My backyard in WV is a nice and healthy mix of tree of heaven, amur honeysuckle, burdock, multiflora rose, and wild grape (the grape is okay). Theyre all beautifully situated on a hill that is like a 50 degree angle. I have started managing them this fall, and the management is time consuming and labor intensive but relatively straight forward- hack and squirt and cut stump treatments of undiluted glyphosate mainly.

Mixed into all of this I learned of something new: Chinese Yam (Dioscorea polystachya).

After dealing with all of these plants and having an okay enough time, let me say this: whoever brought Chinese yam to the country needs to be found and shot. Theyre probably dead already but it still needs to be done.

I move an INCH and i am pelted by thousands of "air potatoes". Air potatoes? Who needs seeds when you can just make thousands of ready to germinate tubers? insane. everything i ripped out today just made me feel like I was creating new Chinese Yam habitat. Further, i thought hey maybe i can rip them up and eat them if they are so good culinary wise.

THEY ARE BURIED 3 FEET INTO THE GROUND! ALMOST 3 WHOLE FEET!

Nothing about this plant is redeemable and whatever poser hippy "permaculturalists" keep planting it need to be rounded up and dumped somewhere.

The before pic is from 2023, when I had honeysuckle & periwinkle in the backyard, plus burning bush & Yew in the front. All are gone now, finally. There will still be seedlings I gotta pull, but I'd say I finally won the war.

1 more thing: is the grass in the last picture an invasive? If so, how do I kill it?

So, I'm trying to remove some geranium plants that have taken over and suffocating other plants in my garden which I inherited when I moved house a few years ago. I'm not someone who is interested in gardening but I recently noticed how prolific the geranium had become and I thought I'd better try and do something about it. I'm trying to remove it from the roots but it has become extremely woody (and extremely strong) and there is now fresh growth outside of the garden, about a metre down from the main plant. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Normally, and unfortunately, I'm the total opposite of a green thumb and quite adept at unintentionally killing plants but this seems to be thriving on my neglect. Am in Au btw.

We have a marshy area behind our house, covered in phragmites. My property line actually sits about six feet into the phragmites (which we actually like), but I’m trying to reclaim 3 or 4 feet, so we can put a fence in (we got a new puppy). I’ve started cutting it back, but of course, next spring it’ll come back. Is there a good was, minus chemicals or salt to stop it? If I seed or sod the cut back area, and just make sure it stays cut, will I eventually gain some control? And if so, would I seed/ sod now (mid-October), or wait until spring? We are in northern Delaware.

I spent a solid hour tryna find out what specific type of hammerhead worm has these markings but nowhere specifies.. I want the specific type cause i’m making a character of it (photos are not mine)

I live in Georgia and have a huge and beautiful paper mulberry in my backyard. I know it's invasive but I really do love it and it would be real expensive to get rid of and leave the backyard looking empty. The shoots are the bane of my existence and kinda take over my summer free time, wondering if there's any way to get rid of the shoots without killing the main tree. I'm assuming there's no way to totally stop it from sending up new shoots, but I'd love to be able to keep them somewhat in check and stop shoots from continuously growing back from the spots I've already cut them back. Any advice is greatly appreciated, everything I've seen is just about getting rid of the tree and killing the root system, and I'd really love to be able to keep the shoots under control without killing a very beautiful, albeit invasive, tree. thanks :)

The tree is maybe 12-15 ft tall located in zone 7b. It is right next to a Japanese viburnum that is slated to get the ax. In the last photo it is the suckering tree on the left portion of the trunk mass.

We have several TOH trees that are skinny (maybe 4-5 inches around) and about 2.5 stories tall. We have some estimates to get them cut down, however- now being October and close to first frost, I am not sure when to treat them first to kill them. Or if it will make big enough of difference.

The yard already had many sprouts that were sprayed and cut this summer and fall with help of the local conservation district. They advised spraying the larger trees first then cutting down, but I have no idea how long they will actually take to die. And they are between two houses with no wiggle room if one dies and falls.

The tree removal company suggested spraying now, but then would advise to cut down in 3-4 weeks. We won't be able pay by then so seems like the choices are cut this winter and treat later (his suggestion) or wait til next summer where we can treat it with chemicals to kill it and then have them cut it. The yard will need treatment again since it was so bad and then obviously still trees around.

TLDR: Many skinny TOH trees to cut down- when to time it, if I can't afford to cut down in October/November.

Hey everyone,

I’m familiar with other Prosopis species (like velvet mesquite or honey mesquite) having sweet, edible pods that people traditionally grind into flour or use for drinks. However, I’ve been looking into Prosopis juliflora specifically and wanted to get some clarity from folks who know botany, foraging, or ecology.

* Edibility: Are the dry pods of Prosopis juliflora actually edible for humans? I know the pulp is sweet, but I've also read mixed things about toxic alkaloids (like juliflorine) in the plant—especially regarding livestock toxicity. Can humans safely process and eat the dry pods, or should P. juliflora be avoided compared to its milder cousins?

* Climate Change & Invasion: I keep reading about how aggressively this tree is taking over arid and semi-arid regions across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Is climate change (like expanding droughts and rising temperatures) actively expanding its habitable zones, or is its global takeover mostly driven by human introduction and lack of native predators?

Would love to hear any insights, foraging tips, or ecological context!

I keep finding callery pears when I'm out trying to get autumn olive before the birds spread them around. The trees aren't on my property or I'd just hack em down -- they're in some office landscaping that's oddly heavily-patrolled by their security team. I pick the fruit just so they don't spread, but I can't find any leads on if they're edible or how to use them. I hear vague reports of people using them for jelly because they've got decent pectin, but at what stage of ripeness, is there a decent recipe for them anywhere, etc.

Are there any actual uses for the bajillion callery pears growing on this property or should I just...de-seed them and compost them or something?

Trying to learn the visual differences between invasive Chinese mantises and native/European.

Sorry, location is Michigan.

I have a pretty tall and widespread ToH plant run amok in my back and side yard, big enough that I’m getting tired just thinking about trying to do the whole thing in one day.

Is it as effective if done over the course of multiple days, or is it important to do the first round of hack and squirt all in one day?

I work for a small native garden coaching/installation start up that believes in effectively no herbicides (I disagree with the owner on this). We’re based in Chicago.

I was called for a consult with an older couple who were very physically limited. It was difficult to even watch them walk around the overgrown backyard. Their backyard is covered in Rose of Sharon saplings and small established bushes, from 2 mature shrubs that they had planted many years ago. There is a thicket of it that is smothering a three large hydrangea. It’s bad.

Also back there: Morning glory vines everywhere, lily of the valley, white snakeroot (native, but high quantities), and Virginia jumpseed (also native, but very profiling back there).

My only solution is the say “hire it out” to someone who can use herbicide. At this point, we may have the manpower for an initial clearing. We don’t have the time to be coming back at a frequent enough basis to actually keep this at bay without herbicides.

Oh, and they wanna keep one of them. Of course.

Hi all, the first freeze is rapidly approaching and I need some quick help. I had tremendous success knocking down a neighbor's enormous and very tall patch of Japanese knotweed through stem injection in late summer, but his plants were large enough to accommodate that. I had a couple smaller plants popping up in my own backyard, but after foliar application with a 5% solution, weeks later the stems are still green and I only see yellowing on the edges of many leaves (other areas have died as I'd expect). I'm confused about why some of these didn't go down. I've been pretty meticulous and done a ton of research through this entire process this summer. Unfortunately I've been out of town, which is why I haven't been able to readdress these areas before now, and frankly, it may be too late to get a good response.

Appreciate any guidance on how you would address these areas.