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permaculture

multi flora rose invasion

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posted 16 years ago

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there are large areas of land that are being invaded with multiflora rose (it dormant but I am pretty sure that is what it is) I will be setting the goats to work on it when we get moved in but I am wondering if there is anything else I can do to discourage this nasty invasive weed???

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"One cannot help an involuntary process. The point is not to disturb it. - Dr. Michel Odent

Susan Monroe

Posts: 1093

Location: Western WA

posted 16 years ago

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I'm certainly no expert, but the ones that were in my yard were a real pain to deal with. It took me about seven years to get them all killed off by repeatedly digging them up and chopping off their heads. Now I've got another one in the front yard that my brother was carefully mowing around before I knew it was there.

Maybe the constant attention of your goats will work better. My rather sporadic attempts may have extended their lives by allowing growth and photosynthesis to feed the roots.

And be sure to whisper in your goats' ears: "KILL! KILL!"

Sue

Posts: 92

posted 16 years ago

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cutting them back in the middle of summer heat does help.

We had 10 acres of pasture covered with rose and goldenrod, and with nothing more than mowing at the proper times we now have pasture ready for hay production. (it was previously pasture)
I have great before and after pics.

I'm talking about commercial mowers, but it only took 5 cuts over a year and a half to make it happen.

Patience..........

Laughter is the best medicine.
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Posts: 133

Location: West Iowa

posted 16 years ago

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Goats will take them out, that I know. I don't really mind them, they seemed to have been good wildlife cover, but now that rose rosette disease came through, don't see any big ones anymore.

Leah Sattler

Posts: 2603

posted 16 years ago

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maybe you can send some of that disease my way, just a little sample

glad to hear that the mowing will work so quickly, maybe we will just need to get our hands on a brush hog and between that and the goats we can wipe them out. thanks!

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Posts: 92

posted 16 years ago

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I tried to get some pics up, but I need to resize some pics.
I'll get some before and afters up soon.

Laughter is the best medicine.
http://www.lawntimes.com

Leah Sattler

Posts: 2603

posted 16 years ago

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looking forward to them! looks like I found something to do on the homestead that my dh is interested in! he is already looking at brush hogs.

sue I have been dutifully cultivating a killer mindset in my goats for some time. I have introduced them to the concept slowly with small jobs such as poison ivy and honeysuckle so they don't know they are being indoctrinated into a dangerous terrorist group hell bent on destroying invasive plants and restoring native grasses. their training has been complete and they are about to go on their first real mission. I have a few suicide eaters still in training now. young naive males that will eat and eat until they are fat and will then sacrifice themselves on my barbeque pit or crock pot.

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Susan Monroe

Posts: 1093

Location: Western WA

posted 16 years ago

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EXCELLENT, Leah!

Way too many people raise livestock that is so placid it just wanders around waiting to be eaten. Once you have them trained to attack honeysuckle, blackberries and rugosa roses, see what they can do with idiot politicians and IRS agents.

Sue

Leah Sattler

Posts: 2603

posted 16 years ago

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i have left the horns on a few hoping that I can train them to demasculinize politicians including hillary. with out the testosterone producing organs I hope to render them harmless and without aggression. as for the female polititions they will be endless harrassed into submission as I have left the horned animals intact and as we all know male goats will 'do' anything and are very persistant upon the chance that the male goat succeeds in his endeavor the female political officer will be rendered harmless as that is likely what she has been needing all along.

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Posts: 92

posted 16 years ago

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This is what we started with.

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Posts: 92

posted 16 years ago

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After the first cut, the high stuff in the middle is a runoff from a couple of ponds.

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Posts: 92

posted 16 years ago

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This was the last cut in july of last year. Lower section of pasture from the previous pic.

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Posts: 92

posted 16 years ago

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This is what it looked like October of last year.
As you can see, we've purposely left some rose there for the birds to perch on for now, until the horses get there.

It will be cut for hay this year. The clover and birdsfoot trefoil have come along nicely along with the grasses simply from properly scheduled cutting.

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Posts: 92

posted 16 years ago

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I should add, this was old pasture land that had overgrown, that's where the clover and trefoil came from.

And it should be noted that this is over a two year period of time. October '06 to October of '08.

My previous post on timing was a bit off.

The timing of your cuts is important to achieve your goals, if interested I might be able to help you out with that. ( your climate is somewhat different than this area.)

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Leah Sattler

Posts: 2603

posted 16 years ago

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absolutley! how do you determine when to cut it? ours isn't quite as bad as yours started probably because it has been randomly brush hogged over the years but not enough to compelety do away with them. so if you turned that into pasture in two years then I am very encouraged!!

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"One cannot help an involuntary process. The point is not to disturb it. - Dr. Michel Odent

Gwen Lynn

Posts: 736

posted 16 years ago

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That's a beautiful pasture! The horses will be very happy!

Posts: 92

posted 16 years ago

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How many acres are you looking to keep as pasture area or grasses and such?

What type of grasses do you have and other growth besides the rose?

What is your end goal, to achieve a pasture area or simply get rid of the rose and leave it more natural afterwards?

When does your planting season begin and when do you get your first killing frost in fall?

You've mention using a brush hog, depending on what your goals are a finish mower may be more appropriate after the "rough" cutting is done.
Finish mowers use slightly less horsepower and give a better cut on the grasses to help them crowd out the weeds over time.

Laughter is the best medicine.
http://www.lawntimes.com

Leah Sattler

Posts: 2603

posted 16 years ago

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I'm afraid a finish mower is probably out of the question at first. the area is littered with large rocks that would destroy a finish mower in a hurry. as we slowly extract the rocks we will start trimming some of it with our gravely but we will have to start with the tractor and brush hog. there is about 11 acres with the a sporadic rose problem. I would like to leave 8 natural/multi species (minus the the rose) and have a few acres that is more kempt to hopefully eventually grow millet on or at least good grass for our ponies.

mid april and mid october are frost dates. but even now the honesuckle and rose is sending out leaves. we have off and on highs in the 80's right now so as usual, hardy wild things get a head start. my floribunda never even lost its leaves this winter but it is mulched in rock and planted next to a brick wall, and
i am moving (the acreage is ) a zone south!

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"One cannot help an involuntary process. The point is not to disturb it. - Dr. Michel Odent

Posts: 92

posted 16 years ago

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Well, for the rose alone, cut it after it's got some good spring growth, allowing it to use up stored energy on that new flush of growth.

Whack them again in the summer heat when it is dry and hot, then again
3-4 weeks before frost. The following year you can cut twice, after spring growth, and during late summer heat.

The pasture that was pictured was only cut once, during 2008, in July.

Other species need more specific timing due to seeding times and that sort of thing, but the basic plan is to weaken the root system on the rose until death do us part.

For the grasses you will want to find out what type of grasses you have, their seeding times, etc. which you can usually get from the extension service online. Many times you will find that kind of info under hay production, or forage production, since timing of hay cutting for a sustainable, and low maintenance pasture is important, and seeding of weed species can determine cutting schedule as well depending on what you are trying to achieve.

It's a learning process, but simple mechanical cutting can do wonders to achieve goals.

Laughter is the best medicine.
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Brenda Groth

pollinator

Posts: 4437

Location: North Central Michigan

posted 16 years ago

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i always had well behaved roses in my perennial beds and then i got this one rose that went totally wild spreading..it had runners that were like 10' long and sent up all over..it is pretty but man it is dangerous...i feel for you all

Brenda

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Leah Sattler

Posts: 2603

posted 16 years ago

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death unto the roses!!! its true. the goats LOVE the roses and are demolishing all in there path. unless I get a few hundred goats though I don't think their efforts alone with eliminate them, and they would do to much damage to other things in those numbers so we are still going with the brush hog plan.

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"One cannot help an involuntary process. The point is not to disturb it. - Dr. Michel Odent

Mike Dayton

Posts: 149

Location: sw pa zone 5

posted 14 years ago

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I hate multi floral rose. The state of PA brought it in years ago as animal cover for wild life and it has taken over. I have it in my woods where I cant really mow. I am thinking about getting a chain saw on a long handle so that I can cut the stems down at the root base with out being cut to pieces. My neighbor had 60 acres of old farm land that had grown up with the roses. He did brush hog them out. He had to back the cutter into alot of them and he had a jacket that was cut to shreds, but he did get rid of them. The land is back to farm land again.

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