Nonnative Roses

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.

Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora Thunb.), Macartney rose (R. bracteata J.C. Wendl.), Cherokee rose (R. laevigata Michx.), and other nonnative roses are all evergreen except multiflora. Roses are all erect, arching, or trailing shrubs to 30 feet (9 m) in height, or long and clump forming. They have pinnately compound leaves with three to nine leaflets and frequent recurved or straight thorns. Clustered or single white-to-pink flowers in early summer yield red rose hips in fall to winter. Roses colonize by prolific sprouting and stems that root when touching the soil and spread by bird- and mammal-dispersed seeds. Resemble native Carolina rose (R. carolina L.), swamp rose (R. palustris Marsh.), and climbing rose (R. setigera Michx.), all of which have pink flowers in spring and nonbristled leafstalk bases, but none form extensive infestations except swamp rose in wet habitat.

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 these plants occur, and anticipate wider occupation if plants are present before disturbance.
• Manual pulling is hindered by thorny branches and is limited to new seedlings.
• Manually pull new seedlings and tree wrench saplings when soil is moist, ensuring removal of all roots.
• Readily eaten by goats and sheep, although this activity also might spread seeds.

Recommended control procedures

• Thoroughly wet all leaves with one of the following herbicides in water with a surfactant: [April to June (at or near the time of flowering)] Escort XP* at 1 ounce per acre in water (0.2 dry ounce per 3-gallon mix); (August to October) Arsenal AC* as a 1-percent solution (4 ounces per 3-gallon mix) or Escort XP* at 1 ounce per acre in water (0.2 dry ounce per 3-gallon mix); and (May to October) repeated applications of a glyphosate herbicide as a 4-percent solution in water (1 pint per 3-gallon mix), a less-effective treatment that has no soil activity to damage surrounding plants.
• For stems too tall for foliar sprays, apply basal sprays (January to February or May to October) 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 apply undiluted Pathfinder II. Or cut large stems and immediately treat the stump tops with one of the following herbicides in water with a surfactant: Arsenal AC* as a 10-percent solution (1 quart 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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