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Japanese Honeysuckles

By: Suri Zheng

Honeysuckle Weed Control - Tips For Managing Honeysuckle Weeds

This plant species, Lonicera japonica or Japanese honeysuckle, is an invasive species that harm its surrounding environment. Japanese Honeysuckles originated from Japan and East China and were brought over to the United States for soil control in the 1800s, however, scientists quickly realized that there were much better plant options for that. 

Japanese honeysuckle grows in vine-like formations that can reach up to 30 feet in length and their roots can uproot nearby plants. These honeysuckles have leaves that can grow up to 8 centimeters and white flowers and grow in pairs, once ready, they can also grow black round berries containing a few seeds.

Japanese honeysuckle damages forest communities by covering light sources from native plants and belowground resources and changing forest structure. These vines can grow around small trees and shrubs and completely block their sunlight. As more and more of these plants mature they can form a thick blanket covering any plants and shrubs under it. So these plants can influence the other native plants by blocking all the nutrients thus leading to some species collapsing. 

This type of invasive species can basically grow anywhere with soil on roadsides, open banks, old fields, forest edges, and managed forests. This species can reside in any soil conditions, especially in disturbed bottomlands and floodplains, they invade native plants after human disturbances such as windthrow, insect outbreaks, road building, and logging.

Japanese honeysuckles can harm native species but there is also an easy way to deal with these plants. The first way is always to hand pull them from the ground leaving them unable to regrow, prescribed fires also work in small areas where there are these plants to burn away tiny patches of them leading to slower growth. Another way is by using chemicals, a chemical called glyphosate herbicide can be applied to these plants as a spray in the late autumn. 

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