Buckthorn is a nasty plant with a strong name that conjures up images of a 30-point rack, especially this time of year. In fact, you’re likely to see some buckthorn when you hit the woods. If you see a shrub or trees still holding its green leaves, it’s probably buckthorn.
The wicked thorns that can tear your lucky hunting parka to shreds while you’re hauling out your buck aren’t the worst of it though. Buckthorn out competes native plants for nutrients, light, and moisture, degrades wildlife habitat, contributes to erosion by shading out other plants that grow on the forest floor, serves as host to pests such as crown rust fungus and soybean aphid, forms an impenetrable layer of vegetation, and lacks natural controls like insects or disease that would curb its growth. All bad!
Buckthorn leaves are rounded to egg-shaped with finely toothed margins. The leaves are very dark and dull to glossy green. Bark is dark gray to brown and there are often sharp thorns protruding from both the trunk and branches. A good way to make a positive identification of either species is to scratch the surface of a trunk or stem. If you find orange inner bark, it is buckthorn.
The plants grow 10-25 feet tall and may be either trees or shrubs. There are separate male and female plants with only the female producing berries. In fall the berries turn black and are much loved by birds throughout the winter. Each berry contains 2-4 seeds that are poisonous to humans. The berries have a laxative effect on birds which ensures the spread of the seeds throughout the habitat. Since the seeds are viable for up to five years, thousands of buckthorn seedlings can sprout within the area of one mature tree.
Buckthorn is adaptable to any type of soil, light conditions, and soil moisture content, so it spreads easily and rapidly. Strong healthy seedlings crowd out new maple, oak, ash and hickory seedlings that are necessary to regenerate the forest. A monoculture of buckthorn is inhospitable to deer and all other forms of wildlife.
Buckthorn is best controlled by pulling the seedlings when they are less than a half inch in diameter. It is easiest to do when the ground is moist after a good rain. Larger trees and shrubs must be cut and immediately brushed or sprayed with a brush-killing herbicide. Cutting the trees or shrubs without the herbicide follow-up is worse than not cutting them at all since they will re-sprout heavily with more branches than before. The best time of year to treat buckthorn with herbicide is late fall when the sap is flowing toward the roots.
Smaller trees, with less than a 6-inch diameter may be treated using the basal bark method. They need not be cut before herbicide is applied. Apply the herbicide at the base of the plant, wetting the bark from the soil-line up to about 12-15 inches. Spray so the trunk becomes thoroughly wet, but not to the point of runoff. Each stem of the plant must be treated.
Getting bored whiling away the hours in your tree stand? Do the forest, the deer herd, and yourself a favor and destroy some buckthorn as you wait for your buck to pass by.
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