Invasive Plants of the NorthEast Removal and Management

Spring 

• Pull Sprouts

Summer

• Weed Whack before it berries (End of June/ beginning of July)

  1. lessen berry production limiting the spread of the invasive in the area dispersed by birds

  2. The seeds also lie dormant in the soil, lessening the seeds from being in te soil.

  3. Perfect world would be when you see one mile a minute sprout and you pull it before it makes berries

Fall

 Mile a minute red vines become very brittle and hold irritating little thorns in the fall. It is worth finding native trees that may be alive underneath the blanket of mile a minute and just moving it to the side so the tree can get sun. 

Pull Mother root, and everything connected to it, Bag it and then pull the sprouts it in the spring.

Manually pulling Mile a Minute

• Mile a minute has thorns, use gloves when pulling. 

• Pull gingerly finessing / pulling it out. Pull it at the very base against the soil of this delicate invasive plant to pull the whole root with it. 

• Pulling it when it is small saves you the head ache of weed whacking it after it already engulfed everything around it. 

• Weed Whack in end of June/ July before it berries. 

• Pull the mother root and stick it up in a tree to dry it and kill it. 

• Bag it - They instruct to put all pulled invasives and/or diseased plants in trash bags to suffocate and cook it in the sun.

• When pulling the thorny vines from native trees be mindful of it clinging and taring the leaves but also bending and breaking the tree as the vine's doesn't let go.

How Mile a minute grows

• It grows rapidly re-rooting every 5 ft in a spidering pattern.

• The weight of unchecked growth allows a mass of vines which engulfs small trees and shrubs; its weight can take down a 15-20 ft tree. 

• The last chance to save natives from its impact is July 4th or the week before. You can still pull it and bag it before it takes down your trees.

• If unchecked until August you will need to weed whack the mass from around all the trees.

• The seed stock can lye dormant for up to for 7 years in the soil. (Some times they herbicide with pre-emergent to kill the seed stock.)

Alternative ways to manage Mile-a-minute:

 We release weavels that only eat mile a minute leaves; this lessens the berry production in the minute a minute plant. which July/August. 

• https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/34389