Bush Honeysuckles

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.

Amur honeysuckle [Lonicera maackii (Rupr.) Herder], Morrow’s honeysuckle (L. morrowii Gray), Tatarian honeysuckle (L. tatarica L.), sweet breath of spring (L. fragrantissima Lindl. & Paxton), and Bell’s honeysuckle (Lonicera ×bella Zabel [morrowii × tatarica]) are all tardily deciduous, upright to arching-branched shrubs. All are multiple stemmed with dark green oval-to-oblong distinctly opposite leaves that appear early. Fragrant showy tubular and five-lipped white-to-pink or yellow paired flowers similar to Japanese honeysuckle (L. japonica L.) appear from May to June. Abundant paired berries in leaf axils are red to orange during winter and are spread by birds and mammals. Seeds are long lived in the soil. Infestations intensify by root sprouts.

Management strategies

Do not plant. Remove prior plantings, and control sprouts and seedlings. Bag and dispose of fruit in a dumpster or burn.
Minimize disturbance within miles of where these plants occur, and anticipate wider occupation when plants are present before disturbance.
Treat new plants when young to prevent seed formation.
Repeated cutting to prevent fruiting once a year in forests will diminish stands. Cut only when fruit are not present.
Manual pulling, tree wrenching, and grubbing with a pick mattock can control small plants and small populations when roots are removed; these strategies are easiest when soil is moist. Soils should be tamped down to discourage further invasion.
Burning treatments are most effective in spring for seedling kill and topkill. Repeat for suppression.
Bush honeysuckles are not readily eaten by goats, deer, or sheep, while high deer densities unless controlled will slow revegetation by native plants.

Treatment access can be limited by dense growth and will warrant trail cutting.

Recommended control procedures

Thoroughly wet all leaves with glyphosate herbicide, Garlon 3A, or Garlon 4 as a 4-percent solution in water (1 pint per 3-gallon mix) with a surfactant (April to October); or when leaves turn yellow, increase the strength of the Garlon 4 application to a 6-percent solution (20 ounces per 3-gallon mix). Other alternatives include: 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* applied to young bark as a basal spray to all stems in a clump (winter applications recommended).
For stems too tall for foliar sprays, cut large stems and saplings and immediately treat the stump tops with one of the following herbicides when safety to surrounding vegetation is desired: a glyphosate herbicide, Garlon 3A as a 20-percent solution (5 pints per 3-gallon mix), or undiluted Pathfinder II. 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). Elsewhere, apply Pathway* undiluted in summer or fall. Treating in the spring will result in significantly lower control, especially when using a glyphosate herbicide.
For large stems, make stem injections using Arsenal AC* or when safety to surrounding vegetation is desired, Garlon 3A or a glyphosate herbicide using dilutions and cut-spacings specified on the herbicide label (anytime except March and April). An EZ-Ject tree injector can help to reach the lower part of the main stem; otherwise, every branching trunk must be hack-and-squirt injected.

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

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