Discussion: Bittersweet

Nice to be pulling that stuff. I didn't know you engaged in that kind of management. I don't have any, but I have a few other things that I try to keep on top of: burning bush (winged euonymus), japanese barberry, multiflora. The euonymus is the hardest one to eradicate. Barberry is pretty easy if one just has a few.

However, I can't quite keep up with the mountain laurel, and it seems to have certain rights associated with priority. That is, it's been here long enough that I can never quite get ahead of it.

I pulled up the bittersweet that tried to root in the treelines nearer to the house in NY, but made no attempt to get the numerous vines that climbed the other treeline trees around our old 16.9 acre meadows. I wonder if the new owners are battling it at all.

We're fortunate not to have the other three you mention. I've ignored the bittersweet for several years, but got motivated this year when it seemed to be popping up all around the house in various parts of our "lawn." Did the first pulling maybe 2-3 months ago, then a second pulling of little sprouts that returned. Wasn't much returning after that for the third pulling. I think I've knocked it back pretty good.

Then there's the stuff around the edges, grown up more. That's what I'm going at now, pulling as much of the roots as I can get. I think I've got about 3 or 4 more sessions to wrap it up.

Interesting thing is that I don't do it very long at a time, 30 minutes or so. By that point my back is starting to hurt, as I go at it pretty hard. But after I stop the back mellows out pretty quickly. A pleasant surprise, hope it lasts.

By the way, my leaf blower conked out not long ago. Got an upgrade, made by Ego, says it does 650 cubic feet/minute (of air, I assume, not leaves, 650 cf of leaves per minute would be really something). A big improvement. :-)

Same folks I got my mower from, totally happy with that too. Both seem to have extended the age at which I can still do this stuff. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad.

I've got bittersweet all over. Plus what I think are several large burning bush plants that seem to be there on purpose. Next up on the Little Bit.

Burning bush is often an “on purpose”. Looks really nice in the fall. Would be ok, except for its lust to expand.

I chopped most of mine down to ground level a few years ago. That's going to happen again, and I may take more serious measures on some of them. Bittersweet is a bigger problem. Some places where I have bittersweet, I've also spotted some poison ivy. I really want to knock that back before it gets too comfortable, but yanking it up is not a good option.

We've got some poison ivy too, and I seem to be sensitive to it. In the past, where it's been in the "lawn," I mostly just mowed it. Over the years I've sprayed a few places. Don't like to do that but some things you've got to do.

This year it was clearly time to reclaim the slope in front of the house, it was mostly a mix of prickers, poison ivy, bittersweet, some grass, plus a couple of patches of wildflowers that we were trying to encourage.

So the poison ivy got very careful spraying (plant by plant, ended up using very little spray and it works very well). A few weeks later there were just a few plants for round two.

The prickers got pulled and then pulled again, and then pulled again, by the third time there were just small shoots coming up.

Looks good now, though nothing like a normal lawn. Some grass mixed in with leaves and a couple of patches of wildflowers. We'll see what comes up in the spring.

It all took a bunch of time, but that what neglect gets you.

I have been battling bittersweet out on an island here in Penobscot Bay for some time. I'm gaining ground but the birds as good spreaders keeping me alert. My favorite kill method is gerdling - scraping off the bark down to the wood below any foliage. A sure kill without any shoots coming up.

I'll try that!

Who knew it would be bittersweet that issued an irresistible call to the legendary NEOC#1? Google employee #5 is said to be to this day rueful that he wasn't NEOC#1 instead.

Funny that bittersweet is one of the most highly valued and sought after ornamental bushes around here. Not so much because gardeners like it so much, but because the antelope do, and form up vast raiding parties in the night and gallop into town to sup on bittersweet in gardens here when everything else is asleep.

O experts are abundant on AP; not so with bittersweet killers. Go antelopes!
Hi Mikell! Who is Google#5?

Yeah, I should import some pronghorns, but they'd probably cause more problems than they'd cure.

Ray Sidney was almost certainly not yet born when NEOC was founded.

[edit: OK, that's probably not true, after a little poking around, I suspect he was born around 1969.]

Then he beats NEOC by 3 years. And of course by $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$...

He left the company before the IPO.

Boy was I surprised. Found not one but 2 bittersweet vines growing here at Ratlum. Got them pulled, but needed a little mechanical assistance to do it. One I got out with a shovel and some serious pulling. The other I dug out a bunch, then wrapped a chain around the root, hooked a chain up to it and pulled it out with the Polaris. As long as I was at it, I also evicted a lot of burning bush. That bright red foliage leaves it vulnerable at this time of year.

I would guess you've got more around if you start looking. Birds do a good job of spreading it.

After two sessions on Saturday and one yesterday, I am clearly "rounding the corner." Or, as used to be said 50 years ago in southeast Asia, there's light at the end of the tunnel (though perhaps it was a locomotive coming at you). Seems time to do a George Aiken and just declare victory.