What's the Problem with Honeysuckle?

It smells nice, looks nice, and has a pretty name. So why do my friends keep spending their weekends ripping up honeysuckle? I met up with the ringleader, Kaylyn Hobelman of the Washburn Biology Department (and EcoBods sponsor) to find out.

J: First off, what is honeysuckle? Where does it come from, and why is it here?

K: The bush honeysuckle that we're talking about is a fast-growing shrub that is native to Asia. It was planted because it will form a hedge really quickly. So in areas that you need privacy or maybe topsoil erosion control, it seemed like a great option in the 1800s. And it also smells nice!

J: How can you identify it? 

K: A good sign is that it's already starting to leaf out early in the season. It also stays green later in the season...way longer than any of the native plants. A few other features: Along the stem, the leaves are opposite. There are white flowers in the summer. And the in the fall, it has these shiny red berries that are a little bit smaller than a pea. It is a woody shrub that forms multiple stems at the bottom. On the bark, it has these vertical ridges going down it that almost look like a cat has clawed it. And the stems are hollow, so that's another good test.    

J: So why is honeysuckle bad? What's the problem with non-native plants?  

The issue with it here in Kansas and throughout the U.S. is that it leafs out before the native plants and keeps them from getting light. And so when you have honeysuckle growing in an area, you often have no native plants underneath it. 

When it has taken over, like in this area we're looking at now, you look at the soil layer, and there’s nothing growing on top of it except for another invasive species called winter creeper. If we were sitting in a healthy forest in northeast Kansas, you’d be seeing all of these cute little spring ephemerals coming up. So little trout lilies and Dutchman’s breeches and a lot of diversity of plants. And that’s the piece that you’re missing when you have an invasive species that takes over: the biodiversity. And that is key to healthy ecosystems.

When you introduce a plant species that isn’t native to this area, it’s not affecting just the plant composition. It's also affecting the soil structure, and insects, and animals, and the use of the land. Everything is all intertwined. You just can’t just pull on one thing and think you’re only touching that. It affects everything.

J: Would you say more about the soil issue? You said it was planted to help topsoil erosion. Isn't that a good thing?

K: Yeah, so there are a lot of different plants that provide different soil-building benefits in an ecosystem. One of the things about bush honeysuckle: it is a shallow-rooted plant. So while people may have planted it for erosion control, it's actually only good for this top layer of soil. It'll grow quickly and kind of lock that in. But the issue is that our native plants are deeply rooted, and they build soil.

So you have plants that are in the bean family, for example, that fix nitrogen. And so if you’re not having this diversity of plants, you’re not actually building soil, which is the piece that kind of gets lost when people just look at managing land for how it looks. Maybe the top of the soil is being held down because the honeysuckle roots are there, but there’s actually not the diversity that’s helping to build healthy soils underneath as well.

J: Definitely sounds like it's not great for the ecosystem. What other concerns are there with honeysuckle in the Shunga Trail area? 

K: You also have the issue of it creating this wall of understory that we don't typically have in our northeast Kansas forest...which creates a safety concern for users of the Shunga Trail and any park where it is. Because when you come around curves, you can't see ahead of you on the trail any longer. So this shrub actually causes more problems than just ecologically. There are also human impacts as well.

K: So what can people do to get rid of it?

K: Getting rid of it is hard! Honeysuckle is prolific, and it's good at surviving here, which is why it is a problem. You either have to pull it out by the roots—we have some tools called Uprooters and Honeysuckle Poppers that we'll use to actually take out the root ball. And you can also cut it and treat it with an herbicide. Just cutting it, it will come back.

If you have a chainsaw for the bigger stems, that is the most handy. We're going to use loppers and hand saws as well. So you can cut it at the base and then come through with an herbicide like triclopyr or glyphosate. Always use a dye if you can so you know which stems you've treated. And wear gloves—that's very important! Treat just the tip you've cut, not getting it over the whole plant. It is important to treat it directly after cutting so the plant is still actively absorbing the herbicide. If you do it later, you're going to have minimal to no success.

Method 1: Cut the honeysuckle with loppers, a hand saw, or a chainsaw, then treat the cut end with herbicide right away.    

Method 2: Use an Uprooter tool like the white one shown here to take the honeysuckle out by the root ball. You can clear a lot of honeysuckle in a short time with a tool like this and a chainsaw, as you can see from the pile Robert and Jonathan generated on a recent work day. 

J: What should you do after you've removed it? Should you plant some sort of native plants in its place so that it doesn't grow back?

K: It absolutely depends on the area that you're in, the history of the land, how bad the infestation is, and what your goals for the area are. So there is no simple answer here. 

For this area, for example, we're near the creek over here, and so we're looking for plants that are going to help with erosion control. Deep-rooted natives that will also grow quickly and tolerate moist soils, like river oats. Keep in mind that this species is not great for small areas since it does spread quickly.

Some resources if you do want to plant some native plants are the City Roots Nursery in Kansas City, Botanical Belonging in Tonganoxie, and the Topeka Zoo is also having a native plant sale coming up. A few ideas for native shrubs are elderberry, buttonbush, or chokecherry. Downy serviceberry is a great native option with white flowers and red berries that are beneficial to native fauna.

J: How can people help if they want to come help you get rid of honeysuckle? 

K: Our next work day is going to be March 22 from 3-6 p.m. We're going to continue working over here at the Rip On Skate Park and near the soccer fields as well. There are two little parking areas over here. If you get tired of cutting honeysuckle, there's also a major trash problem in the area too, so if you want to help us pick up rubbish, that desperately needs done as well. Lots of opportunties to clean up this park!

Thanks so much to Kaylyn for setting the record straight on honeysuckle and spending her free time ripping it out to give our native plants a fighting chance—and making the Shunga Trail safer at the same time!

-Justine