I’ve spent hours upon days upon months (all Winter) researching the best method to rid Areas 1, 2 and 3 of invasive ground cover. The best options appeared to be:
- pull it all (unrealistic,)
- spray, rake and plant;
- to plant brush that will eventually kill the ground cover (some of it,) or
- to scrape the area and start from scratch.
I still hadn’t decided or received a definitive plan by the time this happened…and the decision was made for me. So this will be the 2023 experiment for this area.
During repair of a water main break, it was agreed that the Bobcat would also be used to pull Privet and Honeysuckle.
There was so much, with massive roots from the old Privet, that it turned into a full-blown pounding of the area…and before I could intervene, invasives were buried under mounds of dirt. In an attempt to “make it better,” the area was scraped; leaving a little less of the invasives. Areas that I had planted were again bulldozed over, and I’m getting numb to the frustration. But I’m not sure yet if this wasn’t the right path.
So my next experiment will be to see if the invasives die when buried, or how long it takes invasives to emerge; and then whether spraying the following Fall or Spring is effective in pushing it back. If we spray in the Fall, an effective cover drop will be essential. If we spray in Spring, it will have to be before planting; so weather will have to cooperate.
This is the most difficult phase of this project thus far. I will remove as much of the invasive ground cover as humanly possible before planting my test areas.
Still deciding whether to smile or cry, but it’s too late to undo, so this is the way I will go.
