Hinging

DONT PLANT Japanese Honeysuckle.... Promoting a non native Proven INVASIVE food source for ANYTHING is One Of Many Bad Ideas Timex comes up with If it has become an important food source anywhere its only because it has choked out EVERYTHING else and is NEVER the best choice PERIOD

Someone thought hogs and asian carp were a good idea too! Invasive species are not good ideas.

Lets hear all the terrible things you guys have experienced jap honeysuckle do. Your actual experience, not somethinv you dreamed or read on the internet.

As for hogs, they provide plenty hours of sporting activity, actually just like Asian crap and honeysuckle does....just ask dadfsr.

One day you complain about fence row cover disappearing and then complain about one of the best sources of food/cover that you could get for free. Read up on jap honeysuckle, the benefits far outnumber the negative side.

American Honeysuckle is common in the region and what most see on their properties with the spring yellow blooms.

There are a lot of things you can do to the habitat worse than honeysuckle. It was always recommended as a planting for wildlife up through the 1970's until the current trend of reestablishing the prairre grasses through out the US came about. There is no natural grass that provides the same nutrition that you can find with honeysuckle or the amount of cover for small game and non-hunted species.

Whenever I find honeysuckle I leave it alone. This all boils down to what do you want out of your ground? Deer habitat and food? or something that the government tells us is good? I know what my priorities are. lol

Before all the deer porn following, must have a record book piece of antler at all cost, never mind what anybody else says, I'll do what I want right now people started having these "managed" areas.....


Just what did these poor starving deer eat for the last couple of centuries??

Let’s back up just a little on honeysuckle. When I was a youngster we had some NATIVE honeysuckle VINES on our farm. They were not particularly invasive or aggressive and supplied some nourishment and cover for animals, including deer. However, the vines were far from being a significant food source.

Fast forward to today. What IS invasive are the varieties of Asian BUSH honeysuckle described by the Indiana Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey.
extension.entm.purdue.edu/CAPS/pestInfo/asianBushHoneysuckle.htm
These are not vines, and they are not native to Indiana or the Midwest. And talk about not trusting our government, several state, local, and federal agencies several years ago touted the bush honeysuckles as great for wildlife habitat and food. Unfortunately, they apparently failed to do their homework about the invasive/aggressive nature of these plants. Of course, the nurseries were more than happy to go along with the government wildlife promotion and even sell the plants as ornamental shrubs. More business for them.

So now we have a problem, spread in large part by government agencies. These agencies used quite a few of our general tax dollars to SUBSIDIZE the planting of these terribly aggressive bushes. Now, after the aggressive nature of these plants is finally being recognized by more and more people, the government is doing an about face and may even be starting to subsidize efforts to control or eradicate the plants from some farms.

But, don’t hold your breath that the government will come to your rescue if you or your neighbor is invaded by these plants. Please do your part to check your property to see if you have them. If you do, I sincerely hope that you kill them. You may wish to enlist the aid of friends, relatives, neighbors, and fellow hunters in your campaign. If your property is free of bush honeysuckle, great. But do not be complacent. Birds love the berries/seeds and can spread them from one farm to the next pretty quickly. The seeds germinate and grow most rapidly where the ground gets lots of sunlight. The bushes also grow in wooded areas, just not quite as rapidly. Periodic (at least annual) “patrols” to locate and eliminate bush honeysuckle are a good idea.

I know you can do hinging to your heart’s content on your own property. I just hope you also consider what effect that may have on invasive plant species in your neighborhood.

No offense is intended to anyone by this post. I am just sharing some of my observations and opinions.

No your train of thought is way off the mark. This invasive NON-native plant was only introduced here a couple of decades ago....I asked what have they eaten for CENTURIES.

Our native species have been, and will do, just fine without our interference. It is only when mankind, in his ignorant but well intentioned way, has done something that he thought was better that the whole natural process has been thrown off.

Simply put-do a little research and plant the native species that these native herbivores have thrived on for centuries rather than taking the easy way out and causing a problem for everyone else that doesn't want it invading their property.

I see a certain hand tool in the future being used......

Doug is obsessed with trying to prove me wrong again. He hasn't done it again. His expert is talking about one species of honeysuckle and not the other 179 variations. CTs post shows tbat Doug knows nothing about the subject, which is way he checked with the expert. IOWs deer porn or money has nothing to do with the spread of J. Honeysuckle. In fact you'll not find anywhere that I posted on growing or expanding J. Honeysuckle one bit. Other varieties, especially those native in Indiana make excellent late winter browse and support lots of wildlife not just deer.