Invasive Plant Control

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The regular and heavy rainfalls combined with the warm temperatures also allowed many of the weedy species to grow larger and produce more seeds this year than normal.

Kearns says locating and identifying invasive plants is the first step in controlling them, and it becomes easier to spot certain species in autumn, once people know what fall color to look for. Kearns offers these tips for identifying invasive plants in the fall:

The leaves of some aggressive shrubs, like buckthorn and honeysuckle, remain green and stay on the shrubs into late fall, after most native shrubs have lost their leaves.

Most of the invasive shrubs and vines produce distinctive fruits that stand out this time of year. Oriental or round-leaf bittersweet has small clusters of light yellow-orange fruits that each open to reveal an orange berry.

Japanese knotweed produces a delicate spray of white flowers in early fall and after frost the bamboo like stems turn a deep reddish brown.

Most people only recognize garlic mustard when it is blooming in the spring. In fall the first year plants are green and remain so even under the snow, making fall a good time to spot and pull or spray the overwintering plants.

All of the woody species -- trees, shrubs and vines -- are best controlled in the fall. Cutting them down alone is generally not sufficient for these persistent plants. Most will resprout the following year, often with many more stems. To prevent resprouting, a small amount of herbicide labeled for killing brush must be applied to the cut stump soon after cutting.

A similar technique of basal bark application involves spraying or painting an herbicide in an oil carrier in a band around the base of the tree. Also done in fall or winter, this method allows the tree to be killed without first cutting it.

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