Bought an old farm... Plant IDs?

My wife and I recently acquired an old farm in the ozarks. The property hasn't been properly maintained in what I assume are decades. There are currently vines all over and I wanted to see if anybody could help me ID some of these things before I start hacking. There's also what appears to be an old fruit orchard behind the barn but the vines have also spread and taken those over as well.

Thanks!

Hey Jack! Welcome to Permies!

Congratulations on grabbing hold of some land to work on! IMHO there is nothing better for the soul, and the pocketbook too.

I'm sure some folks with local knowledge will chime in soon.

Hi Jack,

Welcome to Permies.  How many acres?

Good on you and best of luck!
Maybe put OZARKS in the the thread title to attract localized knowledge.

Ask your new neighbors about what they know of the farm's history. And ask them about the local plants.

John F Dean wrote:Hi Jack,

Welcome to Permies.  How many acres?

Hi, thanks. It's 18 acres

Jim Fry wrote:Ask your new neighbors about what they know of the farm's history. And ask them about the local plants.

^^Excellent advice. Local knowledge matters! Applied of course through many smart filters to separate the wheat from the chaff ...

Jim Fry wrote:Ask your new neighbors about what they know of the farm's history. And ask them about the local plants.

Thanks, I didn't even think of that. I believe I have ID'd it as Chinese Privet, which is unfortunate. But at least it's winter time and getting these suckers ripped out shouldn't take too long.

"...and getting these suckers ripped out shouldn't take too long."

Here's the problem with that. In the Fall, the sap goes down the plant for the Winter. If you pull out/cut off the plants just before the sap goes to the roots, you have a reasonable chance of killing the plant. No stored sap, no sap in the Spring to start the new growth. When you pull out plants in the winter you usually have to get every root also, or the plant can/will start anew come Spring. My suggestion in your case, because of the timing of your "weed" clearing, keep a close eye come Spring for new shoots. Then keep whacking the new leaves off until the plant runs out of energy to grow again.

Welcome to permies! Try comparing the viney plants to Japanese honeysuckle.

I do also think I spy some privet.

Picture #5 might be Beauty Berry>

https://permies.com/t/2442/beauty-berry

i see chinese privet ( the blue berries), and two species of honeysuckle/lonicera.

Oh, by the way, in your original post, you said something like "the property has not been properly maintained". I hope you think about that a bit. "Maintained" for who? It looks like the property may be very fortunate for the "folks" who now live there in the absence of human intrusion. And if you clear all that land back to human farm use, the Originals won't have much left for food/home/shelter/companionship.

~My suggestion is that if you must wipe out all the natural habitat in order to have just your habitat, that you at least set aside an area for the animals/bugs/birds and others. That does several things. It is polite to who is there first. It provides "cover" for those you want around you in the natural world. And, if you have it near future gardens, it provides a place for beneficial (to your gardens) insects to live. --And the Fairies will appreciate it as well.

pic 4 is honeysuckle,and we call the plant in pic 5 buck berries

for me its a constant battle to pull and cut out vines wanting to take over everything, kudzu, honeysuckle, poison ivy. in the woods some of these vines are 4" diameter.
get a handle on getting this stuff out in winter, some of these invasive things will grow a foot or more a day in summer time and choke out everything they can

Jim Fry wrote:"...and getting these suckers ripped out shouldn't take too long."
When you pull out plants in the winter you usually have to get every root also, or the plant can/will start anew come Spring. My suggestion in your case, because of the timing of your "weed" clearing, keep a close eye come Spring for new shoots. Then keep whacking the new leaves off until the plant runs out of energy to grow again.

Chinese privet will definitely come back from every little root fragment, and seeds will keep germinating in the vicinity for years. We had one in our yard when we bought our house in 2020, which I removed in spring 2021, digging up the stump and trying to get every single root. The next year I still had to pull dozens of sprouts from roots and hundreds of seedlings. Then a few roots still had enough energy to try again this year, and at least a dozen more seedlings this year too. I'm hoping next year the battle will be won, other than when birds occasionally deposit them from elsewhere (along with the Himalayan blackberries they bring every year).