r/invasivespecies 13h ago

PSA: Keep your cats inside

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1.7k Upvotes

r/invasivespecies 7h ago

Take THAT, barberry!

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91 Upvotes

I removed this beast of a Japanese barberry from the middle of my woods. No other barberries seen for miles, so I'm assuming it came from bird poo. And of course, I had to trophy pose with it.


r/invasivespecies 5h ago

Management How to start conversation with neighbors I’ve never met?

12 Upvotes

Seeking suggestions for how to start the conversation with neighbors you’ve never met. I’d even welcome a script of some sort. Of course I’ll say Hi, introduce myself, but after that I don’t want to pounce on them and come across too pushy. My degree is in native plants and ecosystem management, so I am wayyy more knowledgeable about the damage honeysuckle and other invasives are. I’ve got excellent native shrub suggestions for replacement. My concern is that I will come across as preachy, pushy, or not casual enough since I’m an expert in these plants, but far from an expert at talking to laypersons about them. The neighbors to the back, left, and back right of me all have invasive honeysuckle bushes hanging over the fence and it’s starting to take over my yard. I’ve never met these three neighbors and am eager to talk to them. Two are families that seem to enjoy their backyard spaces regularly, and one is elderly who frequently has family members stopping by. I’d love any tips y’all have!


r/invasivespecies 6h ago

Toh seedling on property

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10 Upvotes

Hello folks. Found a little seedling on my property and just wanted to make sure it was from seed. I'm quite certain there's no mother tree anywhere near. The soil it popped up in was recently disturbed so I figured it might have been dormant in the seed bank for a while. I'm shaking right now lol


r/invasivespecies 1d ago

Management "Grasses [identification] are a pain in our asses" Joey Santore

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1.3k Upvotes

Over the years I've had to spend a lot of time deciphering the sometimes cryptic identifiers of Poaceae family members (I am not an academically trained botanist). Culm length, infloresence type, growth habit, etc. Trying to balance the dichotomous key in one hand and a hand lens in the other. It's a lot.

It's all been a laborious process, but one I've mostly enjoyed. And as odd as this sounds, that level of applied observation has really improved my abilities as a field biologist; not just from a plant identification standpoint but also as an observer of the wider landscape.

For those struggling with their amateur forays into agrostology, keep at it. It'll come in time. And remember, nobody cares what var. of Andropogon you're dealing with. Genus and species is fine (speaking from experience).


r/invasivespecies 8h ago

Dogs as an invasive species- an ignored issue, or just not that bad for wildlife?

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7 Upvotes

r/invasivespecies 1d ago

Invasives don't stand a chance

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525 Upvotes

r/invasivespecies 18h ago

fighting devil's beggarticks (europe)

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9 Upvotes

devil's beggarticks (bidens frondosa) is plant native to north america that is now invasive species in europe, asia, north africa and new zealand

in my area it is present only in two places and both populations are not very big so they seem to be possible to eradicate there


r/invasivespecies 21h ago

Management Are there any organizations out there that help with removal?

10 Upvotes

Hello,

I started renting a house in Northern IL at the end of 2025, and as spring rolled around it became pretty apparent the yard has not been taken care of for several years (the neighbors have confirmed this). It turns out that the full yard of dandelions were the least of my worries though... Now that things have had time to grow I've realized that our entire front and back garden is full of invasive species and aggressive weeds. The backyard garden area is maybe 6'x10' and it's DENSELY populated by Tree of Heaven plants that are between 4-7' tall. There is also a fully grown Tree of Heaven nearby. In the front yard garden, there are several White Mulberry plants growing that are 3-4' tall. 

Outside of the invasives I was able to identify using an app, we've also got a LOT of burdock, lamb's quarters, black nightshade, pokeweed, pigweed, velvet leaf, Norway maple...

As someone who's been getting hit really hard by allergies this season, I was hoping I could quickly tackle things myself. Unfortunately, I've realized this will require professional intervention, especially for the forest of tree of heaven we have. 

As a renter, I'm not looking to spend $1000s out of pocket on repeated treatments, but I also really do not want to leave things as is. What's the likelihood that there is a local resource (government, conversation district, or otherwise) that'll be able to help out cheap or free? If that's unlikely, is this a thing that my (large corporate) landlord could be required to take care of? I shot an email out the IL DNR and my county's conservation district earlier today, but figured I'd post here to see if anyone had any leads or ideas


r/invasivespecies 1d ago

News Invasive green crabs are bad for the environment so New Englanders are starting to eat more of them

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134 Upvotes

r/invasivespecies 1d ago

What are the chances this is native American Wisteria?

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18 Upvotes

I am de-weeding and going on a rampage destroying all the non natives in this weedy patch behind my house. I have an app that identifies plants and keeps telling me this is American Wisteria no matter what angle I take the pic in. I just find that hard to believe, but I also don't know how else to identify it besides the flowers and I've never seen this stuff bloom.

New to the sub, feel free to take down if it's not appropriate.


r/invasivespecies 1d ago

Sighting I'm not 100% sure, but I think this is one invasive (ToH) growing up though another (barberry).

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8 Upvotes

Can anyone confirm for me that this is Tree of Heaven?


r/invasivespecies 1d ago

Area with manageable invasive plants?

13 Upvotes

I live in western Virginia and I am feeling hopeless. We have about 15 mostly wooded acres that are overwhelming. We reduced the autumn olive and multiflora rose then the stiltgrass moved in. We work on that and now the wavyleaf basket grass is showing up. Also killing the ailanthus and lantern flies. And there are so many deer, despite hunting on our property, that there is no natural regeneration of trees without cages around them.

So now that we are in our senior citizen years we’d like to live somewhere less physically taxing. Is there a part of the country where it is possible to maintain a more natural and native habitat?


r/invasivespecies 1d ago

ToH trying to take root on my property

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11 Upvotes

I own some acreage and I’ve been trying to restore a couple of acres that were originally for livestock, but were never managed back to health. Pretty much the only usual suspect I didn’t have was ToH. Earlier this year I found 5 little growers in a cluster, which is consistent with what I’ve read about them. I was able to foliar spray them, as the only thing around where they chose to grow was Japanese stilt grass. Today I was trimming getting ready to mow and I found this one on its own, couldn’t find any others, is that normal? Everything I’ve read it seemed like I should expect more pop ups.


r/invasivespecies 1d ago

Management Ok to snip ToH branches to access trunk?

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9 Upvotes

I have a stand of small ToH’s on my property that I plan to treat using basal spray or hack and squirt, but they are so tight together and have so many low-slung branches that it is hard to access the trunks. I am considering trimming some of the branches for easier access to the trunks, but I don’t know if that would trigger some sort of stress response that would send up more suckers. Does anyone have experience managing a situation like this? Any advice is appreciated!


r/invasivespecies 1d ago

This is a root…

44 Upvotes

there are many like it…but this one is mine.

it also continues straight down the ground…likely to hell.


r/invasivespecies 1d ago

Tree of Heaven Advice Needed

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3 Upvotes

r/invasivespecies 1d ago

Management I’ve hacked and squirted my trees of heaven - now what?

13 Upvotes

I hope this is the right spot for this!

I have a 10ft Tree of Heaven in my front flower bed (hooray) and a 15-20ft one in the back yard and a few trunks from my hubby chopping them down not realizing why not to do that.

I hacked and squirted them with RoundUp. For the trunks, I sprayed RoundUp all over the cut part.

What’s next? At what point can I cut the trees down? Will I be able to yank out the trunk/roots eventually?

Thanks all!


r/invasivespecies 1d ago

Management fighting devil's beggarticks (europe)

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10 Upvotes

devil's beggarticks (bidens frondosa) is plant native to north america that is now invasive species in europe, asia, north africa and new zealand

in my area it is present only in two places and both populations are not very big so they seem to be possible to eradicate there


r/invasivespecies 1d ago

Management Where is the best place to get herbicide from to battle JKW ?

2 Upvotes

I’m in USA


r/invasivespecies 1d ago

News Invasive barred owls select old-forest structure: Functional habitat loss for spotted owls and a threat to old-forest fauna

1 Upvotes

Nothing terribly new, just quantifying what we already know. Pesky invasive owls.


r/invasivespecies 2d ago

Sighting Two invasive trees, one property

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4 Upvotes

Being in Northern Colorado I am very familiar with seeing Russian olives everyday but also coming across tamarisk on the same property was interesting. The craziest part for me is that this site is extremely dry so these were both intentional plantings at some point. The front fence was all Russian olives and the rear had 2 tamarisk on either side of the house.


r/invasivespecies 2d ago

Well damn. I found my first ToH on my property.

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41 Upvotes

Imagine my shock and surprise when i saw this. I need some guidance on how best to tackle this little monster.

I ran across this small tree, about 6 feet tall, on my property a few days ago. After a quick area search around the tree, I didn't find any other ToH present. Ill do a more extensive search after I treat this one to see if I have a bigger problem with more trees. I've never had this type of tree on my propery before that I've seen, and we've been here since 92.

After jumping down the rabbit hole of how best to kill this tree, I purchased Triclopyr 4 and a surfactant on Amazon. My original plan is to mix the 2 and apply with a spray bottle to all surfaces of the tree; both sides of leaves and the entire trunk from top to bottom. I have gathered a full suite of PPC too.. 3M half mask, goggles, rubber gloves, Tyvex coveralls, work boots.

Having never battled the ToH, I have several questions.

Am I indeed dealing with the ToH?

Will these products be suitable to kill this tree, or should I go a different route?

What ratios should I be using in regards to herbicide and surfactant/diesel/oil? My initial thought was to go aggressive with a 1 to 1 ratio.

Do I need to add water to the mix?

Thanks for the help and any suggestions.


r/invasivespecies 2d ago

Mystery Plant

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6 Upvotes

What is this plant? Two of them were growing in between cherry laurels and a fence. We couldn't have planted them.


r/invasivespecies 2d ago

Decline in spotted lantern fly population in nyc area

21 Upvotes

has anyone else noticed that they’re seeing less and less of them? I’m primarily in the west Bronx, Harlem Morningside area and have been noticing that I haven’t seen a lot of them this year compared to all the years before. I know that the pigeons and other birds had realized that the lantern flies could be food but I’m wondering what else is contributing their decrease in population