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Photo by P.J. Perea |
Chinese privet
Landscapers and gardeners look for eye-catching, hardy, fast growing, fruitful, easy to propagate and drought tolerant plants to grow around homes and offices. Sometimes those plants aren't from around here, meaning they're exotics. When those plants escape the confines of the urban landscape and invade the rural world, those descriptions — fast growing, easy to propagate, etc. — mean something different to a wildlife biologist. It means they are a nightmare to control.
Chinese privet (Lingustrum sinese) is one of those nightmares.
It's a common ornamental shrub sold throughout the Southeast and was introduced as a landscaping plant more than 150 years ago. Prized for its flowers and showy berries, it's often used in floral arrangements. And because it can produce a hedge in a short time, Chinese privet has been widely planted around homes, businesses and parks across much of the Southeast.
Unfortunately, Chinese privet found it easy to escape cultivation as flocks of birds consumed its abundant berries and spread the already popular plant up and down the East Coast, Southeast and Plains states. Once established, it can regrow itself from rootstock or readily regenerate a stand through the thousands of fruits dropped from its branches every season.
Know thy enemy
The Chinese privet is part of the olive family and can grow up to 30 feet tall. When flowering, its blossoms are very aromatic. It is a shallow rooted plant that sends out many runners that can produce a new plant from suckers growing off the roots. The leaves are evergreen to semi-deciduous, meaning they're hardy. Seeds are easily dispersed by birds and will grow along field edges quickly. Its ability to create prolific seeds, regrow from runners and extreme hardiness causes many problems for native plants that are quickly shaded out or simply outcompeted for space and nutrients.
War games
If Chinese privet is in its early stages of growth, physically pulling the plant and its roots will control them for spot treatments. Mowing and cutting can be effective at controlling early infestations. The problems occur when trying to control a mature or well-established stand of Chinese privet.
Simply cutting down the plant above ground will not solve the problem. Depending on the size of the bush, there may be years or even decades of seed bank activated by the cutting. Mechanical removal also activates the growth of suckers, and new plants will emerge after the upper part of the plant is removed.
In places where fire management is an option, burning will remove much of the upper biomass of Chinese privet, but vigorous sucker growth and ground disturbance may offset any short-term gains. The Chinese privet seed bank will quickly fill the bare soil before native plants can recover from the fire. In fact, burning may have no effect or make the situation worse.
Chemical warfare
Using herbicides is the most successful way to control Chinese privet. Fall and winter are the best times to apply herbicides. Many native plants are dormant in colder months, so there is less risk of injuring favored plants.
The evergreen Chinese privet, however, is active through the winter, so it is easy to target them and allow the herbicide time to penetrate the plant from leaves down to the roots.
A foliage treatment of 2 percent glyphosate and triclopyr is effective at killing actively growing plants.
Hack and squirt and basal bark treatments of 25 percent glyphosate and 75 percent horticultural oil can kill Chinese privet down to the root.
Once the bush is killed, monitor the site for several years, as it is likely the seed bank will regrow in the area soon after the herbicide treatment. Plus, birds and other animals will be constantly bringing in new seed to the area from Chinese privet hedges growing in other areas.
A better option is to plant native mast-bearing trees such as persimmon or plum to replace the privet and provide better habitat for wildlife. — P.J. Perea