Asiatic or Amur Honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.): New Study Using Two Different Herbicide Treatment Methods for Controlling this Invasive woody shrub: Cut Stump with Glyphosate Treatment Versus Cut Stump and Spray Regrowth with Glyphosate

July 26, 2012 at 9:58 am · Filed under Uncategorized

Asiatic honeysuckle is one of the worst invasive woody plants in woodlands of many parts of North America. A recent replicated study in Restoration Ecology

Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) ;Photo Credit: Image Citation: Warner Park Nature Center Archive, Warner Park Nature Center, Bugwood.org

conducted by Kurt Schulz, Jessica Wright, Sabrina Ashbaker examined two herbicide treatment techniques using glyphosate herbicide. The authors found that “cutting followed by stump treatment is more effective, killing 75–85% of individuals in spring and early summer, and >90% later in the year. Cutting and spraying regrowth was most effective in spring (56% killed), and poorer thereafter (20–40% killed). The result for spring was much lower than previously observed.”

What does this mean in practical terms?

Cut-surface treatment methods (for example, frill, cut stump, drill, etc.) effectively kill Asiatic honeysuckle. The cut-surface treatment techniques are pretty straightforward.
Cut-surface treatments in the fall or even winter are best. (That is the time when sugars are being transported from the leaves to the roots for winter storage.)
Use a marker dye in the herbicide solution so you know you have treated all the stems of a clump. Brock 2004.

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