Shrub ID?

[Cabin Fever]

An area by my stand is loaded with a common shrub that I would like to identify. I barely passed Botany in school, so I could use some help with identifying it! If the deer don't browse on it, I plan to thin it out, to improve visibility in the area. The shrub is very light colored and almost appears white. It's got a shallow root system and I can pull some of it out without much effort. Is it honeysuckle?

[ncountry]

Looks like honeysuckle from here..

Funny how things grow in cycles.

The old horse pasture on our farm when I was a kid had groves of sumac. That has slowly died out over the last 20 years and is now mostly honeysuckle. 

[covert]

Yep. And it will eventually fill in everything if you don't stay on top of it. I have a piece of old pasture about 6 acres that was left alone for about 5 years and it filled completely in with honeysuckle and buck brush. Took me two winters of solid work to get it cleaned out to where we can use it again.

[johnplav]

Yep... that crap is invasive honeysuckle.  @G-Man and I were just talking about it.  Kill it!

[G-Man]

Yes honeysuckle,  easiest way to get rid of it is to hit with 4% gly in early spring as it is the 1st to leaf out. A hand sprayer works well or a backpack or atv sprayer if you have one.  ( this is also best way to kill off multiflora rose as well)

You can. Pull it but that tens to disturb soil and its seeds that are dormant will then grow. 

If you notice in bills video above they are only green in woods, gly will kill it and leave skeleton , those will be crushed down by snow and creatures in a year or two.

This video is labor intensive ,i prefer less labor. If you want the dead skeletons removed or curshed down after killing by round up simply run over them with atv,tractor or bush hog. At that point roots are dead . Any new growth noticed can simply be hit with gly again. 

Edited January 3, 2021 by G-Man

[Cabin Fever]

Good and helpful info! Thank you all! This will be a project for me this winter and spring!


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[Farflung]

probably one of my least favorite plants. We have several different species of exotic, invasive bush honeysuckles, but most of them are Tatarian Honeysuckle or Amur Honeysuckle. Doesn't matter, as they are all a problem. Two biggest problems is their having their berries disseminated by birds and deer not eating the foliage.

The spread by birds is nothing that we can do anything about. And the seeds remain viable in/on the ground for 2 or more years. So even if we kill the existing bushes, we usually need to retreat with roundup  spray the following years. 

the deer not only seldom eat the foliage and buds, but by eating other shrubs, they are basically "weeding around" the honeysuckle which allows it to form heavy thickets. And they are fairly shade tolerant, which is another advantage they have over many more desirable shrubs and herbs. Basically you can get a forest stand that looks like it has a desireable shrub layer, but it is a food desert for deer.

I usually spray the foliage as it is easier. Larger plants need to have all sides sprayed, as you can kill some of the bush, but it comes back in subsequent years. I usually only cut shrubs when I am creating/maintaining shooting lanes and trails.