Standard Practices
- Ensure you have properly identified an invasive species before removing. Use Maine DACF fact sheets, field guides, or smart phone apps such as Seek.
- Fruits and flowers should always be bagged
- Toss woody stems and branches off of trails, riparian zones, streams, and sensitive habitats.
Effective tools: Use loppers, clippers, hand saw, axe, pick axe, pick mattock, spade shovel.
Other supplies includes work gloves, eye protection, black bags/leaf & litter bags, Buckthorn Baggies.
Identification & Control Methods
Asiatic Bittersweet
Celastrus orbiculatus
- Climbing vine can grow 50 feet long
- Fruits have yellow seed covers with reddish orange inner berries
- Flowers are 5-petaled and greenish yellow
- Leaves are teardrop shaped and serrated
Control methods:
- Window cut for large vines– make a cut on the stem at chest height and another at ankle height
- Smaller vines– persistent cutting and digging up roots- 6x/yr for 3 yrs
Morrow’s honeysuckle
Lonicera morrowii
- Can grow up to 10 feet tall and wide
- Red berries
- White flowers
- Leaves are egg shaped or oval shaped and edges are not serrated
Control methods:
- Persistent cutting or burning of the root crown/digging up roots
- Will need to get entire stump out of soil or cover with black bag
Japanese Knotweed
Fallopia japonica
- Base of leaf is heart shaped
- Can grow up to 12 feet tall
- Pithy/hollow stalk, like bamboo
- Small white flowers arranged in spikes along the stem
Control methods:
- Remove by chopping at ground level with loppers or axe
- For vast areas– you can pile the cut stalks on top of live ones and slowly cut off from sun exposure
- Smother with tarps or landscaping cloth
Multiflora Rose
Rosa multiflora
- Leaves are serrated and small, only 1 inch long
- Flowers are small (1 inch wide), white, and clustered on twig tips
- Shrub but can grow up to 20 feet tall
Control methods:
- Persistent cutting and digging up roots is necessary
- Can be mowed or grazed by sheep and goats
Glossy Buckthorn
Frangula alnus
- Glossy leaves are 2 to 4 inches long
- Berries are green, red, or purple-black
- Single stemmed tree can each 20 feet in height
Control methods:
- Persistent cutting or burning of the root crown, and digging up roots
- Will need to get entire stump out of soil or cover with black bag (Buckthorn Baggy is recommended)
Japanese Barberry
Berberis thunbergii
- This shrub can be up to 6 feet wide and tall
- Very sharp and long spines along stem
- Leaves are small (1 inch) with a smooth edge and turn red in fall
- Oblong red berries appear in the late summer
Control methods:
- Pull up small plants with root attached if possible
- Mowing and fire may also be used
- Wear gloves when removing!
Want to learn in the field? Volunteer!
Email Abby to learn more about volunteering to remove invasives.