West Newsmagazine 6/3/15

18 I NEWS I
June 3, 2015
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE
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By JIM ERICKSON
ericksonjim@att.net
It has been likened to a Trojan horse, initially
appearing attractive and with potential
value. But just as the supposed gift made
famous in Greek mythology had a more sinister
purpose, so too does bush honeysuckle.
“A lot of folks I initially talk to like it
because it provides a ‘nice’ privacy screen
… until a few years later and then they
cannot even walk through their woodlands
or yards anymore,” observed Hank Stelzer,
of the University of Missouri’s Cooperative
Extension Service.
The stophoneysuckle.org website is
equally harsh in its assessment of the plant,
labeling it an “enemy of the state” and “a
serious threat to Missouri landowners.”
Both Stelzer and the website agree that
bush honeysuckle is extremely good at one
thing – strangling native plants and woody
shrubs that provide food and shelter to wildlife
and leaving a dense tangle in its wake.
The plant has “no nutritional value to
wildlife whatsoever,” Stelzer said. “It’s the
high fructose corn syrup to our wildlife
populations, and it’s a problem in our rural
as well as our urban and ex-urban areas.”
Will Rein, Ballwin’s city forester and
arborist, readily acknowledged that bush
honeysuckle is a scourge in the community’s
parks. Virtually all parks and other open
space areas and many yards in West County
and elsewhere share the problem, he added.
You have to give the bush honeysuckle
credit for its stealth.
“The first year, one sees that odd bush that
greens up first in the spring and stays green
until after Thanksgiving,” Stelzer described.
“Then, in year two, a few more plants. Then
in year three, POW, it’s everywhere.”
The plant takes advantage of Mother
Nature to enable its start and hasten its spread.
Birds visit the shrub in urban thickets and eat
its small red fruit, which ripens in the summer
after the bush has displayed white to yellow
@WESTNEWSMAG
WESTNEWSMAGAZINE.COM
Invasive bush honeysuckle proves
difficult to eradicate, even for pros
Will Rein, Ballwin’s city forester and arborist,
examines newly emerged bush honeysuckle
plants in New Ballwin Park.
blossoms in April and May. Bird droppings
then contain the plant’s seeds, which explains
why bush honeysuckle often is found growing
under tall shrubs, trees or other locations
that serve as a perch for birds.
The plant tolerates shade as it grows
and its own cover limits or wipes out the
growth of nearby native species. Research
also has suggested that bush honeysuckles
may produce chemicals that enter the soil
and inhibit the growth of other plants.
Native to Asia, the Morrow’s and Amur
species of bush honeysuckle were introduced
to North America in the late 19th and early
20th centuries. The shrubs typically grow to a
height of 6 feet or more and can reach 20 feet.
The Missouri Department of Conservation
warns that Missouri’s native honeysuckles
should not be confused with the bush varieties.
The state’s beneficial honeysuckle is
a vine with roundish leaves more closely
attached to the stem, compared with the narrower,
more pointed leaves on the invasive
species. Also, blossoms of the native honeysuckle
are yellow to red and trumpet-shaped.
Once established, bush honeysuckles can
be difficult to eradicate. When the plant is
small and the soil is moist, hand pulling
is one method if the entire plant can be
removed, according to stophoneysuckle.org.
During visits to Ballwin’s New Ballwin
and Ferris Parks, Rein illustrated the constant,
repetitive and time-consuming steps
involved in getting rid of large stands of
bush honeysuckle.
Last year, Rein applied foliar herbicide
to a heavily infested area along the west
side of New Ballwin Park. In addition,
larger stems later were cut and the remaining
stumps were “painted” with a glyphosate
mixture – Roundup TM or other generic
product – before the cut surfaces could dry.
Rein added that foliar sprays should include
a surfactant, which improves the chemical’s
ability to adhere to the targeted plants.
And while it was easy to distinguish
between the treated and non-treated sections,
small green plants sprouting in the
treated areas showed the honeysuckles
hadn’t given up. A treated wooded area
around the newly renovated pavilion at
Ferris Park displayed similar signs that the
invasive honeysuckle is tough to eradicate.
Catherine McGrane, assistant director of
the 112-acre Powder Valley Conservation
Nature Center near I-270 and I-44, noted
the need to go back over treated areas for
several years to prevent re-infestation.
Time consuming and physically demanding?
Yes, but such steps can be worthwhile,
she said.
“In eradication areas, we are seeing
native species come up where they hadn’t
been before,” McGrane said.