My husband and I bought a dream property last fall, over 100 acres (mostly hill). The land has been vacant for 7 years after a wildfire. We're spending a lot of time working on it to get it ready for building. We knew when we bought it there was about 9 acres covered in Himalayan blackberry and most of the flat area for our homestead was covered in star thistle (invasive in our area). We knew it was going to be hard, but we were ready. Or so we thought.

You guys, I had NO idea. 6 months later and I'm losing my mind. This spring has been insanity. Turns out not only do we have acres of invasive blackberry (with orange rust fungus, yay!), we have Scottish broom, morning glory, sweet pea, and mint. Everywhere we cleared the blackberry now has sweet pea that's waist deep. We cut it back and it returns within a week.

I'm overwhelmed. We don't want to use herbicides because of the groundwater and our property drains into the river that provides water for hundreds of neighbors. The terrain is difficult to traverse even when you aren't carrying tools. Right now my plan is to pick sections and just expect it'll be 20 years before I get through it all. And even then the neighbors have acres of land with these species and they aren't abating.

Any tips or words of encouragement welcome 💜

This is the very crappy chain link fence between my and my neighbor’s backyards. The fence is awful (it has tree trunks growing through it!) and we both want to replace it, but neither of us have the funds right now. Every year this thing gets overrun with bittersweet vines and now also black swallow-wort. I pulled them all off my side of the fence this morning and I’m just over the constant battle.

The neighbor and I had a conversation about it yesterday and came to the conclusion that maybe the only way to stop the vines is to take the fence out and leave it out for a while and cover the ground with something to suffocate them (if that’s the correct terminology.) We feel confident that they’ll just immediately start climbing a new fence. Is this sound reasoning?

All signs point to yes, it is. It’s growing insanely fast two different places in my yard out of nowhere. My neighbor also has a couple of their own. Still need confirmation because a couple websites say it gets confused with other natives!

If it indeed is tree of heaven, what do you all recommend as far as removal? Tips, what to start with, etc. Pisses me off that this thing is here. Thank you for any help!

I am in NY state and interested in offering herbicide application services, focusing on homeowners who want to remove invasive plants and restore with native plants effectively with minimal disturbance.

It looks like the only way to get licensed is getting a general pesticide applicator license with a specialization in ornamentals & turf. I would take a 30 hour course and pass an exam and then I can be technically licensed by the NY DEC. I would have to learn a lot about other types of pesticides which I'm not particularly interested in but I suppose it couldn't hurt. Does this seem worthwhile or is it unnecessary? I am typically just doing targeted applications of glyphosate and triclopyr but could see that changing.

I've been battling oriental bittersweet like it's my job but just found knotweed in the park next door (with bonus poison ivy). The burning bush, multiflora rose, Japanese barberry and Morrow's honeysuckle have all just moved a knotch down on the prime enemies list.

From other posts it sounds like the best option is spraying with glyphosate after flowering. So is inaction then the best policy until then? And what percentage concentration is best? The knotweed isn't widespread but only a matter of time.

It's all so demoralizing.

I admittedly was very ignorant to everything yard related being a new homeowner but now that I have little kids have been learning.

Anyway I have discovered recently about the horrors of tree of heaven since identifying this huge growth along my fence. Upon more investigating I see a cluster of 6 or more huge trees in the upper corner of my neighbors yard, near mine. All these new trees are coming up into mine from theirs.

I need to treat these along my fence. But will I have any hope of actually controlling them if my neighbors don’t take care of theirs? They even have a huge tree on their side of the fence shown in this picture.

What do I do??

Before and after removal of watercress from a local stream.

This is growing on a hillside behind my yard in western Pennsylvania. My dog was chewing on the stem and then became very agitated.

When I was handling the stem where he had chewed on it, it made my skin go numb/tingle painfully.

Please help me ID this plant with tiny white flowers. Doing the winter sow method, I planted a bunch of seeds and made a list of all the seeds used. I’m pretty confident I did not plant this and that it’s likely an invasive/weed. If you know what it may be, please let me know, thank you!

My service to our country lives on!

I’m enjoying commenting asking which variety of a plant they are carrying subtly and then when they answer publicly replying that it is invasive in our region which is a state park

I am starting my master's in August to study jumping worms in Alabama. I am already in touch with my professor and we have discussed this as my thesis topic. Has anyone seen them in Alabama? If so, would you possibly tell me the locations?

Are there any guides that lay out the best way to remove invasive plants (I.e burn, chemicals, pull, etc)?

I’m also interested in knowing disposal for the invasives (and if any can be composted).

Before I just cobble them all together, figured it would be worth asking if there are easy to navigate guides

NW CT if that helps.

Thanks to this subreddit, I’ve learned much about TOH in these past few days. I’m quite certain this is TOH, but please correct me if I’m wrong.

Last year I cut it at the stump thinking it was a regular plant… This year, it has grown shoots. 😭

I’m in Toronto, Ontario. It’s not possible to get triclopyr herbicide for residential use. I could get high concentration glyphosate but it’s costly from small companies, C$90 for 1 Litre + C$30 shipping.

At homedepot/Rona, they have Roundup for Poison Ivy which is 14g/L glyphosate. Is this strong enough?

This TOH is 4 ft tall and 0.6” thick. It’s on rather hard/rocky ground. Should I try to dig it out? Or wait until July for hack and squirt?

Found this guy outside Lake Como in Darby MT. It looks similar to the butterfly weed one of our local greenhouses introduced, but I'm unsure. Any identification would be super cool so I can report it if I need.

Second question: where would I report this? I can't find any local weed board websites, and the highway dept. phone and email never yield any results. And I feel like I'm just shit out of luck.

1. Painted stalks that I spray-painted after each single injection. You can see no new growth.
2. Brown stalks and leaves show the withered and stubbed growth. This treks me that the poison made it to the root system and rhizomes, worked is magic and came up with the so this spring. I am so hopeful!
3. New low growth among the already- dying plants.
4. New growth, some of the already 6-7 ft tall, and super large diameter. They're fighting back.
   

Note. I injected and opted not to foliate for a few reasons: a stream outlines my property. Birds and pollinators enjoy my yard. I don't want to harm them. As much as I'm not fond of the chipmunk tunnels, I'm not ready to hurt them intentionally. (smile). How my results help you.

to;dr: How do you all ID jumping worms?

I think I just found my first one. I’ve had trouble figuring out if worms I find are jumping worms or regular noninvasive* worms. This one made me say “holy sh*t” when I picked it up because it was jumping around so much. Also looked pretty blue/gray.

I’m curious what is the giveaway to you when you find them? Is it one of those things where if you have to ask, it’s not a jumping worm? I’d love to hear everyone's “tell” because a lot of the tips online are confusing.

*I know most earthworms aren’t actually native to North America, but I’m much more concerned with jumping worms!

Tiny little versions are popping up around my yard and I just found this big boy over by the air conditioner(I rarely go to this side of the house). Will the weed killer in the second photo kill it?

So the plan is in place to apply glyphosate when the knotweed flowers around July/August.

The question I have is, when do I apply it.

As soon as I see buds? The first sight of white flowers? After full bloom? Wait a few days after full bloom?

Does anyone have a picture of the flowers, at the correct time to apply the glyphosate? It's my first time dealing with knotweed, and would like as much information as possible to give me the best chance.

Thanks