than my hardwoods. Last year, I planted 10 Black Locust. I've read that they're one of the fastest growing hardwoods and it seems that they are, those things are growing like weeds.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Black locust are like weeds. They are considered invasive in many places. I've never heard of the same issues with Honeylocust though.

 

[Michael Golden]

Good luck! We get it on our right of ways and when you start pushing it is like all the plants are hooked together! Maybe once you get it down the goats will keep it ate up.

 

[billb3]

We have that damn stuff here.
I've pulled them out with a backhoe and the darned things still grow back.
Just gotta keep at it I guess.
Abandoned gravel pit is full of 'em next door so the seeds must carried in by the wind and birds.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Good luck! We get it on our right of ways and when you start pushing it is like all the plants are hooked together! Maybe once you get it down the goats will keep it ate up.

Once it's knocked back well enough a brush hog will help to keep it back too. Fruitwood is a good source of BTUs. Maybe you'll get lucky and olive will be too!

 

[bsruther]

Once it's knocked back well enough a brush hog will help to keep it back too. Fruitwood is a good source of BTUs. Maybe you'll get lucky and olive will be too!

The wood from Autumn Olive is pretty light weight. I've seen the trunks get as big as 4-5" in diameter, but I don't think there's a lot of BTUs in it, better than Tree of Heaven though.

One thing that I've found effective with most invasives that sprout from old roots, is to cover the stump and starve it of light.

 

[Michael Golden]

We brush hog with 90 horse tractors with 7 ft hogs on the right-a-ways. And when you hit the big bushes it will shake you up pretty good! When you put the the bucket down and start pushing you just chase the roots from one bush to the other! AEP land in Cumberland, OH is just full of this sh*t!

 

[mithesaint]

how many goats do you have? Fence in the area and let them go nuts for a few years. Goats will eat anything.

Ever raised hogs? Pigs will root and kill everything in the area that you give them. Granted, you're gonna need a pretty stout fence, but I bet they'd kill all those trees within a few years. Taste mighty good at the end too

 

[duff0369]

how many goats do you have? Fence in the area and let them go nuts for a few years. Goats will eat anything.

Ever raised hogs? Pigs will root and kill everything in the area that you give them. Granted, you're gonna need a pretty stout fence, but I bet they'd kill all those trees within a few years. Taste mighty good at the end too

None yet, I have to erect the fencing this spring.

Pigs really have crossed my mind, there are some semi-large trees in the field that I can't pull out with my tractor or truck and I heard that if you sprinkle a little salt on and around the stumps that pigs will root out the stump for you.

 

[semipro]

Goats will eat anything.

We'd love to use some goats to control Autumn Olive, multiflora rose, and poison ivy but we have a lot of Cherry trees.
Our friends with goats echo what you say about them eating anything but that 's what gets them in trouble. The Cherry and rhododendron in our area will kill them.