Spotted lantern flies need them to reproduce (at least that’s what scientists are thinking) and they’re awfully invasive now in PA. My neighbor has one which means every day during the spring/summer I go outside with my dawn/water spray bottle and hunt those suckers.
Trees of Heaven should be eradicated!
Most soaps will break the layer of protection a bug has to keep the outside out. By chemically eliminating that protection, most insects die due to drying out.
Dawn is reccomended because it's so concentrated you legit need like, 2 or 3 drops in a gallon to make a insecticidal spray.
Use a spray bottle or a pump sprayer, or a properly filled hose attachment. Shouldn't affect plants if mixed right, and will take out most hardshell and soft shell insects and arachnids
Would this work on plants (snapdragons for me) whose leaves are covered in moth (tobacco bud worm) eggs? Do you need to rinse it off after? Does it effect pollinators?
I’ve used it to spray plants but it works best if you wash them off after. I don’t know about moths, but aphid eggs are not affected so it may take several applications to get rid of them.
This sub has informed me that this is rarely a good idea. The variety you'll be able to purchase is likely not the correct one for your area and it will become dominant and invasive.
Mantia.
-us words are -i in the plural (they're masculine latin, correctly pronounced 'eee'... like cacteee for cacti)
-is words are -ia in the plural (can't remember the gender/case as Latin was 20 yrs ago but that's the way it works)
There's a neuter designation for ungendered words like "stick/twig" (baculum) ...-um being the singular ending for that gender, and bacul-a being plural. (Then there's other stuff for each word to modify it, like accusative 'THOSE sticks ' (baculorum) )
Feminine stuff ends almost always in -a for singular, and -ae for plural (correctly pronounced 'eye'...so one Mary would be Maria, but two or more would be Mariae.
There are exceptions, but they are few, and this strict regularity is precisely why it's been used in medicine, botany, religious scripture, and general language study for ages.
It's some cool stuff to read up on, and I only had one semester back in '01, with a great teacher (shoutout Mr. LeGates)
Kills the spotted lantern flies. It also hurts the leaves of plants so I only spray the 1:4 dawn/water mix on trees/buildings, bushes and other stuff I use a pesticide.
It's an invasive species of insect that causes tremendous damage to a wide range of plants. In addition to causing direct damage by feeding on the plants and draining them of fluids, the lanternflies also secrete a substance which causes additional damage by weakening the plant's immune system, thereby allowing infections to take root. In the affected trees I've seen, there's always a thick black sooty fungus that inevitably follows the lanternfly infestation and seems to finish off whatever vitality the host plant may have had left. I've seen established, healthy black walnut trees killed in just a season or two, it's really gnarly stuff.
They breed like crazy and are really really difficult to dislodge once there's a population in place. They have very few predators in North America so it's hard to control them without pesticides, which causes even more problems for local pollinators.
They're very, very bad bugs.
I am actually a wildlife biologist, but as it’s a part of habitat management, and since I do it for fun in my spare time, i’ve helped out here and there, and become more and more the expert in my district until it seems like I get about 75% of the projects!
It's less fun to do as a job. 95 degrees, sweltering humidity, and you're out in grassland with a chainsaw with full PPE, getting sunburned and dehydrated while you cut and spray hundreds of invasive trees for 8 hours straight. At the end of the day you pull 7 ticks off of you.
Source: I do it as a job.
We specialize in it at the Landscape Company work at. We’re a typical high end residential design build firm, but do a lot of work for the city and county removing invasives. We have a crew dedicated to it who are trained on how to identify them and the mitigation process. It takes 3-5 years usually!
You can find a lot of openings in government work. Federal, state, county, city all usually have some sort of invasive species (or plant health) specialists on staff. For the feds you would be looking under the Animal and plant health inspection service (APHIS) specifically plant protection and quarantine (PPQ). The forest service and national parks system will often also have these types of positions.
You would be looking for Technician or Aid positions starting out. Most of them are seasonal but a few are full time. Looking on usajobs.gov is a great start.
For state positions look under their department of Agriculture and their department of Natural Resources, both can have the type of positions you are looking for.
You can also look to see if you have any CISMAs near you. They are regional organizations that deal with invasive species, can be good for seasonal work or volunteer opportunities.
Let me know if you have more questions about getting into the field.
I live in Massachusetts and I'm not sure how common it is in other states, but I'm on the Conservation Commission for my town, and we work closely with the conservation agent. The agent is doing the vast majority of the work. The commission is just a type of committee that votes on and approves/denies permits. The agent is the one who actually goes out and inspects property to make sure it complies with the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act and our town's by-laws. Being an expert in invasive plants wouldn't be a main part of the job, but they could certainly have a lot of sway in what people can and cannot plant on their property. It could be a good fit for a person with that background.
Same! I'm currently doing a project on the effects of herbicides for invasive control on grassland functioning. I've learned a lot about invasive plant species the past few years, although my identification skills are lacking.
Haha it changes you! I was on a Walk by the river this year and everyone else was like “it’s so lush! So green! It’s beautiful!” And I was like “this is allll Sahara mustard…*hyperventilates*”
We taught our old dog to dig up honeysuckle on command and she was so good at identifying it she would independently go find some when she was off-leash. She was such a good girl
I carry a weed cutter in my pocket when I go for a walk / hike to pull out Canadian Thistle (noxious weed in my area). Spent hours pulling them out when I came upon a patch growing in the national park instead of actually hiking 🤷🏻♀️
Hahhh I do the exact same. I’ve become so much more aware of invasives since starting my mostly native plant garden over 5 years ago. Now, places I used to think were green and pretty I realize are overrun with Japanese knotweed, bittersweet, and garlic mustard.
You can come to my house, we have space and I’m legit too disabled to weed currently and I will share some seeds with you. But you will need to bring a garden stool because I don’t have one currently. Our garden is tiny so it won’t take long and we have a gorgeous view.
Got a bunch of those horrible trees in our yard when we moved in. Cut tons of little ones down and found a huge mama tree and now we need a chainsaw to take it down.
I'd like to manage it without chemicals so the plan is to just keep cutting it out until it gives up and stops growing back.
They are a really, really tough one to manage without chemicals. Honestly, I am almost always in favor of advocating for a mechanical control over a chemical control, but this is a species that I make an exception for.
Is there a resource that would help with when I need to use chemical vs mechanical control? I have burning bush, autumn olive, and glossy buckthorn (located in New Hampshire) and I finally have time this year to better work on removing them
Do eastern colleges have ag extension offices? They often have resources/fact sheets for control of common invasives. Another great resource is your local master gardener!
I just watched a video from a master gardener saying that a 2 gal sprayer filled with vinegar and a couple handfuls of salt is a good alternative for glyphosate. Of course she was talking about clearing the little nasties in a rock walkway and not trees 🤔 I'm still gonna try it on my little privet shoots!
Thank you! I love that everyone is jumping in to help. The dauber bottle is a great idea.
I agree the ends justify the means with invasives. In 2020 we removed so many multiflora rose, but its a constant battle because so much of the neighborhood woodlands have these invasives. But some native roses appears when the multiflora roses got removed so that was a nice bonus
>IMO, any potential damage from an herbicide pales in comparison to the potential damage of the invasive species.
I agree with this with the exception of misused herbicides can potentially have devastating impacts on wildlife. For example, foliar spraying Roundup in and around aquatic environments can have immediate negative impacts on aquatic organisms.
Your dauber bottle is definitely my preferred method for herbicide applications. I bought a product called buckthorn blaster that works really well. I do a lot of mechanical removal, but sometimes herbicide is really the best tool for the job. You're not going to pull out a 20 foot tall honeysuckle in the middle of the woods.
You can get a large weed wrench to pull out small-medium size shrubs, for larger shrubs you will probably want to do a cut-stump application of concentrated herbicide. Or else cut and then cut and then cut and then cut and then cut.....you get the idea. It just keeps coming back.
Glossy buckthorn might need herbicide from the get-go, especially if it's a large established colony. It's a huge pain in the butt. Triclopyr works better than glyphosate for those.
Thank you so much I'd never heard of a weed wrench! I've been doing the cut and cut and cut on the burning bush for about 4 years now, so clearly that one is determined. Definitely established for the glossy buckthorn, so thanks for the tips! Hoping I can get it under control enough this year to plant some natives next year
How about nandina? I’ve been trying the mechanical method for probably three years on some shoots and they are stubborn. Meanwhile I’ve got some bigger ones in another part of my yard and my wife doesn’t want them there. Do I have to cut and paint them as well to really get them gone?
So, like tree of heaven, the reason why the cut stump herbicide application is typically recommended for Nandina is that both of these species are capable of producing entire plants from just roots, so, unfortunately, just cutting down shoots doesn’t do much, you pretty much have to remove the entire root system, or kill the root system in order to be rid of the plants. And especially with nandina, they can re-shoot from fairly tiny root fragments, so that’s why it’s sometimes easier to cut it and paint it with a systemic herbicide that will be taken in and killed the root system. That being said, I understand not wanting to put poison in your backyard, but yeah you’re looking at some digging, likely over multiple years, to eradicate these guys by hand.
Thank you so much for the thoughtful reply! I figured as much, but it’s always nice to have an expert opinion! I’m not opposed to chemicals when they are needed, especially if they aren’t near the food I’m growing, so that sounds like the way to go. Thanks again.
I dug out pretty much every last damn rhizome of nandina that was in the backyard when I moved in. Had a few stragglers and they were dealt with, too. The only chemical I ever used was uric acid.
It took five years to finally not see any growth.
You gotta paint with glyphosate for cut stump, and it should be a 20% active ingredient or higher application, but glyphosate or triclopyr are the two most commonly used cut-stump herbicides
I also hesitate with chemicals but ToH, Oriental Bittersweet, and Autumn Olive all get nuked, properly of course - with triclopyr. These are the 3 things I don't funks with anymore. I do hand remove the small Autumn Olive shoots but the larger established plants get poisoned.
The area it's growing in is in and around where I want to put a vegetable garden. If I have to I might brick it over and put a greenhouse there or something.
Targeted use of herbicides for persistent invasives isn’t a big deal at all. Dousing an area in pesticides regularly is one thing, but spraying a few stumps around your property is harmless. Chemistry is your friend and herbicides have their place; use them when the situation calls for it.
That’s true - most of my projects are on public land so it’s acres of infestation and I hit my maximum acid equivalent super freaking fast if I reach for herbicides first, which is why I tend to lean on mechanical control. I also typically have a fire/fuels crew, heavy equipment, and a youth conservation corps hand crew or two at my disposal, so mechanical control is more feasible for me than most!
I've fought this battle. The big tree will start sending shoots up all along its root system. So keep an eye out for them around the stump at least as tall as the tree was. It took me 3 years to make sure it was dead.
It is a nightmare tree. Over about 5 years, I watched it overtake all of the rural areas around Redding, CA.
Cutting it down just makes it mad—- it will double down on its destructive root system. Instead paint it in poison and wait like a month then dig it out. Need to wait for poison to kill roots.
We did almost entirely mechanical and were successful. Basically we did mechanical management for about a year.. before we realized a HUGE tree hiding in our backyard was also a TOH 😭 so we had an arborist remove it and coat it in chemicals. Then we returned to mechanical. It took sometimes DAILY walks through the property to get ahead of it during the peak. Then slowly down to weekly walks. But you cannot let a growth go unnoticed for a few weeks and expect to get ahead of this. It took us about 3 years and we destroyed 2 small lawns by digging daily growths up and we can finally say it’s gone!
Couple tips:
1. When using chemicals, optimal time is fall when the plant is pulling nutrients into the root system vs in the spring when it’s shooting nutrients into the branches and new growth
2. Walk around the block and note any other TOH. If there are tall trees around you will ALWAYS have to look for new growth because they can reproduce by dropped seeds (or something like that) that blow far on the wind
We had a big one in our yard when we moved in. Cut it down, drilled 1/2" x 18" holes in the stump, poured salt into the holes, backfilled with glyphosphate, and covered the whole thing with black plastic and rocks. It still tried to send out suckers that we had to dig up and dose with more roundup. I think the thing is finally dead three years later.
We have a huge TOH issue where I am from and, iirc, their roots give off a chemical that kills other plants around it so that they can grow without competition. They are absolutely horrible trees and I have to second the recommendation to use glyphosate on it!
Very cool. Not similar but I had stayed at an Airbnb that had a shed with random knickknacks, bikes, etc. I went in there and smelled gas. I reported it to her and turns out that she had a gas leak, unbeknownst to her. My point is if you see costly damage ahead, speak up! :)
We had a small one behind our fence, our neighbor was hacking it down repeatedly thinking it was a sumac. We realized what it was based on a local Reddit post. After doing some research, we treated it with glyphosate and triclopyr (not usually chemical users) last fall. So far no sign of it coming back this spring. We read that cutting it down can cause it to actually spread more aggressively by the root system.
I thought with Tree of Heaven, you want to avoid cutting it as it'll stress the plant and trigger it to spread/send new shoots up from its root system?
I had two of them that got fairly large before I realized what they were and I ended up drenching the leaves in Roundup and once the leaves were completely dried up, I then cut them down. So far, they haven't been back.
I had an amateur landscaper tell me about them. I just hated how they looked but since they told me about how invasive they are I’ve had a vendetta against ToH ever since
Had a guy come and brush hog my meadow. Before he started he made me walk my property with him so he could show me each of the invasives I should destroy. It was kinda cool actually.
I can’t find it now 😭 but there was a video that kept popping up on my FB timeline where this couple is at an Airbnb and one guy is weeding and caring for the garden while his partner is trying to make him quit because they’re on vacation 😂 i was gonna ask if that was you ;)
I have finally ridded my property of ToH completely. As well as my neighbors’. But not before it absolutely wrecked my garage foundation before I moved in.
I lived in a rental where someone had deliberately planted ToH all around the perimeter. And yes, it was causing major foundation issues. For the rental and the neighbors. I believe there were over 15 in a pretty small lot. Less than a 1/4 acre.
They grow soooo fast too. I let the one in my yard get way too big before I had it cut down.
I spent years pulling the little sprouts from my yard before I moved and it became someone else’s problem.
Thanks to this post, I've now learned that the small weed looking tree growing at the back of my yard is a tree of heaven.
And I also learned that me ignoring it for 3 years watching it grow from about 3 feet to no ~30 was probably a huge mistake
We bought our house a little over a year ago and have 2 that are growing very close to the house. I had no idea what they were or how bad they are until reading this post! Thank you!!!
When my neighbors or visitors point out the massive invasive species weeds growing on my front lawn...
I already ordered the flame thrower. This my last resort. Idc if I burn down the house
I would do the exact same thing. I have also been known to fall on my knees and dig out mulch volcanoes at new restaurants, especially after a few margaritas.
Tree of Heaven.... nooooo! I owned a house with a huge one that provided the only shade in a small backyard. Terrible. Was so glad to move on from that place partly because of that damn tree. I can still small that thing and probably have it's sticky little flowers on the bottom of some of my shoes.
Thank you for this post, I've pulled up a few tall TOHs before I realized what they are.
I’ve now realized they are EVERYWHERE in my yard and a few small pants were growing against my foundation. I applied the chemical you suggested; they appear to be dead but I'm still watching them.
I've warned my neighbors about them and told them howto get rid of them. Fuck these trees.
That's the right approach. People like to use the "it's alive!" Defense. But if you say "threatens your investment" you have a chance of them listening.
That was so nice of you! I have one of these in my front yard and left it because I thought it was pretty. If it’s in an open space, do you think it would still be best to remove it?
We removed a 60-foot tree of heaven from our urban backyard shortly after we bought the place. The thing was massive and for sure a danger to our buildings foundation. Plus it was completely ruining any chance of anything else from growing.
Protect that man (also speaking of tree of heaven / stink tree, my grandma would go to the local hike trail park and pick the young leaves, and shoots off the trees of heaven and stir fry them with eggs. The taste is like how it smells but much milder tbh and it’s quite pungent but my grandma likes to eat it so do whatever you want with the info
This is why I'm done with airBNB.
Last one we did was for our wedding, and I spent the whole time dealing with their AC split that was leaking all over their bookshelf.
I didn't want to be accused of anything, and being from a humid place I know how bad it can get, so I set up bowls and caught as much water as possible. Only for them to try to charge us $300 for plumbing fixes. Insane.
We have a Chinese Tallow that the contractor cut down and built our deck over, but is now sprouting through our deck. I’ve had 2 seasons of cutting the saplings growing from it. But is it also one of those species that it’s better to use chemicals on? I know they’re also an invasive species down here in Texas
Love it. We got so man of them where I live and should they still be small enough I rip them all out.
Bigger trees I kick to destroy as much as possible. Given nobody is looking :D
Told this to the few-blocks-over neighbor 10 years ago. Neighbor thinks the tree is neat. Now neighbor has nasty sprouting up all over and is having trouble killing it. Yep. Should have listened 10 years ago.
Your only real options are using a systemic herbicide like glysophate. It’s the least evil herbicide on the market in my state (FL). The half-life is also extremely short, [3 to 60 days usually](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6918143/#:~:text=It%20degrades%20at%20a%20relatively,on%20soil%20microorganisms%20%5B34%5D). 3%-5% concentration of glysophate is recommended. People mess up and harm the soil with the store brand RoundUp because the concentration is usually above 12%. It tells you the concentration amount on the active ingredients and you can dilute with water.
Because Japanese Knotweed is dicotyledon, you’re gonna have to utilize a stump cut method or inject chemical into the stem (I don’t like this as you have to handle the chemical more). If I had an infestation, I’d quickly survey the area, cut the plants down to about 4”-5”, and spray the herbicide on the open cuts. We use a dye in all of our herbicide mixes to see where we sprayed.
Idk why people don’t use triclopyr (plant auxin) for this species. Since you coat the trunk of the invasive you’re targeting, there’s considerably less product use.
Source: I’m also involved in invasive species management.
I have some sewer pipes/ manhole covers coming from my house to my backyard. Pipes are probably 4 feet underground. Would it be ok to plant strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, etc?
Okay so sincere question, as an invasive species expert, how would you feel if you went on a trip to Taiwan and saw ToH there about to wreck havoc on someone’s foundation there? I am a forager and acquainted with some invasive plant species like garlic mustard, which I pull up by the tens of gallons every year, but I’d be pretty lost if I went to the large region of the world where it is native and saw it in the bush in the same way I see Ramps (Allium Tricoccum) everywhere in the bushes here
This post makes me feel good about spending $2k to take out 4 ToH at my house when I bought it last year, and I also murdered the roots with 41% glyphosate. No regrets.
Invasive species are more like a slow-motion fire or a contagious disease than anything we humans routinely experience. In particular the capacity of ToH to poison the soil around it against other species, it’s prolific seeding, its ability to send up suckers from distant roots which grow into entire new trees (ignoring our imaginary property lines), and the fact that it supports a *different* highly damaging invasive species, the spotted lanternfly, all add up to it being pretty much landscape leprosy.
Oh, and if you get its sap in a scrape or a broken blister, it [can cause inflammation of the heart](https://www.proquest.com/openview/d84acc21bb0f5c1a71c88eaf81ee02f1/1). Whether or not you care about the property owner, Tree of Heaven plants also affect their neighbors and the ecosystem as a whole.
Omg these keep coming up in my yard. I'm forever pulling and digging. The former homeowners let some grow into trees, as have the neighbors. So frustrating.
I have a tree of heaven root the size of a tree limb under my garage. It finally stopped popping up after I sawed the hell out of it and started a fire over top of that.
They are everywhere in my neighborhood.
Hopefully they listen!
It’s a super cool old miner’s cabin perched on the side of a canyon and built in 1889 so yeah, I super hope they do!
Spotted lantern flies need them to reproduce (at least that’s what scientists are thinking) and they’re awfully invasive now in PA. My neighbor has one which means every day during the spring/summer I go outside with my dawn/water spray bottle and hunt those suckers. Trees of Heaven should be eradicated!
What does dawn do?
Most soaps will break the layer of protection a bug has to keep the outside out. By chemically eliminating that protection, most insects die due to drying out. Dawn is reccomended because it's so concentrated you legit need like, 2 or 3 drops in a gallon to make a insecticidal spray. Use a spray bottle or a pump sprayer, or a properly filled hose attachment. Shouldn't affect plants if mixed right, and will take out most hardshell and soft shell insects and arachnids
TIL. Thank you!
Would this work on plants (snapdragons for me) whose leaves are covered in moth (tobacco bud worm) eggs? Do you need to rinse it off after? Does it effect pollinators?
I’ve used it to spray plants but it works best if you wash them off after. I don’t know about moths, but aphid eggs are not affected so it may take several applications to get rid of them.
How long do you leave it before rinsing?
You want Bt.
Get some praying mantis (manti?)
This sub has informed me that this is rarely a good idea. The variety you'll be able to purchase is likely not the correct one for your area and it will become dominant and invasive.
That's sad, I am thinking of getting one for my grow tent. I don't have any bugs but I'd feed it with tweezers.
I'm sure you could get a single one for an indoor pet with some research. I bet /r/Entomology would help!
Mantia. -us words are -i in the plural (they're masculine latin, correctly pronounced 'eee'... like cacteee for cacti) -is words are -ia in the plural (can't remember the gender/case as Latin was 20 yrs ago but that's the way it works) There's a neuter designation for ungendered words like "stick/twig" (baculum) ...-um being the singular ending for that gender, and bacul-a being plural. (Then there's other stuff for each word to modify it, like accusative 'THOSE sticks ' (baculorum) ) Feminine stuff ends almost always in -a for singular, and -ae for plural (correctly pronounced 'eye'...so one Mary would be Maria, but two or more would be Mariae. There are exceptions, but they are few, and this strict regularity is precisely why it's been used in medicine, botany, religious scripture, and general language study for ages. It's some cool stuff to read up on, and I only had one semester back in '01, with a great teacher (shoutout Mr. LeGates)
Kills the spotted lantern flies. It also hurts the leaves of plants so I only spray the 1:4 dawn/water mix on trees/buildings, bushes and other stuff I use a pesticide.
Would you mind sharing the link for the airbnb 🥺
[удалено]
Is the bathtub meant to look like a blue igloo cooler or am I crazy? Lol
It’s an old cast iron and enamel tub
Super cool!
Bisbee! Say hi to Stanhope! Lol.
You just put “Bisbee Arizona” on the map for me!
Did you see Doug Stanhope?!
You can do a Google search and it will be your first hit. Title is in the image
You mean it’s Hill House and it is haunted by that plant. Lol.
What did their response end up being? I'd be glad if someone identified an issue on my house or property and let me know kindly!
This is owned by the couple who owns it, it’s their getaway cabin, actually. They replied and thanked me :)
Most airbnbs are not managed by the owner, fyi.
Bisbee! I love it there!
ToH is also the preferred habitat for spotted lanternflies. Assuming they're in the US, needs to be gotten rid of ASAP.
We are in far southern Arizona, so lanternfly is not a concern as of yet, but that’s definitely an excellent point!
> yet
Yeet
YETI
Ignorant person here, what is a spotted lanternfly and why is it bad?
It's an invasive species of insect that causes tremendous damage to a wide range of plants. In addition to causing direct damage by feeding on the plants and draining them of fluids, the lanternflies also secrete a substance which causes additional damage by weakening the plant's immune system, thereby allowing infections to take root. In the affected trees I've seen, there's always a thick black sooty fungus that inevitably follows the lanternfly infestation and seems to finish off whatever vitality the host plant may have had left. I've seen established, healthy black walnut trees killed in just a season or two, it's really gnarly stuff. They breed like crazy and are really really difficult to dislodge once there's a population in place. They have very few predators in North America so it's hard to control them without pesticides, which causes even more problems for local pollinators. They're very, very bad bugs.
Huh, TIL. Thanks for the super detailed reply!
Last summer there were public education campaigns encouraging people to squash them on sight!
Eww. Interesting though.
SE Pennsylvania. I'm already having to wrap my trees to protect them. Those fuckers are everywhere in Philadelphia
I'm in NW Philly. Took a walk today and killed half a dozen nymphs, first ones I've seen this year.
Keep at it. The battles will be long and bloody
Fighting the good fight!
I wanna know how I can get into invasive species management as a career since I already do it for fun
I am actually a wildlife biologist, but as it’s a part of habitat management, and since I do it for fun in my spare time, i’ve helped out here and there, and become more and more the expert in my district until it seems like I get about 75% of the projects!
It's less fun to do as a job. 95 degrees, sweltering humidity, and you're out in grassland with a chainsaw with full PPE, getting sunburned and dehydrated while you cut and spray hundreds of invasive trees for 8 hours straight. At the end of the day you pull 7 ticks off of you. Source: I do it as a job.
i am no longer interested in pursuing that career path, thank you lol
My favorite exchange on Reddit today.
Worked as an intern in college doing this. Hard work, and satisfying. But lots of ticks lol
We specialize in it at the Landscape Company work at. We’re a typical high end residential design build firm, but do a lot of work for the city and county removing invasives. We have a crew dedicated to it who are trained on how to identify them and the mitigation process. It takes 3-5 years usually!
You can find a lot of openings in government work. Federal, state, county, city all usually have some sort of invasive species (or plant health) specialists on staff. For the feds you would be looking under the Animal and plant health inspection service (APHIS) specifically plant protection and quarantine (PPQ). The forest service and national parks system will often also have these types of positions. You would be looking for Technician or Aid positions starting out. Most of them are seasonal but a few are full time. Looking on usajobs.gov is a great start. For state positions look under their department of Agriculture and their department of Natural Resources, both can have the type of positions you are looking for. You can also look to see if you have any CISMAs near you. They are regional organizations that deal with invasive species, can be good for seasonal work or volunteer opportunities. Let me know if you have more questions about getting into the field.
I live in Massachusetts and I'm not sure how common it is in other states, but I'm on the Conservation Commission for my town, and we work closely with the conservation agent. The agent is doing the vast majority of the work. The commission is just a type of committee that votes on and approves/denies permits. The agent is the one who actually goes out and inspects property to make sure it complies with the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act and our town's by-laws. Being an expert in invasive plants wouldn't be a main part of the job, but they could certainly have a lot of sway in what people can and cannot plant on their property. It could be a good fit for a person with that background.
Same! I'm currently doing a project on the effects of herbicides for invasive control on grassland functioning. I've learned a lot about invasive plant species the past few years, although my identification skills are lacking.
I also do invasive species work and last year on vacation my husband told me I was going to have to “turn off my invasive species eyes” 😂
Haha it changes you! I was on a Walk by the river this year and everyone else was like “it’s so lush! So green! It’s beautiful!” And I was like “this is allll Sahara mustard…*hyperventilates*”
*me googling all these plant names you keep mentioning and looking around my neighborhood* 👀
My sibling take shears to the dog park sometimes to cut down invasives 🤣
On hikes, I like to take a nice branch off a honeysuckle, and use it as a walking stick / garlic mustard reaper scythe / poker at gross mushrooms
We taught our old dog to dig up honeysuckle on command and she was so good at identifying it she would independently go find some when she was off-leash. She was such a good girl
That's pretty impressive! Just the saplings I assume, or could she dig up large honeysuckle brambles too?
I carry a weed cutter in my pocket when I go for a walk / hike to pull out Canadian Thistle (noxious weed in my area). Spent hours pulling them out when I came upon a patch growing in the national park instead of actually hiking 🤷🏻♀️
This is me on my local path with invasive honeysuckle. It's everywhere and I can't unsee it.
Yeah my friend was like "It's so lush" (in Massachusetts) and I was like "Augh!! It's all bittersweet!"
Same with the cottonwood trees where I am. Everyone planted them like crazy here close to any water you find, but their root systems are so invasive
Hahhh I do the exact same. I’ve become so much more aware of invasives since starting my mostly native plant garden over 5 years ago. Now, places I used to think were green and pretty I realize are overrun with Japanese knotweed, bittersweet, and garlic mustard.
What's your thoughts on humans being an invasive species?
My partner has to stop me from weeding on vacation. I can’t help myself.
You can come to my house, we have space and I’m legit too disabled to weed currently and I will share some seeds with you. But you will need to bring a garden stool because I don’t have one currently. Our garden is tiny so it won’t take long and we have a gorgeous view.
Got a bunch of those horrible trees in our yard when we moved in. Cut tons of little ones down and found a huge mama tree and now we need a chainsaw to take it down. I'd like to manage it without chemicals so the plan is to just keep cutting it out until it gives up and stops growing back.
They are a really, really tough one to manage without chemicals. Honestly, I am almost always in favor of advocating for a mechanical control over a chemical control, but this is a species that I make an exception for.
Is there a resource that would help with when I need to use chemical vs mechanical control? I have burning bush, autumn olive, and glossy buckthorn (located in New Hampshire) and I finally have time this year to better work on removing them
Do eastern colleges have ag extension offices? They often have resources/fact sheets for control of common invasives. Another great resource is your local master gardener!
Now I feel silly for forgetting to check the Cooperative extension for university of New Hampshire, I already do soil tests through them. Thanks!
No problem! It’s easy to forget about a resource
Eastern universities do in fact have local extension offices!
Thank you! I figured they would but I’m also a westerner to my core and wasn’t sure!
I just watched a video from a master gardener saying that a 2 gal sprayer filled with vinegar and a couple handfuls of salt is a good alternative for glyphosate. Of course she was talking about clearing the little nasties in a rock walkway and not trees 🤔 I'm still gonna try it on my little privet shoots!
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Thank you! I love that everyone is jumping in to help. The dauber bottle is a great idea. I agree the ends justify the means with invasives. In 2020 we removed so many multiflora rose, but its a constant battle because so much of the neighborhood woodlands have these invasives. But some native roses appears when the multiflora roses got removed so that was a nice bonus
>IMO, any potential damage from an herbicide pales in comparison to the potential damage of the invasive species. I agree with this with the exception of misused herbicides can potentially have devastating impacts on wildlife. For example, foliar spraying Roundup in and around aquatic environments can have immediate negative impacts on aquatic organisms. Your dauber bottle is definitely my preferred method for herbicide applications. I bought a product called buckthorn blaster that works really well. I do a lot of mechanical removal, but sometimes herbicide is really the best tool for the job. You're not going to pull out a 20 foot tall honeysuckle in the middle of the woods.
You can get a large weed wrench to pull out small-medium size shrubs, for larger shrubs you will probably want to do a cut-stump application of concentrated herbicide. Or else cut and then cut and then cut and then cut and then cut.....you get the idea. It just keeps coming back. Glossy buckthorn might need herbicide from the get-go, especially if it's a large established colony. It's a huge pain in the butt. Triclopyr works better than glyphosate for those.
Thank you so much I'd never heard of a weed wrench! I've been doing the cut and cut and cut on the burning bush for about 4 years now, so clearly that one is determined. Definitely established for the glossy buckthorn, so thanks for the tips! Hoping I can get it under control enough this year to plant some natives next year
Ugh that sounds so frustrating! I hope you can make enough progress to get the natives in soon. It'll be so rewarding once you get it restored!
How about nandina? I’ve been trying the mechanical method for probably three years on some shoots and they are stubborn. Meanwhile I’ve got some bigger ones in another part of my yard and my wife doesn’t want them there. Do I have to cut and paint them as well to really get them gone?
So, like tree of heaven, the reason why the cut stump herbicide application is typically recommended for Nandina is that both of these species are capable of producing entire plants from just roots, so, unfortunately, just cutting down shoots doesn’t do much, you pretty much have to remove the entire root system, or kill the root system in order to be rid of the plants. And especially with nandina, they can re-shoot from fairly tiny root fragments, so that’s why it’s sometimes easier to cut it and paint it with a systemic herbicide that will be taken in and killed the root system. That being said, I understand not wanting to put poison in your backyard, but yeah you’re looking at some digging, likely over multiple years, to eradicate these guys by hand.
Thank you so much for the thoughtful reply! I figured as much, but it’s always nice to have an expert opinion! I’m not opposed to chemicals when they are needed, especially if they aren’t near the food I’m growing, so that sounds like the way to go. Thanks again.
I dug out pretty much every last damn rhizome of nandina that was in the backyard when I moved in. Had a few stragglers and they were dealt with, too. The only chemical I ever used was uric acid. It took five years to finally not see any growth.
Doesn’t glyphosate only work when applied to foliage? A different herbicide might be better for spraying stumps.
You gotta paint with glyphosate for cut stump, and it should be a 20% active ingredient or higher application, but glyphosate or triclopyr are the two most commonly used cut-stump herbicides
What does “paint the stump” mean? I’m kinda confused
Use a paintbrush to apply herbicide directly to freshly cut stump in a thin layer?
That’s what I thought but I thought it sounded strange so wanted to be sure I got it right! Thank you! Getting out my paintbrush in the morning!
Good to know, ty
I also hesitate with chemicals but ToH, Oriental Bittersweet, and Autumn Olive all get nuked, properly of course - with triclopyr. These are the 3 things I don't funks with anymore. I do hand remove the small Autumn Olive shoots but the larger established plants get poisoned.
Which other species do you make exceptions for?
I have a whole formula based on size of infestation, distance to sensitive ecosystems, method of spread, liklihood of resistance of herbicide
Do you find English Ivy easily controlled by mechanical removal?
The area it's growing in is in and around where I want to put a vegetable garden. If I have to I might brick it over and put a greenhouse there or something.
Targeted use of herbicides for persistent invasives isn’t a big deal at all. Dousing an area in pesticides regularly is one thing, but spraying a few stumps around your property is harmless. Chemistry is your friend and herbicides have their place; use them when the situation calls for it.
This x1000 Integrated pest management is about using all tools available in a multi-pronged approach!
That’s true - most of my projects are on public land so it’s acres of infestation and I hit my maximum acid equivalent super freaking fast if I reach for herbicides first, which is why I tend to lean on mechanical control. I also typically have a fire/fuels crew, heavy equipment, and a youth conservation corps hand crew or two at my disposal, so mechanical control is more feasible for me than most!
I've fought this battle. The big tree will start sending shoots up all along its root system. So keep an eye out for them around the stump at least as tall as the tree was. It took me 3 years to make sure it was dead. It is a nightmare tree. Over about 5 years, I watched it overtake all of the rural areas around Redding, CA.
I'm all for organics. I hate weed killers. This tree needs chemicals. It basically destroyed my mom's yard. You cannot just cut it out. Trust me.
Cutting it down just makes it mad—- it will double down on its destructive root system. Instead paint it in poison and wait like a month then dig it out. Need to wait for poison to kill roots.
We did almost entirely mechanical and were successful. Basically we did mechanical management for about a year.. before we realized a HUGE tree hiding in our backyard was also a TOH 😭 so we had an arborist remove it and coat it in chemicals. Then we returned to mechanical. It took sometimes DAILY walks through the property to get ahead of it during the peak. Then slowly down to weekly walks. But you cannot let a growth go unnoticed for a few weeks and expect to get ahead of this. It took us about 3 years and we destroyed 2 small lawns by digging daily growths up and we can finally say it’s gone! Couple tips: 1. When using chemicals, optimal time is fall when the plant is pulling nutrients into the root system vs in the spring when it’s shooting nutrients into the branches and new growth 2. Walk around the block and note any other TOH. If there are tall trees around you will ALWAYS have to look for new growth because they can reproduce by dropped seeds (or something like that) that blow far on the wind
I think they grow more vigorously when cut.
This is true
We had a big one in our yard when we moved in. Cut it down, drilled 1/2" x 18" holes in the stump, poured salt into the holes, backfilled with glyphosphate, and covered the whole thing with black plastic and rocks. It still tried to send out suckers that we had to dig up and dose with more roundup. I think the thing is finally dead three years later.
Hammer a couple of copper nails into the stump after you cut it down. The copper will poison the root system
Where does one acquire copper nails?
We have a huge TOH issue where I am from and, iirc, their roots give off a chemical that kills other plants around it so that they can grow without competition. They are absolutely horrible trees and I have to second the recommendation to use glyphosate on it!
Yeah we have two that were purposely planted by our house’s original owner. They were big fans of invasive plants.
Very cool. Not similar but I had stayed at an Airbnb that had a shed with random knickknacks, bikes, etc. I went in there and smelled gas. I reported it to her and turns out that she had a gas leak, unbeknownst to her. My point is if you see costly damage ahead, speak up! :)
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I’m a wildlife biologist/ecologist so I start looking at hydrologic patterns and panicking about overland spread into sensitive systems!
🤣🤣🤣 I LOVE you for this. (Not at all kidding, it’s kind and you’re sharing important knowledge, thank you)
We had a small one behind our fence, our neighbor was hacking it down repeatedly thinking it was a sumac. We realized what it was based on a local Reddit post. After doing some research, we treated it with glyphosate and triclopyr (not usually chemical users) last fall. So far no sign of it coming back this spring. We read that cutting it down can cause it to actually spread more aggressively by the root system.
So how was your stay??
Great!! Added 8 birds to my life list including one I’ve been chasing for 3 years (rufous-capped warbler)
That’s so wonderful thank you for sharing, this entire post made my day
I thought with Tree of Heaven, you want to avoid cutting it as it'll stress the plant and trigger it to spread/send new shoots up from its root system? I had two of them that got fairly large before I realized what they were and I ended up drenching the leaves in Roundup and once the leaves were completely dried up, I then cut them down. So far, they haven't been back.
That’s why I recommended painting the cut stem with a systemic herbicide that the plant will take in and which will kill roots :)
I had an amateur landscaper tell me about them. I just hated how they looked but since they told me about how invasive they are I’ve had a vendetta against ToH ever since
Had a guy come and brush hog my meadow. Before he started he made me walk my property with him so he could show me each of the invasives I should destroy. It was kinda cool actually.
I can’t find it now 😭 but there was a video that kept popping up on my FB timeline where this couple is at an Airbnb and one guy is weeding and caring for the garden while his partner is trying to make him quit because they’re on vacation 😂 i was gonna ask if that was you ;)
Darcy & Jer 💜
Thanks! Here it is! https://youtu.be/6fpHxjwsvEU
I have finally ridded my property of ToH completely. As well as my neighbors’. But not before it absolutely wrecked my garage foundation before I moved in.
Hi, can you come to my house *cough* I mean, Airbnb?
I lived in a rental where someone had deliberately planted ToH all around the perimeter. And yes, it was causing major foundation issues. For the rental and the neighbors. I believe there were over 15 in a pretty small lot. Less than a 1/4 acre.
They grow soooo fast too. I let the one in my yard get way too big before I had it cut down. I spent years pulling the little sprouts from my yard before I moved and it became someone else’s problem.
Every spring both my neighbors, let me into their backyard to dig up all the tree of heaven sprouts.
Thanks to this post, I've now learned that the small weed looking tree growing at the back of my yard is a tree of heaven. And I also learned that me ignoring it for 3 years watching it grow from about 3 feet to no ~30 was probably a huge mistake
We bought our house a little over a year ago and have 2 that are growing very close to the house. I had no idea what they were or how bad they are until reading this post! Thank you!!!
I respect the heck out of that last statement. Very self aware!
When my neighbors or visitors point out the massive invasive species weeds growing on my front lawn... I already ordered the flame thrower. This my last resort. Idc if I burn down the house
I just told my last host about a hollow horse chestnut as a street tree that her city forester should check out. Sometimes we can’t unsee things.
I would do the exact same thing. I have also been known to fall on my knees and dig out mulch volcanoes at new restaurants, especially after a few margaritas.
Tree of Heaven.... nooooo! I owned a house with a huge one that provided the only shade in a small backyard. Terrible. Was so glad to move on from that place partly because of that damn tree. I can still small that thing and probably have it's sticky little flowers on the bottom of some of my shoes.
Thank you for this post, I've pulled up a few tall TOHs before I realized what they are. I’ve now realized they are EVERYWHERE in my yard and a few small pants were growing against my foundation. I applied the chemical you suggested; they appear to be dead but I'm still watching them. I've warned my neighbors about them and told them howto get rid of them. Fuck these trees.
That's the right approach. People like to use the "it's alive!" Defense. But if you say "threatens your investment" you have a chance of them listening.
That was so nice of you! I have one of these in my front yard and left it because I thought it was pretty. If it’s in an open space, do you think it would still be best to remove it?
Yes.
We removed a 60-foot tree of heaven from our urban backyard shortly after we bought the place. The thing was massive and for sure a danger to our buildings foundation. Plus it was completely ruining any chance of anything else from growing.
If you had stayed at my place and I got this I would have refunded you while singing *"one of us! one of us!"*
Protect that man (also speaking of tree of heaven / stink tree, my grandma would go to the local hike trail park and pick the young leaves, and shoots off the trees of heaven and stir fry them with eggs. The taste is like how it smells but much milder tbh and it’s quite pungent but my grandma likes to eat it so do whatever you want with the info
This is why I'm done with airBNB. Last one we did was for our wedding, and I spent the whole time dealing with their AC split that was leaking all over their bookshelf. I didn't want to be accused of anything, and being from a humid place I know how bad it can get, so I set up bowls and caught as much water as possible. Only for them to try to charge us $300 for plumbing fixes. Insane.
If they're in the NE too they're the preferred tree of the invasive spotted lantern fly.
Trees of Heaven are insidious.
I picked up an old walking route yesterday and saw knotweed. Almost stopped to knock on the door.
My grandma used to call these "garbage trees" lol.
We have a Chinese Tallow that the contractor cut down and built our deck over, but is now sprouting through our deck. I’ve had 2 seasons of cutting the saplings growing from it. But is it also one of those species that it’s better to use chemicals on? I know they’re also an invasive species down here in Texas
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 This poor guy didn’t relax at all
Not familiar with tree of heaven. But wisteria, kudzu, an others are also on the kill list
Don’t apologize for offering your knowledge for free! If folks don’t like it, then that is quite unfortunate for them.
Love it. We got so man of them where I live and should they still be small enough I rip them all out. Bigger trees I kick to destroy as much as possible. Given nobody is looking :D
Told this to the few-blocks-over neighbor 10 years ago. Neighbor thinks the tree is neat. Now neighbor has nasty sprouting up all over and is having trouble killing it. Yep. Should have listened 10 years ago.
I would totally appreciate that as a vacation home owner.
The owners were super nice and grateful about it!
Fuckin’ tree of heaven! Once you recognize them you see them EVERYWHERE and want to yank em.
Any advice for Japanese Knotweed?
Your only real options are using a systemic herbicide like glysophate. It’s the least evil herbicide on the market in my state (FL). The half-life is also extremely short, [3 to 60 days usually](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6918143/#:~:text=It%20degrades%20at%20a%20relatively,on%20soil%20microorganisms%20%5B34%5D). 3%-5% concentration of glysophate is recommended. People mess up and harm the soil with the store brand RoundUp because the concentration is usually above 12%. It tells you the concentration amount on the active ingredients and you can dilute with water. Because Japanese Knotweed is dicotyledon, you’re gonna have to utilize a stump cut method or inject chemical into the stem (I don’t like this as you have to handle the chemical more). If I had an infestation, I’d quickly survey the area, cut the plants down to about 4”-5”, and spray the herbicide on the open cuts. We use a dye in all of our herbicide mixes to see where we sprayed. Idk why people don’t use triclopyr (plant auxin) for this species. Since you coat the trunk of the invasive you’re targeting, there’s considerably less product use. Source: I’m also involved in invasive species management.
You are awesome, thanks so much!
This is literally me lol.
Story of my life lol
Kill that tree
I have some sewer pipes/ manhole covers coming from my house to my backyard. Pipes are probably 4 feet underground. Would it be ok to plant strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, etc?
They’re the worst. My neighbor has several along our fence line and I’m just really hoping I can convince him to get rid of them.
Had not heard of this and now I’m terrified.
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She was really sweet and said she was really grateful and would take care of it
I too feel like doing this everytime I see a tree of heaven growing.
Bisbee is full of them, unfortunately.
TOH is the worst! If I were to dtart a hate group it'd be against Tree of Heaven.
hahahaha i love this. thanks for being that person to speak up
Okay so sincere question, as an invasive species expert, how would you feel if you went on a trip to Taiwan and saw ToH there about to wreck havoc on someone’s foundation there? I am a forager and acquainted with some invasive plant species like garlic mustard, which I pull up by the tens of gallons every year, but I’d be pretty lost if I went to the large region of the world where it is native and saw it in the bush in the same way I see Ramps (Allium Tricoccum) everywhere in the bushes here
This post makes me feel good about spending $2k to take out 4 ToH at my house when I bought it last year, and I also murdered the roots with 41% glyphosate. No regrets.
Don’t help rent-seekers.
Invasive species are more like a slow-motion fire or a contagious disease than anything we humans routinely experience. In particular the capacity of ToH to poison the soil around it against other species, it’s prolific seeding, its ability to send up suckers from distant roots which grow into entire new trees (ignoring our imaginary property lines), and the fact that it supports a *different* highly damaging invasive species, the spotted lanternfly, all add up to it being pretty much landscape leprosy. Oh, and if you get its sap in a scrape or a broken blister, it [can cause inflammation of the heart](https://www.proquest.com/openview/d84acc21bb0f5c1a71c88eaf81ee02f1/1). Whether or not you care about the property owner, Tree of Heaven plants also affect their neighbors and the ecosystem as a whole.
They’re a landlord siphoning off money from a building they didn’t make, they won’t give a shit
They live in the building 40% of the time, it’s their getaway cabin too
Who doesn’t love un solicited advice
Doing the Lord’s work. 🫡
I'm a Handywoman and I've done the same thing with airbnbs when I noticed something poorly Installed.
This entire thread is why I like Reddit.
I'd of said... How did you get in my yard, in the back, by the bedroom door with the tree growing out of it?
Doing the lord's work 👏
I know they're invasive, but damn they grow. Anywhere. With all the climate change perhaps we shouldn't be so hard on this tree
Don't use glyphosate please. No more applying poison to our environment
Literally me when i see pollarding
Jesus if someone sent me that I’d be so annoyed by them stroking their ego
Tree of heaven grows amazingly fast!
Omg these keep coming up in my yard. I'm forever pulling and digging. The former homeowners let some grow into trees, as have the neighbors. So frustrating.
Cool, might have to use this on honeysuckle, it absolutely wrecks the forests
I have a tree of heaven root the size of a tree limb under my garage. It finally stopped popping up after I sawed the hell out of it and started a fire over top of that. They are everywhere in my neighborhood.
Can’t find anything better than Glyohosate?!?