The only way to get a handle on the less "tended" areas, IMO, is to plant a groundcover that is substantial enough to keep down weed plants. I have an area of common daylilies that I mow once a year. Pachysandra in shade, Vinca in part sun, or closely planted shrubs might help. You could choose natives, but the definition of "invasive" whether native or non-native, is that they out-compete other plants.

I'm learning that the easiest way to maintain an area that I don't want to have to weed, mulch, water, etc. is to mow it. Maybe you could leave the desirable shrubs or plant some and mow around them?

Agreed, your biggest ally against the eastern jungle is a lawnmower. There isn't a thug on your list that can stand up to being repeatedly cut back.

Your comment above:
"There are no dirtier two words whispered from neighbor to neighbor than "clear cutting" so starting with a clean slate is out of the question and even if I did it would be no time before my neighbors thugs moved back in. "

is very telling...

I sense you are worrying about the neighbors and are hesitant to cut back because of this? You could educate your neighbors about the invasiveness of some foreign plants and what you are trying to do. New England Wildflower society has articles on their web site or in their magazines on invasive plants and their control. May be getting your neighbors educated could help?

Here is a link that might be useful: Invasive Plants Link at NEWFS

Saypoint
I agree mowing twice a season does a good job for me but I find it terrifying (sticks and rocks shooting at rapid speed) and put it off as long as I can. I suppose I am looking for the easy fix for this problem just as I am still looking for the magic weight loss pill that will allow me to loose 10lbs in 7 days! I have planted some shrubs and I am hoping and encouraging by mowing a native grass will become the primary ground cover but it has been slow to take over.

mad gallica,
I have yet to try it but I am thinking that a weed wacker might be safer and more efficient than a lawn mower what do you think?

Sedum37,
Thank you for the link I have always found their site very useful but as I originally stated my number one thug is poison ivy which is a native plant to Massachusetts and the general population (including my neighbors) tend to agree should be eradicated. The problem for me is this was and continues to try to be the primary under story plant in the wooded areas surrounding my more cultivated areas. I as well as my neighbors (some more than others) continue to fight the good fight motivated greatly by our oozing rashes. As far as the phenomenon of clear cutting being a dirty word I think the answer is as multi layered and unique as the community but as with most things is probably primarily related to property values.
{{gwi:1087527}}
An example of the degree of poison ivy I am dealing with

Wow that poison ivy is bad! Have you tried to get an estimate from an outside company to remove the poison ivy on the trees? Seems like it might be worth it. Then you could come in and try some of the poison ivy supression techniques - putting heavy cardboard with wood chip mulch on it or I've heard people use old wall to wall rugs also for this purpose. You may have to do this for a few years before you consider putting ground cover to prevent the poison ivy from coming back and migrating into the areas you newly plant. You can get inexpensive (or free) wood chips from tree companies sometimes that you can use in areas such as this away from the house or buildings.

*That* poison ivy is easy. When it is climbing trees, you can cut it off near the base, and paint brush strength Round Up on it. Then it is dead. It is still up there on the trees, but it isn't making any more seeds. The hard poison ivy is the multitudes of seedlings that end up in the gardens and the yard. Once you get rid of the fruiting parents, there should be a lot fewer of those.

> Once you get rid of the fruiting parents, there should be a lot fewer of those

Except for the ones the birds bring in from your neighbors' properties.

Once you use round-up to tackle the mature plants, I'd imagine corn gluten would be a good product to apply - several times a year. That should prevent new PI, bittersweet, and other seedlings from taking hold, without bothering your native grasses.

There's a project to restore the native grass plains on the Vineyard, isn't there? Any chance they'd like to adopt your wild areas, or that your neighbors could band together and "buy in" to this project?

And, mowing or weed-whacking PI sounds like a losing proposition to me - it just gets stronger and more compact when it's cut back, even if cut to the ground. Apparently it's really thriving like never before due to the CO2 levels in the air now. How lovely!

Thanks for the advice guys this is an issue that I have been dealing with for seventeen years and I suppose I am sounding tired. Mad-gallica thank you for the reminder that a stitch in time saves nine I do have to stop whining and get to work. Sedum37 I have used professional companies but to be frank I can do a better job. Dtd I acted immediately on your suggestion to call the Mary P Wakeman Center and I am waiting for a call back from someone who hopefully will be able to offer assistance. The Wakeman center has been involved in a Sandplain Restoration project and yes I do believe that my property might be a link in the sandplain chain I will keep you updated as things progress. I must admit I have never heard of the use of corn gluten to discourage growth it sounds like it could be my magic diet pill for poison ivy. Is there a reference I might be able to go to for quantity per foot? kt

I had poison ivy like that on my trees, and I did what MG said - I cut some of the vines near the ground (no easy task, mind you, as some of those vines were quite large!) and then put round-up on the leaves. Within two years the trees were pretty much PI-free. I've also got it like you have on the ground, and again, with the round-up, I've made pretty good headway. MY PI for the most part is not so close to my gardens as yours is, so I can spray carefully, as opposed to the time-consuming paintbrushing. I spray once in the spring and again in the summer or fall - whenever I get around to it - and while it does grow back a bit, each spring the boundary gets pushed back further and further.

My neighbor used cider (and I think salt) this spring, and that worked well too. Again, I think you have to keep at it, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

BTW, when you find that magic pill for weight, please let me know, lol!

:)
Dee

I have poison ivy on a couple of fingers right now and it's starting to itch just from reading this topic...lol. PI isn't a big problem in my garden but for some reason I have alot more of it this year than normal. I really have to be careful when weeding lately because I get going and don't see it until it's too late. The small seedlings I just pull and toss. The larger ones I have my husband pull and toss. If you're as sensitive to it as I am weed whacking would probably not be a good idea. Just the thought of little bits of it flying around in the air makes me want to call the doctor for a prednisone prescription.

Good luck...I hope you find a reasonable solution.

Sue

Some advise  DO NOT weed whack poison ivy. I was never allergic to it in my life. In fact, until three years ago I couldnÂt even tell you what it looked like. Three years ago, when I bought this old house, I went around pushing back the edges of the jungle. I spent a day weed-whacking up and down the drive, around the borders of the woods, etc. I also pulled huge vines up, yanking them out with my bare hands and tossing them into the woods, oblivious to what they were. Well, as it turned out, while weed whacking I was spraying poison ivy puree all over my face, neck, arms, hands, clothes, shoes, etc. I also had cuts all over my hands and arms from pulling up the vines, which were, of course, poison ivy. The next day I was scratching all over. Three weeks later I was still scratching and had new blisters appearing on my stomach. You guessed it  systemic poison ivy. Had to go on a regimen of steroids for 11 days to get over it. Now, I am very careful where I weed whack. Also, I have absolutely no qualms about spraying copious quantities of Round Up for Poison Ivy all along my drive, where the stuff is endemic, and anywhere else I spot it.

On a related note, last week I weed whacked an area that had grown up with a lot of weeds. It is a relatively moist area, not always wet, but not the parched desert that is my normal lawn in summer. There were lots of plants that looked like thick grass with largish prickers or burrs on top. I am pretty sure it is called burr-reed. Knowing that, once mature, these things get into my dogÂs fur and are impossible to get out, I whacked the whole area, again spraying myself with weed-whack puree. Two days later I started itching on my neck, the backs of my hands and inside my elbows. Not poison ivy, since I didnÂt get it on my legs, outer arms or from my clothes. I am assuming it was some kind of dermatitis resulting from getting pelted for an hour with thousands of bits of the pureed prickers. Maybe there is some kind of toxin in them as well. The rash consisted of small blisters that took over a week to heal. I still have some spots, but the itching eased after about five days.

It bites getting older.

HereÂs a pic of the culprit.

narcnh

ugh, narcnh, you have my heartfelt sympathy! I don't know what the mystery nettle is, but I can just imagine what it feels like to have that kind of alergic reaction.

Katy, I only suggested corn gluten for use where you don't want any kind of seedlings to sprout. I've used it against my nemesis, garlic mustard, and it works well. (This thread is making me feel lucky that garlic mustard is my most invasive pest!) CG does nothing for plants that spread by runners or that have already gotten growing in an area, it acts as a pre-emergent.

Dee I think your right as long as I keep up the good fight with the PI I will probably get a better handle on it someday. Trust me the day I find the magic weight loss pill church bells shall ring throughout the land.
Sue sorry about the PI on the fingers earlier this summer I had it in between on on the webbing of each finger...I gave up typing on GW for a week or two. "The larger ones I have my husband pull and toss" lol what a guy.
narcnh, I have completely dismissed the idea of using the weed wacker I suppose I owe you two scritch scratch free weeks of my life and for that I am hugely grateful. Your mystery nettle looks more like a creepy insect than a plant. I looked through "Weeds of the Northeast" and I am afraid the closest I came to identifying the monster was guessing that it is probably in the Common Cocklebur family...sorry.
Dtd I am thinking that spreading the CG at the end of March might be the best time or do I know if I need to wait until the ground warms up? kt

I wish I knew, Katy - somewhere there must be a web page listing the germination times for noxious weeds, but I haven't found it yet.

dtd...Ahh a possible winter project thank goodness...two brilliant minds will solve this one. I am starting to get antsy about how suddenly the air smells different and the days are rapidly getting shorter. Read today about a local health study on Lymes and depression it was pretty interesting but I come from such a small pond I didn't want to throw it out to the general GW population. I am leaving for the big apple to bring our youngest to college. DH and I have secretly been doing the happy dance for months as well as whispering in each others ears free, free, free at last, thank god almighty we are free at last. But to be honest now that the moment is upon me I am much to my surprise a wreck. Really looking forward to the Polly Hill Weekend and will be posting again in the early part of the week. There is still plenty of room for any late comer so come on folks this is an opportunity to get to know one another at a more personal level as well as spend nonstop hours talking/learning about all things that grow. Because of my location I can never really visit with anyone without it being an overnight so I have been overnight guest and hostess with family and friends for twenty seven years. Please if you are thinking you want to come but are unsure for any reason email me and I will forward you my phone and local references. Well this country mouse is off to the big city. kt

Katy, Ive had that PI in the quantity you have shown. I cleared 2 acres of both horizontal and vertical growth. I never needed more than 2 applications of 39% strength liquid, Round Up with a teaspoon of dish washing detergent to 2-3 gal. of water as a spreading agent. I now use Round Up Pro, powder, water proof, small cut and dump, premeasured bags. Its also rain fast in 4-5 hrs. Round Up Pro has been out on the market 6-8 years, its powder form. doesn't freeze and is at seventy something %. I had to by it by the case just under $100.

It is necessary to cut the vertical growth up high enough to leave foliage (several feet long) to absorb the RU.

I believe that if you have 20 feet in the tree you will have roots of similar length. there may be smaller areas of foliage popping up as a result of cutting the length. but its much easier to handle when its down low.

It seems to me that that loostrife and PI have increased dramatically in the last several years.

I really wish I could make your gathering. It sounds like a great time.

Ron

Ron,
Thanks for the very good advise I had forgotten your suggestion of adding dish washing detergent..brilliant. I am interested in buying the Round Up Pro although I have never seen it in the market place did you order yours from a "trades" business?
I recently heard back from the organization working to restore the sandplain and they had some wonderful advise regarding introductions (including butterfly weed in an open woodland which really surprised me. They like you all feel this will always be a maintenance issue but that I can get it more under control. Regarding the native grass that I wanted to id so I could encourage it along their feeling was that a vast majority of my native clumping grasses respond very well to dividing. Thanks kt

Katy, all this talk gets me oooooh, itchy.

I was at a computer geek cookout as a guest, and there was a group of five or six folks, they were discussing how they all had various cases of poison ivy. One gentleman was hospitalized for several days. None of them had ever had it before.

I can send you some Round up Pro if you like, send me your mailing address.

Ron