Honeysuckle Thoughts

Anyone who lives in southwest Ohio is familiar with Amur Honeysuckle (Lonicera mackii) whether they know the plant or not.  Native to east Asia, this invasive shrub was widely cultivated and spread by the US Soil Conservation Service under the name Red Rem Honeysuckle in the 1960's and 70's.  It appears to have no significant enemies, birds and animals spread the seeds around, and the plant seems to have found its way into nearly every nook and cranny of the landscape.

Happy Honeysuckle

In Five Rivers MetroParks it has been enemy #1 for many years.  The agency has committed large amounts of labor from staff and volunteers as well as paid contractors to get rid of this shrub.  Why?  Several reasons.  For one, it crowds out native plants.  It leafs out early and keeps its leaves late making a dense shade that not much can grow under.  There is some evidence that it is actually toxic to other plants.  It makes an impenetrable wall of green in the understory of woodlands that makes it hard or impossible to walk through.  Plenty of reason to despise this shrub.

To many people I know (including myself) getting rid of this menace has been a sacred mission.  I've attacked it with Roundup, chainsaw, brush cutter, bowsaw, basal bark spray, loppers and probably other ways.  In most cases, not matter how good of job you think you did, it comes back from resprouts, seeds  in the soil, or seeds brought in by birds or deer.

Dull Woods

I've assumed it is a menace that spreads its degrading influence everywhere.  Lately though, I've been trying to look at it more objectively.  For instance, there is a really cool woods MetroParks manages near Brookville called Dull Woods.  This little woodlot is only 8 acres.  It is an island of woods in a sea of flat farmland.  Honeysuckle thrives on the edges of the adjacent Wolf Creek Rail Trail bikeway.  Yet, if you pass into this little woods there is hardly a stem of honeysuckle to be found.  MetroParks has never done any management there, it has remained virtually honeysuckle free all by itself.  Why? The answer, I think, is really pretty simple.  Dull Woods is a very high quality old-growth remnant.  It has a high diversity of native plants.  I suspect it has never been heavily grazed, and only selectively logged, if that.  As a result the soils are still loose and uncompacted.  They retain their original component of organic matter and little wee beasties.  The trees and plants form a complex and tight net of interconnected roots that are a barrier to invasive plants like honeysuckle. 


Most woodlots like this have been heavily grazed by cattle, heavily logged for their timber, and otherwise heavily disturbed.  Honeysuckle, like many invasives, is a plant that is adapted to colonizing disturbed landscapes.  The story of Dull Woods can be seen in any park or natural area in southwest Ohio, if not so dramatically.  I've started to look at honeysuckle not as a plague but rather as a barometer of forest health. Perhaps we should really think of honeysuckle as a way that Mother Nature is speaking to us. The more honeysuckle, the more degraded the woods and vice versa.  If you think about it this way perhaps it is easier to deal with.  For you land managers, start with your best, most diverse forested areas where there is not much honeysuckle.  Get rid of it there first.  Then work outward removing it.  The native flora, insects (and who knows what else) can spread into the cleared area over time and set up the PROCESS necessary to defeat this foe.  Killing it alone does not work in disturbed environments.  Think process.