Autumn Olive

Miller, James H.; Manning, Steven T.; Enloe, Stephen F. 2010. A management guide for invasive plants in southern forests. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS–131. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 120 p.

Autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata Thunb.) is a tardily deciduous bushy leafy shrub, 3 to 20 feet (1 to 6 m) in height, with scattered thorny branches. It has alternate leaves that are green above and silvery scaly beneath, with many red berries in fall having silvery scales. Species spreads by bird- and mammal-dispersed seeds. Often planted for surfacemine reclamation and wildlife food plots and escapes to forest edges and open forests.

Management strategies

• Do not plant. Remove prior plantings, and control sprouts and seedlings. Bag and dispose of fruit in a dumpster or burn.
• Treat when new plants are young to prevent seed formation.
• Cut and bulldoze when fruit are not present.
• Minimize disturbance within miles of where this plant occurs, and anticipate wider occupation when plants are present before disturbance.
• Cutting and basal treatments are hindered by multiple thorny sprouts and eye protection should be used.
• Manually pull new seedlings and tree wrench saplings when soil is moist, ensuring removal of all roots.
• Burning treatments are suspected of having minimal topkill effect due to scant litter.
• Autumn olive seedlings are readily eaten by goats and sheep. Goats can deaden saplings by striping the bark and bending them over to eat the foliage.

Recommended control procedures

• Thoroughly wet all leaves with Arsenal AC* or Vanquish* as a 1-percent solution in water (4 ounces per 3-gallon mix) with a surfactant (April to October). Or when safety to surrounding vegetation is desired, use Garlon 3A as a 2 percent solution (8 ounces per 3-gallon mix).
• For stems too tall for foliar sprays, apply (January to February or May to October) a basal spray using Garlon 4 as a 20-percent solution (5 pints per 3-gallon mix) in a labeled basal oil product, vegetable oil or mineral oil with a penetrant, or fuel oil or diesel fuel (where permitted), or undiluted Pathfinder II when safety to surrounding vegetation is desired. Elsewhere, apply Stalker* as a 6-percent solution (1.5 pints per 3-gallon mix) in a labeled basal oil product, vegetable oil or mineral oil with a penetrant, or fuel oil or diesel fuel (where permitted) to young stems. Or cut larger stems and immediately treat the stump tops with one of the following herbicides in water with a surfactant: Arsenal AC* as a 5-percent solution (20 ounces per 3-gallon mix); or when safety to surrounding vegetation is desired, a glyphosate herbicide as a 20-percent solution (5 pints per 3-gallon mix). ORTHO Brush-B-Gon, Enforcer Brush Killer, and Vine-X are effective undiluted for treating cut-stumps and available in retail garden stores (safe to surrounding plants).

* Nontarget plants may be killed or injured by root uptake.

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