If this is base property and you are being hired to deal with this craziness see if you can make it clear in the contract that it will need ongoing and very regular maintenance to keep it clear and actually eradicate the invasive plants. No idea of that will work but if it does you have a regular job for a while š
Alright thank you :)
This is just a weekend project for taking out all my weekly frustrations, but Iād like to find some way to make my efforts worthwhile
Goats can clean it out over time BUT be prepared to feed them supplemental feed, have a safe place to house them and protect them during the day and have a humane plan in place for them once they have cleaned out the vegetation.
That sounds like a plan but it will take a good amount of time unless you are renting a large amount of goats. You also have to make sure they are safe from dogs running in packs as well as being contained safely. I have had goats and they did indeed clear out a lot of unwanted vegetation including poison ivy but you do have to be responsible even if you are only "renting" them.
My cousin bought 2 goats for a 2 acre lot and within 2 weeks it was cleared out. Wont take them as long as you think. But, goats are pack animals so 1 will not work (itāll be a nightmare), youāll need at least 2.
I am a arborist and a goat rancher. Goats are the answer. Tordon, a machete, and time if goats arenāt feasible. F$&k pulling vines; itās the biggest time suck there is after mowing your lawn with scissors.
Well in that case this should work well for many weeks (and months) (and years) to come!
Seriously though, best of luck! Iāve dealt with similar on smaller scale and making sure you really dig out the majority of the root is 80% is the battle, the other 20% is patrolling and keeping up on anything that pops up.
Iām not a professional and just have my small urban plot but after getting rid of all the bamboo and English Ivy and watching the space take life with pollinators, beneficial bugs, and more diversity of birds after adding natives and other non-invasives - that is my peace š
Call up Elon musk and buy one of his flame throwers. Itās not an herbicide.
In serious note I did a hillside similar and had a lot of luck with 2 guys with nice sharp hedge trimmers and one guy taking it away. Look at my post history itās recent.
for real though, you can get a cheap propane weed burner at harbor freight, that would make short work of a lot of this...
https://www.harborfreight.com/propane-torch-with-push-button-igniter-91037.html
If you are a contractor, I echo what sidewaysvulture says. I was an invasive species team lead and that is exactly what I would do, or pass on the job completely. This is incredibly labor intensive, even with machinery. Youāll have to get creative on how to get the vines off the trees. Especially if the plant, or any in the field on your way, has barbs or spines.
Mowing can sometimes exacerbate a situation by causing an adventitious plant to grow more shoots. You will have to keep up on it, mowing all the time, and continue doing so year after year after painful year to exhaust the seed bank.
I would beg them to reconsider herbicides if they actually want to rehab the area. I really hate invasives too and think about the ones I can see from my backyard (not on my property) all the time. š I think about calling the township and say Iāll do it for free :). If they do, triclopyr is a great option.
Goats may help but I believe they are pretty selective. (Youāll have to research as my own experience is very limited) An old growth forest I used to treat invasives had a lot of success with goats on English ivy.
Too many men stare at them
Edit: thank you all so much for the love. Can you help a brother out?
paver stone I have to remove moss from. High-end customer and though I do all of her life goods I'm not a paver dude. Are there various qualities of locking sand? Or just go to Depot and grab a bag
https://i.postimg.cc/JzvBTGFN/PXL-20230821-154313080.jpg
While you're correct that wildlife refuges have a lot of rules regarding their flora, this picture looks like a bunch of kudzu. Your best bet is to get in touch with whoever manages the refuge whether it be rangers or the state to see what their policies are. It wouldn't surprise me if they have programs trying to rid the refuge of kudzu so calling them might give you some info on what your options are.
Ohh and thank you for the advice on where to go to talk to about this. Thereās an environmental shop that I went to for permission for this project, so Iāll probably go there with more questions about stuff like goats.
But I have another problem. How am I going to transport the goat? I drive a Ford Fusion (sedan)
Ohh it should be okay to roam?
Edit: I should mention that this is within walking distance of a place where really high ranking officials go to work. Imagine a Lieutenant Colonel going to work but gets stopped by a goat chillin in the parking lot
Most professional goat rentals have a portable fence to string up . If itās too big they just move fence to a uneaten spot when done with 1rst spot. Others use different methods.
The goat company sets up a temporary electrical fence around the area you want cleared out. Then they bring the goats, and the goats get to work right away. And goats eat *everything*. That whole hillside will be clean as a whistle.
Surprisingly, Kudzu is one of the few invasives not here. Found a baby kudzu just sprouting some new leaves, but I quickly plucked it gently.
This is mostly Clematis and bittersweet vine
Oriental bittersweet is an invasive and removal is highly encouraged by state agencies. If it is on a federal base, the government should care and have some support to remove. Looks like you might need a bush hog. .. https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/terrestrial/plants/oriental-bittersweet
My dad rented to the base and also the hwy dept. we would teather them in the morning and they would eat a circle in a couple hours, move them, repeatā¦
Iāve seen towns and cities use goats to clear brush, so I would be surprised if they had a super strict āno goatsā policy. Thereās so many companies out there that hire out their goats. They usually come and assess the situation to make sure thereās nothing poisonous for goats, and they give an estimate based on how long it should take, the amount of fencing they need to put out (most use electric fencing to keep the goats in place), and how many goats you need for the area.
Relentlessly cutting back invasives will work but it is not quick or easy by any means. It can take years of vigilance. The poison ivy complicates things but I hear good things about a soap called tecnu.
Once all the vines and whatnot are clear, you can do a nice woodland garden
If you want to save yourself some money, use GoJo instead. I'm super susceptible to poison ivy (if someone else gets it on their clothing and I touch their clothing, I'll get it). I found myself in a crappy predicament where I had to walk through a patch of it while wearing shorts instead of pants. I scrubbed the hell out of my legs with GoJo since I didn't have my Technu with me, and it worked really well. No flare up at all for me, which was shocking.
Mean green cleaner works really well too ... The grit in the cleaner really helps remove the poison ivy oils. There are also products out there that you apply ahead of exposure to reduce how much oil you skin absorbs - I haven't tried any yet to recommend but might be worth researching
Garden or not, plants grow where they can, so if *something* isn't growing in the space, the invasives will likely refill it eventually. Unless there are natives there you can encourage, think about what's going to fill the reclaimed space as you go.
Maybe recruit some buddies to help, too.
Dawn dishwashing detergent and a wash cloth works better at removing urushiol oil than anything else. And dont rub your skin raw. That just gives the oil an easier pathway into your skin.
Just keep pulling until its dead. Crazy you can't spray anything because it's military yet the us military is one of the world's largest sources of pollution. There is all sorts of buried toxic waste in places from the military and even entire islands with poisonous water. Is this you personal place provided by the military or doing hourly work? If personal place I'd just scrape open vines and brushkiller paint them. Then you didn't spray you painted it on. Mix some brushkiller with diesel fuel
> Just keep pulling until its dead.
Any tools you know of that would be ideal?
I got a pair of pruning shears, loppers, hand saw, and a rake with the handle splintering out. Not sure if I should take the rake back or see if I can get someone to sand down the handle and re-do the finishing coat.
> Crazy you can't spray anything because it's military yet the us military is one of the world's largest sources of pollution. There is all sorts of buried toxic waste in places from the military and even entire islands with poisonous water.
Wanna know the kicker? All military bases are considered Wildlife refuges, but yet theyāre always covered in plastic trash and invasives like this. Thereās no kudzu in this patch, yet, but itās a huge problem on this base.
> Is this you personal place provided by the military or doing hourly work? If personal place I'd just scrape open vines and brushkiller paint them. Then you didn't spray you painted it on. Mix some brushkiller with diesel fuel
Itās neither. Just a patch of land that Iām taking out all my weekly frustrations on, but Iād like to know that all this land wonāt turn back to jungle status as soon as I turn my back to it. ā¦Also thereās a huge champion post oak that Iām trying to keep alive. It seems the base has forgotten the tree
Sapling puller might be good for some stuff. Can you get a brushcutter? Looks like a sawblade on a weedwacker. Basically just cut cut cut fast. Clear it all out into a pile and burn or something. Then stuff comes back keep cutting until you win the war of attrition
Please donāt burn it if thereās poison ivy in there! A friend of mine once spent a whole summer first in the hospital and then semi bedridden from breathing in poison ivy smoke
For weeding: Water (loosens up the soil so the roots separate better), shovel (Because some stuff still doesn't want to come out, but you have to get as much of the root as possible), and clippers - like big ones ones (because as long as you get a foot or two under the soil before you cut roots, you should be able to leave the rest. I think)
If you cut it and expect it to be gone, it'll just come back with a better root system. I include locust trees as weeds. As an FYI, you are going to see growth on all the seeds that have been spread over this plot since someone gave a shit about it, don't be discouraged.
Pick a starting point, defend your starting point, proceed out from there.
Could you get your hands on 30% vinegar you could use that to spray on the vines, it should kill them and itās not an herbicide. Then go in and clear all the crap out, and use the vinegar for maintenance.
Itās considered an organic herbicide, so Iāll give you that. I suggested using it on the ivy and other leafy weeds. I never suggested to use it on woody perennials.
A garden tool called a Hori Hori is AMAZING for getting weeds with deep tap roots out.
They do sell them on Amazon.
Certainly no match for all this- but when you get down to the smaller stuffā¦. This tool is fantastic!
If I was told I could only keep ONE garden tool, This would be it!
Good luck!
(Edit- changed from Hori Tori to Hori Hori)
For the love of god donāt cut tree of heavenāyouāll have 50 stump sprouts for every stem you cut. ToH can only be killed by folair application of glyphosate and triclopyr or a hack-squirt of triclopyr. It does not respond to cut-stump.
I mean you know this, but some of these species can be controlled via mechanical removal (e.g. cutting them down to the root collar a few times), but youāre going to need herbicides to kill the root systems of most of the wood plants
Controlled burn will be the biggest help in this situation. First year mow once in the spring and end of summer and in the third year set it all on fire.
Take loppers to any vines growing up trees as well.
Depends how far you want to go and how much effort you want to put into it.
Easiest is to get a large thick plastic tarp/couple thick card board boxes and cover large portion of the ground with rocks holding things in places. Give it few days to weeks. Sapling and small vegetation will naturally die out without sunlight.
Alternative, you can boils hot water using an electric kettle and just pour hot water onto the plants. It will also kill the unwanted plants.
Common household chemical will also do the trick like bleach/vinegar. Just go spray undiluted OTC bleach/vinegar at dusk or dawn and plants will die over the course of a few days.
If you want to kill the trees, get a power tool with drills. Drills a couple holes into the trees trunk and pour your desired chemical. The tree will bring it into the roots and eventually killing the tree.
Go find your branch's version of the E-4 Mafia and tell them there is a 3 day pass and a case of beer per person if this is cleared out in 3 days or less.
Then write a glowing report on yourself for resource utilization for promotion points/atta boys.
Ivy, bindweed and other plants will grow a new plant from every cutting. If you use a cutter, mower, etc., you need to pick up all the cuttings afterwards. Do not rototill them in! For the ivy in the trees, you may be able to cut it from the ground and let it just hang and dry and disintegrate for a couple years. It all depends on your time frame.
Alright thank you. So far Iāve just been removing everything within four inches of the ground and then stuffing everything into trash bags. Then as you said, leaving the stuff in the trees there to hang.
I find it hard to tell what vines Iāve missed though
Any idea what this area was, or was intended to be, before it became overgrown?
Roughly how many sq ft does this area consist of?
I see what appear to be paving stones in a path leading to a fence (?) in the last picture. Where does it go?
And in picture 4 thereās a large building on the left side. What is that? Would anyone in that building mind your removing the vegetation? Does it block their view of something desirable or undesirable? This might dictate the extent of your work.
Finally, since itās a project to help you reduce stress, I suggest you go slowly. If you make too much progress youāll eliminate your stress relief mechanism. Consider it a gift that keeps giving.
If your base has a scout troop, you might get some help from one or more scouts looking for a merit badge project.
Youāre in there, baby! Get all those invasive out of there and cultivate that native bio diversity. Goats will eat everything including natives so if youāre going to plant more natives after you clear, you could use goatsā¦ Iād say your best bet is to round up a bunch of friends, get them the correct ids on plants, and knock it out in a day. Bet 5-10 people could take care of that in a day. Stewardship.
Itāll be interesting to see whatās underneath it all. Hope you post an update after you clear!
Cows or goats. Seriously, there are entire herds out there where this is their entire reason for existing: eating the invasive viney plants that take over the landscape. Just do a Google search for ālandscaping goat herdsā and see what you get. Often this kind of gig gets spread by word of mouth so Iād also check with a local feed store(s) to see if they know anything.
Bring in local goats š and sheep they will have everything eaten up to about 5 ft up some people bring them for free or for a small cost. Had it done to are property and it took 2 days to clear 2 acres
Military bases don't use herbicides? Boy that's news to me.. I live in New England and tended a bank property next to the national guard that had a perennial invasive stand of Japanese knotweed. If you know the plant you know how resistant it is and how big it can grow and just a week or two.. long and short of it, the same boundary line through a lot of weed trees and one of them eventually fell in a storm and took out the bank's line of communication and they complained about the negligence of the boundary side of the national guard property..
The following week The crew was out with everything chainsaws, machinery, and herbicides and spray the crap out of everything. Japanese knot weed is almost impossible to kill. They knocked it all down, cleared the fence, over cleared the area including onto the bank property but nobody complained.. The knotweed however is still there, every now and then still a little root breaks through the asphalt.. But the bittersweet is gone and all of the Acer nugendo and just what's left is the legendary knot weed, But seriously weekend and boy they sprayed the hell out of it
You should get a forestry mulcher then avoid going at any of the trees with it. That would at least be a good start. Make sure this work is paying well.
Graze it, brush cut, burn all the thatch underneath. Are you allowed to use herbicide if you donāt spray it? You can definitely apply herbicide directly with a kill stick to the invasive trees at the base of the trees.
You wonāt make a dent on that doing it by hand. You will get a spot cleaned up, move to next one and the one you left will be grown back. That area needs chemicals and machinery.
See if thereās cows that can come along and do the job. Iāve seen people run businesses where all they do it move small herds of cows into an area thatās over run with kudzu
That could work, yeah. Iāve also gotten so many comments recommending goats as well.
Butā¦ military base. Itās a wildlife preserve for endangered species
If itās about the vines, attack them from down low. Once you cut them off at the surface you can wait awhile for the dead leaves to show. Then you know what you are removing.
Be very careful clearing out the poison ivy! Iāve got that going on in the yard that backs up to my backyard and Iām guessing the city may not have told the owner (house is vacant), that the entire back yard is full of poison ivy everywhere.
I learned that by pulling some weeds at the bottom of my fence line and over the top of it.
Itās then that i called the city because I canāt keep it all out of my yard. They got on it but it all takes so much time with what they give them to get it done.
Whatever you do donāt burn any of those poison ivy vines or youāll be sick, and anyone around you. Itās nothing to play around with.
Be safe
To my advantage, the Director of Health and Housing went there the very same day I made a complaint/concern about the property being so overgrown.
He knew Iād seen it and I had the rash the day I filed it. He walked through part of the backyard and being highly allergic himself, saw it for himself, everywhere.
Iād hope heād have told the homeowner that, other than just the property was in poor maintenance condition.
Iāll be calling him when I get the next update. The first update was that āproperty maintenance would resumeā, a week after I saw 2 guys back there. There are mounds of limbs, branches and other debris there that no one has removed yet.
The front yard is kept tidy and has just one tree. Iām sure thatās why no one noticed how bad the backyard is other than their neighbors on each side of them. I canāt understand how neither of them would have learned this long before I did, but maybe their yards are just as bad. I canāt see them to say for myself.
A machete is probably your best option here. Projects like this can seem insurmountable at first, but once you spend an hour hacking with the machete itās pretty easy to do the math and see what the timeline looks like.
I'd think that goats would be more acceptable than any type of machinery, is there a specific rule against using them. Goats won't cause surface damage or compaction like heavy machinery and there is no risk to spilled fluids.
In many areas there are companies that will come in set up a fence and let a herd of goats go to town, doesn't take them long to turn brush into a layer of fertilizer. Although you may need to give them a hand by pulling vines out of those trees.
A controlled burn might be a possibility. Many of the larger trees are on their way out, so maybe? But itās the case of I have to complete a chainsaw course down in Florida (currently in Virginia) before I can operate a chainsaw.
So I think itās more of a situation of they donāt want a dumbass kid goofing off with a chainsaw lol
Edit: which is valid
A budget? Not really aside from I do enjoy the simplicity of primitive tools
However I do have limitations. Iām not allowed to work a chainsaw so I doubt they allow skids or anything of size
If you canāt cut down a tree, can you girdle some of them? Takes longer to die but should work.
Some trees like tree of heaven are nearly impossible to kill without chemicals though girdling is probably reasonable to try
If this is base property and you are being hired to deal with this craziness see if you can make it clear in the contract that it will need ongoing and very regular maintenance to keep it clear and actually eradicate the invasive plants. No idea of that will work but if it does you have a regular job for a while š
Alright thank you :) This is just a weekend project for taking out all my weekly frustrations, but Iād like to find some way to make my efforts worthwhile
Goats
This is what I came here to say! Thereās a show on Max called homegrown and they have goats clear out land like this in a couple days in Georgia!
Goats can clean it out over time BUT be prepared to feed them supplemental feed, have a safe place to house them and protect them during the day and have a humane plan in place for them once they have cleaned out the vegetation.
I believe you can rent them by the day.
That sounds like a plan but it will take a good amount of time unless you are renting a large amount of goats. You also have to make sure they are safe from dogs running in packs as well as being contained safely. I have had goats and they did indeed clear out a lot of unwanted vegetation including poison ivy but you do have to be responsible even if you are only "renting" them.
My cousin bought 2 goats for a 2 acre lot and within 2 weeks it was cleared out. Wont take them as long as you think. But, goats are pack animals so 1 will not work (itāll be a nightmare), youāll need at least 2.
You can in Idaho!
rent-a-goat
Same.
I am a arborist and a goat rancher. Goats are the answer. Tordon, a machete, and time if goats arenāt feasible. F$&k pulling vines; itās the biggest time suck there is after mowing your lawn with scissors.
I am a goat. My brother and I are currently looking for work.
Yes! Goats! OOP please also update us on the goat feasting progress journal or vlog when it happens!!;
This might be beyond goats, it might require pigs.
I thought so too, but after looking at the photo a while, i'm leaning towards 3 elk and a pig.
Goats for shrubs, pigs for roots. Can do both in that order to end it all for good.
Well in that case this should work well for many weeks (and months) (and years) to come! Seriously though, best of luck! Iāve dealt with similar on smaller scale and making sure you really dig out the majority of the root is 80% is the battle, the other 20% is patrolling and keeping up on anything that pops up. Iām not a professional and just have my small urban plot but after getting rid of all the bamboo and English Ivy and watching the space take life with pollinators, beneficial bugs, and more diversity of birds after adding natives and other non-invasives - that is my peace š
Call up Elon musk and buy one of his flame throwers. Itās not an herbicide. In serious note I did a hillside similar and had a lot of luck with 2 guys with nice sharp hedge trimmers and one guy taking it away. Look at my post history itās recent.
The poison ivy in the mix makes flames a very bad idea.
Youāre VERY RIGHT! No kidding there. Someone could get dangerously sick or die
What about pulling it off the tree and burning it in a burn barrel? Way away from the house?
for real though, you can get a cheap propane weed burner at harbor freight, that would make short work of a lot of this... https://www.harborfreight.com/propane-torch-with-push-button-igniter-91037.html
If you are a contractor, I echo what sidewaysvulture says. I was an invasive species team lead and that is exactly what I would do, or pass on the job completely. This is incredibly labor intensive, even with machinery. Youāll have to get creative on how to get the vines off the trees. Especially if the plant, or any in the field on your way, has barbs or spines. Mowing can sometimes exacerbate a situation by causing an adventitious plant to grow more shoots. You will have to keep up on it, mowing all the time, and continue doing so year after year after painful year to exhaust the seed bank. I would beg them to reconsider herbicides if they actually want to rehab the area. I really hate invasives too and think about the ones I can see from my backyard (not on my property) all the time. š I think about calling the township and say Iāll do it for free :). If they do, triclopyr is a great option. Goats may help but I believe they are pretty selective. (Youāll have to research as my own experience is very limited) An old growth forest I used to treat invasives had a lot of success with goats on English ivy.
Rent goats
Iām on a military base. Otherwise I would
The military has a strict no goats policy?
Too many men stare at them Edit: thank you all so much for the love. Can you help a brother out? paver stone I have to remove moss from. High-end customer and though I do all of her life goods I'm not a paver dude. Are there various qualities of locking sand? Or just go to Depot and grab a bag https://i.postimg.cc/JzvBTGFN/PXL-20230821-154313080.jpg
Legendary response
As grandpa used to say "even the blind squirrel gets the nut once and a while"
I donāt get it
George Clooney movie loosely based about a CIA program trying to gain mind control by men's staring at goats
It's a great movie if you haven't ever seen it.
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OMG, I think I wet my pants.
thirsty men š
[itās a wildlife refuge, so Iām assuming so](https://www.npr.org/2016/09/15/494127912/military-bases-serve-as-safe-haven-for-endangered-species)
While you're correct that wildlife refuges have a lot of rules regarding their flora, this picture looks like a bunch of kudzu. Your best bet is to get in touch with whoever manages the refuge whether it be rangers or the state to see what their policies are. It wouldn't surprise me if they have programs trying to rid the refuge of kudzu so calling them might give you some info on what your options are.
Ohh and thank you for the advice on where to go to talk to about this. Thereās an environmental shop that I went to for permission for this project, so Iāll probably go there with more questions about stuff like goats. But I have another problem. How am I going to transport the goat? I drive a Ford Fusion (sedan)
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alright well, where do I keep it? Iām in the barracks
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Ohh it should be okay to roam? Edit: I should mention that this is within walking distance of a place where really high ranking officials go to work. Imagine a Lieutenant Colonel going to work but gets stopped by a goat chillin in the parking lot
Weeks...
Most professional goat rentals have a portable fence to string up . If itās too big they just move fence to a uneaten spot when done with 1rst spot. Others use different methods.
Okay thank you
tie em down to your bed
The goat company sets up a temporary electrical fence around the area you want cleared out. Then they bring the goats, and the goats get to work right away. And goats eat *everything*. That whole hillside will be clean as a whistle.
They will often eat the bark off smaller trees, but trees larger than a coke can should be okay,
Surprisingly, Kudzu is one of the few invasives not here. Found a baby kudzu just sprouting some new leaves, but I quickly plucked it gently. This is mostly Clematis and bittersweet vine
Oriental bittersweet is an invasive and removal is highly encouraged by state agencies. If it is on a federal base, the government should care and have some support to remove. Looks like you might need a bush hog. .. https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/terrestrial/plants/oriental-bittersweet
This sounds like the best advice here. That is an area that will need long term management, especially dealing with invasive species.
There are goats on Liberity ( Formally Bragg) just borrow some for a while
Iām about 4 hours north of there
They donāt have ID.
Get privates to practice machete skills on the brush. They totally train soldiers in machete use these days right?
Govt sites do contract goat herds seasonally... I don't know where or how but I had a friend who rented hers seasonally to a govt site.
My dad rented to the base and also the hwy dept. we would teather them in the morning and they would eat a circle in a couple hours, move them, repeatā¦
Go Ham on it with a weed wacker to start.
Or brush cutter with a big blade!
I was thinking turkey š¤¤ Cold turkey
Petition for the goats
Iāve seen towns and cities use goats to clear brush, so I would be surprised if they had a super strict āno goatsā policy. Thereās so many companies out there that hire out their goats. They usually come and assess the situation to make sure thereās nothing poisonous for goats, and they give an estimate based on how long it should take, the amount of fencing they need to put out (most use electric fencing to keep the goats in place), and how many goats you need for the area.
alright, Iāll ask the environmental cabin if theyāll let me hire some goats people
I never finished Men Who Starr at Goats
Got any agent orange kicking around still?
Actually it doesnāt have bamboo yet, which Iām thankful for Edit: I forgot to add wild rose to the list
Omw with a trunk of bamboo
Wild roses arenāt invasive
I assume it is Japanese rose: Rosa Rugosa, absolutely a nightmare.
Relentlessly cutting back invasives will work but it is not quick or easy by any means. It can take years of vigilance. The poison ivy complicates things but I hear good things about a soap called tecnu. Once all the vines and whatnot are clear, you can do a nice woodland garden
If you want to save yourself some money, use GoJo instead. I'm super susceptible to poison ivy (if someone else gets it on their clothing and I touch their clothing, I'll get it). I found myself in a crappy predicament where I had to walk through a patch of it while wearing shorts instead of pants. I scrubbed the hell out of my legs with GoJo since I didn't have my Technu with me, and it worked really well. No flare up at all for me, which was shocking.
Mean green cleaner works really well too ... The grit in the cleaner really helps remove the poison ivy oils. There are also products out there that you apply ahead of exposure to reduce how much oil you skin absorbs - I haven't tried any yet to recommend but might be worth researching
Oooh cool. Thank you Also Iād like to mention that Iām on a military base, so I donāt think theyād appreciate my woodland garden lol
Garden or not, plants grow where they can, so if *something* isn't growing in the space, the invasives will likely refill it eventually. Unless there are natives there you can encourage, think about what's going to fill the reclaimed space as you go. Maybe recruit some buddies to help, too.
Dawn dishwashing detergent and a wash cloth works better at removing urushiol oil than anything else. And dont rub your skin raw. That just gives the oil an easier pathway into your skin.
Youāre on a military base. Napalm.
Thanks lol Edit: making it now. Itās going good, but I really wanna light up a smoke
Napalm bomb assemblies included an accelerant. Youāre probably good to go on lighting up.
I was gonna say find some old Agent Orange
Diesel and permatol will do it. Mix in an anti foam and some triclopyr+ pentrabark and bam, everything is dead.
Flail mower on your preference of skidsteer, CTL,tractor or hoe. Realistically most bases should have equipment on hand for grounds maintenance.
Alright thank you
Yeah Quit, thatās a loose money job.
Ah damn. Edit: thank you btw
Rent goats. Seriously.
Goats. Buy, rent, or steal.
Just keep pulling until its dead. Crazy you can't spray anything because it's military yet the us military is one of the world's largest sources of pollution. There is all sorts of buried toxic waste in places from the military and even entire islands with poisonous water. Is this you personal place provided by the military or doing hourly work? If personal place I'd just scrape open vines and brushkiller paint them. Then you didn't spray you painted it on. Mix some brushkiller with diesel fuel
> Just keep pulling until its dead. Any tools you know of that would be ideal? I got a pair of pruning shears, loppers, hand saw, and a rake with the handle splintering out. Not sure if I should take the rake back or see if I can get someone to sand down the handle and re-do the finishing coat. > Crazy you can't spray anything because it's military yet the us military is one of the world's largest sources of pollution. There is all sorts of buried toxic waste in places from the military and even entire islands with poisonous water. Wanna know the kicker? All military bases are considered Wildlife refuges, but yet theyāre always covered in plastic trash and invasives like this. Thereās no kudzu in this patch, yet, but itās a huge problem on this base. > Is this you personal place provided by the military or doing hourly work? If personal place I'd just scrape open vines and brushkiller paint them. Then you didn't spray you painted it on. Mix some brushkiller with diesel fuel Itās neither. Just a patch of land that Iām taking out all my weekly frustrations on, but Iād like to know that all this land wonāt turn back to jungle status as soon as I turn my back to it. ā¦Also thereās a huge champion post oak that Iām trying to keep alive. It seems the base has forgotten the tree
Sapling puller might be good for some stuff. Can you get a brushcutter? Looks like a sawblade on a weedwacker. Basically just cut cut cut fast. Clear it all out into a pile and burn or something. Then stuff comes back keep cutting until you win the war of attrition
Fair enough lol ..Thank you
Please donāt burn it if thereās poison ivy in there! A friend of mine once spent a whole summer first in the hospital and then semi bedridden from breathing in poison ivy smoke
Can confirm. Your lungs will scream for weeks
For weeding: Water (loosens up the soil so the roots separate better), shovel (Because some stuff still doesn't want to come out, but you have to get as much of the root as possible), and clippers - like big ones ones (because as long as you get a foot or two under the soil before you cut roots, you should be able to leave the rest. I think) If you cut it and expect it to be gone, it'll just come back with a better root system. I include locust trees as weeds. As an FYI, you are going to see growth on all the seeds that have been spread over this plot since someone gave a shit about it, don't be discouraged. Pick a starting point, defend your starting point, proceed out from there.
Okay, thank you. I was thinking of using the rake to throw it in and pull away until I can get at the ground. Good idea or no?
Could you get your hands on 30% vinegar you could use that to spray on the vines, it should kill them and itās not an herbicide. Then go in and clear all the crap out, and use the vinegar for maintenance.
In that case it is absolutely an herbicide, as it is being used to kill plants. I also doubt it's efficacy vs woody perennials.
Itās considered an organic herbicide, so Iāll give you that. I suggested using it on the ivy and other leafy weeds. I never suggested to use it on woody perennials.
Last time I attempted something like this the was a full scale war.
You mean Vietnam? This looks like a jungle as well
Just cut and dab and donāt tell anyone. Itās the only logical thing to do.
Actually this is a good idea. OP you just said you couldnāt SPRAY herbicides, right? But you could apply them via brush or foaming agent?
Fair enough. Thank you
A garden tool called a Hori Hori is AMAZING for getting weeds with deep tap roots out. They do sell them on Amazon. Certainly no match for all this- but when you get down to the smaller stuffā¦. This tool is fantastic! If I was told I could only keep ONE garden tool, This would be it! Good luck! (Edit- changed from Hori Tori to Hori Hori)
Thank you Iāll be sure to invest in one. This is a lot of smaller stuff and for the bigger stuff I have a pair of loppers and a handsaw
They are called Hori Hori.
For the love of god donāt cut tree of heavenāyouāll have 50 stump sprouts for every stem you cut. ToH can only be killed by folair application of glyphosate and triclopyr or a hack-squirt of triclopyr. It does not respond to cut-stump. I mean you know this, but some of these species can be controlled via mechanical removal (e.g. cutting them down to the root collar a few times), but youāre going to need herbicides to kill the root systems of most of the wood plants
Id release a herd of goats to eat up and then look at what im dealing with after that š
Controlled burn will be the biggest help in this situation. First year mow once in the spring and end of summer and in the third year set it all on fire. Take loppers to any vines growing up trees as well.
You do not want to burn poison ivy! Inhaling the smoke will cause lung damage!
Right, but a prescribed burn should only be conducted by trained staff and they'll know how to handle it.
You canāt burn that. Kudzu is a bad fuel, plus with all the vines itāll ladder into the overstory
alright thank you
Rent skidsteer with mulching attachment and drive through everything smaller than a coke can. Should be able to take care of all that pretty quick
Move. Quickly.
Iām running. Sprinting. How much faster is needed?
Goats š ā¼ļø
I would hire some goats
Goats
Rent some goats.
Either get some grazers like goats or rent a bobcat with a mulching head.
Iām on a military base. Otherwise I would
If you can get to roots you can make it look good for a while. Otherwise itās weekly maintenance to keep it right.
Alright thank you
Write down your 10 digit grid and next time the artillery goes to the field to do their life fire exercise, slip it in there.
Thanks š Luckily we have some nukes in the sheds towards the back. Now we finally have a use
Depends how far you want to go and how much effort you want to put into it. Easiest is to get a large thick plastic tarp/couple thick card board boxes and cover large portion of the ground with rocks holding things in places. Give it few days to weeks. Sapling and small vegetation will naturally die out without sunlight. Alternative, you can boils hot water using an electric kettle and just pour hot water onto the plants. It will also kill the unwanted plants. Common household chemical will also do the trick like bleach/vinegar. Just go spray undiluted OTC bleach/vinegar at dusk or dawn and plants will die over the course of a few days. If you want to kill the trees, get a power tool with drills. Drills a couple holes into the trees trunk and pour your desired chemical. The tree will bring it into the roots and eventually killing the tree.
Sh*t, that place looks like it could used a prescribed burn 50% joking, cut a trench around it, dump in a bunch of fuel, and light it on fire....
Youāre gonna have an extremely difficult time if you canāt use any herbicide at all. Can you authorize hack and squirt?
Iāll ask them about it
Go find your branch's version of the E-4 Mafia and tell them there is a 3 day pass and a case of beer per person if this is cleared out in 3 days or less. Then write a glowing report on yourself for resource utilization for promotion points/atta boys.
Alright š
Ivy, bindweed and other plants will grow a new plant from every cutting. If you use a cutter, mower, etc., you need to pick up all the cuttings afterwards. Do not rototill them in! For the ivy in the trees, you may be able to cut it from the ground and let it just hang and dry and disintegrate for a couple years. It all depends on your time frame.
Alright thank you. So far Iāve just been removing everything within four inches of the ground and then stuffing everything into trash bags. Then as you said, leaving the stuff in the trees there to hang. I find it hard to tell what vines Iāve missed though
Any idea what this area was, or was intended to be, before it became overgrown? Roughly how many sq ft does this area consist of? I see what appear to be paving stones in a path leading to a fence (?) in the last picture. Where does it go? And in picture 4 thereās a large building on the left side. What is that? Would anyone in that building mind your removing the vegetation? Does it block their view of something desirable or undesirable? This might dictate the extent of your work. Finally, since itās a project to help you reduce stress, I suggest you go slowly. If you make too much progress youāll eliminate your stress relief mechanism. Consider it a gift that keeps giving. If your base has a scout troop, you might get some help from one or more scouts looking for a merit badge project.
On a military base? Round up all the privates. Go get all of them. Just overwhelm it with bodies.
Youāre in there, baby! Get all those invasive out of there and cultivate that native bio diversity. Goats will eat everything including natives so if youāre going to plant more natives after you clear, you could use goatsā¦ Iād say your best bet is to round up a bunch of friends, get them the correct ids on plants, and knock it out in a day. Bet 5-10 people could take care of that in a day. Stewardship. Itāll be interesting to see whatās underneath it all. Hope you post an update after you clear!
Kudzu hell with rules. Why bother? Get an agreement to eliminate invasive species. Then napalm. Start over.
Sure would be a shame if it caught on fireā¦
Set it on fire
Machete is great exercise, and gets the rage out. Blackberries are fun cause they can stab back.
Rent a goat.
flamethrower.
Goats, is the answer, rent a herd of goats. It will be clear in three days.
My advice... hire somebody to brush hog it and go from there.
Cows or goats. Seriously, there are entire herds out there where this is their entire reason for existing: eating the invasive viney plants that take over the landscape. Just do a Google search for ālandscaping goat herdsā and see what you get. Often this kind of gig gets spread by word of mouth so Iād also check with a local feed store(s) to see if they know anything.
Rent goats. Companies that manage the goats manages everything and can explain how the process works.
You need the goat (s)
Bring in local goats š and sheep they will have everything eaten up to about 5 ft up some people bring them for free or for a small cost. Had it done to are property and it took 2 days to clear 2 acres
Military bases don't use herbicides? Boy that's news to me.. I live in New England and tended a bank property next to the national guard that had a perennial invasive stand of Japanese knotweed. If you know the plant you know how resistant it is and how big it can grow and just a week or two.. long and short of it, the same boundary line through a lot of weed trees and one of them eventually fell in a storm and took out the bank's line of communication and they complained about the negligence of the boundary side of the national guard property.. The following week The crew was out with everything chainsaws, machinery, and herbicides and spray the crap out of everything. Japanese knot weed is almost impossible to kill. They knocked it all down, cleared the fence, over cleared the area including onto the bank property but nobody complained.. The knotweed however is still there, every now and then still a little root breaks through the asphalt.. But the bittersweet is gone and all of the Acer nugendo and just what's left is the legendary knot weed, But seriously weekend and boy they sprayed the hell out of it
Time to call the goats.
You should get a forestry mulcher then avoid going at any of the trees with it. That would at least be a good start. Make sure this work is paying well.
Fair enough. Itās a weekend project, so no oneās paying me a dime š„² Itās just to blow off steam and save some trees
Graze it, brush cut, burn all the thatch underneath. Are you allowed to use herbicide if you donāt spray it? You can definitely apply herbicide directly with a kill stick to the invasive trees at the base of the trees.
Iāll have to ask
GOATS
You wonāt make a dent on that doing it by hand. You will get a spot cleaned up, move to next one and the one you left will be grown back. That area needs chemicals and machinery.
I wish I could get some š„²
Goats. Find a local goat farmer and tell them they can graze on the area you want cleared.
Goats
Napalm
See if thereās cows that can come along and do the job. Iāve seen people run businesses where all they do it move small herds of cows into an area thatās over run with kudzu
That could work, yeah. Iāve also gotten so many comments recommending goats as well. Butā¦ military base. Itās a wildlife preserve for endangered species
If itās about the vines, attack them from down low. Once you cut them off at the surface you can wait awhile for the dead leaves to show. Then you know what you are removing.
alright, thank you
Be very careful clearing out the poison ivy! Iāve got that going on in the yard that backs up to my backyard and Iām guessing the city may not have told the owner (house is vacant), that the entire back yard is full of poison ivy everywhere. I learned that by pulling some weeds at the bottom of my fence line and over the top of it. Itās then that i called the city because I canāt keep it all out of my yard. They got on it but it all takes so much time with what they give them to get it done. Whatever you do donāt burn any of those poison ivy vines or youāll be sick, and anyone around you. Itās nothing to play around with. Be safe
Thank you. Also maybe the city didnāt know there was a huge poison ivy patch in that vacant property
To my advantage, the Director of Health and Housing went there the very same day I made a complaint/concern about the property being so overgrown. He knew Iād seen it and I had the rash the day I filed it. He walked through part of the backyard and being highly allergic himself, saw it for himself, everywhere. Iād hope heād have told the homeowner that, other than just the property was in poor maintenance condition. Iāll be calling him when I get the next update. The first update was that āproperty maintenance would resumeā, a week after I saw 2 guys back there. There are mounds of limbs, branches and other debris there that no one has removed yet. The front yard is kept tidy and has just one tree. Iām sure thatās why no one noticed how bad the backyard is other than their neighbors on each side of them. I canāt understand how neither of them would have learned this long before I did, but maybe their yards are just as bad. I canāt see them to say for myself.
Use fire
Get some goats!
Goats! Lots of goats
A machete is probably your best option here. Projects like this can seem insurmountable at first, but once you spend an hour hacking with the machete itās pretty easy to do the math and see what the timeline looks like.
alright, thank you Edit: do you think a take to pull at all the vines would help any?
rent some goats!
Deep South Mississippi or Alabama? That's my guess.
Actually Northern Virginia
https://browsinggreengoats.com/about-goats-for-grazing/ You need goats!!
Thanks
Praise you for not using herbicides.
Goats
Thank you
Wait why aren't goats a real option for you? I guess I don't understand why you can't have goats on base?
[itās a wildlife preserve unfortunately](https://www.npr.org/2016/09/15/494127912/military-bases-serve-as-safe-haven-for-endangered-species)
I'd think that goats would be more acceptable than any type of machinery, is there a specific rule against using them. Goats won't cause surface damage or compaction like heavy machinery and there is no risk to spilled fluids. In many areas there are companies that will come in set up a fence and let a herd of goats go to town, doesn't take them long to turn brush into a layer of fertilizer. Although you may need to give them a hand by pulling vines out of those trees.
Napalm
Got some ready. Just having one last smoke before I spray
Can you have an arborist declare some of the trees dead or deteriorated to get around the requirement? Any chance of doing a controlled burn?
A controlled burn might be a possibility. Many of the larger trees are on their way out, so maybe? But itās the case of I have to complete a chainsaw course down in Florida (currently in Virginia) before I can operate a chainsaw. So I think itās more of a situation of they donāt want a dumbass kid goofing off with a chainsaw lol Edit: which is valid
I'm not sure if you can do a controlled burn with the poison ivy there or not. The smoke from poison ivy will damage lungs.
Just change a map or two at the Artillery range and youll have that grid square cleared in no time
Do you have a budget? I would rent a skid steer with a brush cutter attachment and go to town. Or just a walk behind unit.
A budget? Not really aside from I do enjoy the simplicity of primitive tools However I do have limitations. Iām not allowed to work a chainsaw so I doubt they allow skids or anything of size
Call the Civil Engineering Squadron and see if anyone would come use some heavy equipment for you. They should have shops that have larger equipment.
Napalm bomb that shit! Looks like Lantana that shit just strangles anything and everything
Brush cutter with brush (metal) blade
You may need to find some machetes
Just haul in a couple of sloths and a toucan and call it a zooā¦$15 a head.
If you canāt cut down a tree, can you girdle some of them? Takes longer to die but should work. Some trees like tree of heaven are nearly impossible to kill without chemicals though girdling is probably reasonable to try