BUSH HONEYSUCKLE (Lonicera maackii) is one of the most abundant invasive species in Ruth Park Woods. Why is it undesirable, though? It’s a big green bush that grows well.

Bush honeysuckle is undesirable because:It creates such dense thickets that it produces too much shade for other plants to grow. It produces a compound in its leaves, roots, and fruits that keeps other plants from sprouting. (The fancy term for this is that bush honeysuckle is “allelopathic”.) It leafs out before most other plants in the spring and is one of the last to lose its leaves in the fall.

THEREFORE it has a TRIPLE advantage over its competitors! If bush honeysuckle takes over the understory of a forest, there will be no new trees to replace ones that die or come down in storms. What was a forest will  eventually become a field of bush honeysuckle and very little else.

BUT its flowers smell nice, and the birds like to eat its berries. There are native honeysuckles that smell just as nice but aren’t invasive, and bush honeysuckle berries are like bird candy – a high carb treat that doesn’t contain the fat necessary to give migrating birds the energy to fly thousands of miles. Plus, birds that choose to nest in it often nest in the lower branches because those are the sturdy ones. Because these nests are closer to the ground, they tend to have their eggs poached (pun intended!) more often.

Bush honeysuckle is just bad news for Ruth Park Woods and everywhere else in Missouri as well. So how do we get rid of it?Pull the little ones out by hand, especially after it rains. They have shallow roots, and even ones that are 2-3 feet tall often pull easily out of wet soil.

Dig out big ones IF you are only taking out a few. 

Cut them down and apply herbicide to the stems. This is the best way to clear a large area. 

WHAT?! I hate using chemicals to get rid of plants!   Unfortunately, this is the best way to get rid of a lot of bush honeysuckle. Digging up large areas of it disturbs the soil along with any desirable plants in it, AND new bush honeysuckle really likes to sprout in disturbed soil.

Want more information? Missouri Botanical Garden bush honeysuckle information;  Missouri Department of Conservation bush honeysuckle information