Multiflora Madness!

Multiflora rose is one of the nastiest invasive species I work with. Besides the skin piercing thorns, the stems can grow all over each other, climb twenty feet up into trees, and become an impenetrable thicket. On this particular site, the multiflora is so dense that I didn't find much life after the mess was removed. Sometimes a thicket like this will shelter some tree and shrub seedlings and saplings from deer predation, but all I found were a few stunted spicebush (deer resistant native shrub) and a few beech trees a couple feet tall that the deer have been feeding on. This situation is very common in forest canopy gaps where trees have fallen and suddenly there is a spot with full sun available on the forest floor. Even small multiflora roses can have a deep root system so digging everyone of them up is not an option with large scale infestations. The stems are cut and removed and herbicide is applied to the stumps. This is referred to as the cut stump method of herbicide application. This method is very efficient since only a small amount of herbicide is used as opposed to hosing everything down during the growing season which requires much more herbicide and will incur collateral damage to nearby plants we want growing. Without using herbicide on these larger plots, the multiflora will be right back where it was in a couple of years.  A follow-up herbicide application will be needed in April when spot treatments will be needed. Also, I should take pictures while wearing my glasses!