One word - goats. In the south we have Kudzu, which is the spawn of Satan...grows up to a foot a day. Goats take care of the problem and hills are no problem.
I spent 125 hours over the winter cutting and treating stumps. I only cut those bushes over 8' tall and I left the rest. I came back in the spring and sprayed the honeysuckle that was under 8' tall. I have yet to find a single plant that was cut and treated that is resprouting and I would say 90% of what I sprayed is dead as well. Its extremely slow going due to the massive size these things grow (some 20-30 feet tall on my property) and I didn't cover much ground in 125 hours but I think it will be worth it in the end. I did look into a forestry mulcher however I was told to expect to be able to clear 1-3 acres per day and I just can't afford to spend that kind of money.
I looked for pictures of Kudzu but can't see anything. What is it like compared to honeysuckle? I can't imagine a goat could eat a bush that is 6 inches thick and 20 feet tall? Also, how do you keep them from eating everything else? There aren't many native plants left on my spot but what is left I'd like to keep.
Goats eat EVERYTHING (native, invasive, organic or inedible). Here is kudzu https://www.invasive.org/eastern/srs/K.html Where we live, honeysuckle can be annoying, but its not overly aggressive. To get to a 6" trunk would take some time. Kudzu is next level. It was originally introduced to the states for erosion control.
I believe a herd of goats would easily become a feasting zone for our abundant coyotes in short time, but those suckers will do some work on an understory. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I think the cost of fencing goats into a 30 acre area would be quite expensive and time consuming as well.
What I've seen are temporary fences, like .5 acre which are moved. Not sure if an electric would keep out yotes or if you can pen a donkey with goats. A farmer down the road had 3 donkeys with his ~50 head cattle, which is good enough to deter yotes during calving season.
Temporary fence, that's not a bad idea. Still don't like the idea of them eating the whole place though. Its not a very good hunting spot right now but its all I have!
sounds like the plants are too big to be impacted by goats now. Maybe before it gets established but I don't see goats eating 3"+ trunks. I would think you could do better than 3 acres per day with a real heavy duty mulcher but I'm no expert and maybe you need to give the machine a rest every so often, but in the YouTube videos they fly through that stuff. Sounds like either way it's gonna cost you- little bit of time and lots of money, little money and lots of time, or something in between each.
I find this interesting, I like the dogwood and honey suckle we have here,even the the autumn olive. This said the olive can be difficult. I once had the DEC comment "How are you controlling these dog wood and honey suckle?" It's rather easy I mow them into islands and barriers. Then I cut what isn't where it's suppose to be. I turkey and small game hunt ,why would I get rid of all of them,they provide important nutrients and health benefits. I can't ask for better stalk around cover and bedding areas. Now ask me about common buck thorn because that is hell on earth to deal with. I'm not to sure nuking them would work,they'd just remain as home for cockroaches in the end.
I used a buck goat tied to a tractor with stainless cable clearing poison ivy, hazel brush, and buck thorn he would eat the leaves off and the cable would wear thru the cambrium killing the brush. That buck was 65 pounds 30 pounds of horn and 35 pounds of testicle, no coyote ever messed with him.
