In Defense of Autumn Olive

[NATTY BUMPO]

This was the title of an article in the Aug MOOD (MUCC mag). The author made the point that AO has gotten bad press from some of the CD's, DNR and Dept of Agriculture. They put it in the same boat as multiflora rose. I dont think so.

I've had plenty of experience with multiflora rose and its all bad. It was planted all over the East on SGAs in the 60s. It spreads like wildfire and become a thorny mess to try to hunt. Brush-hogging will not control it - it may ruin the tractors tires. It will tear the heck out of your dogs too.

There was lots of AO already planted on our place so I'll prolly not be planting more. But its one of the most consistent soft mast producers - the pats, turkeys and songbirds love the stuff. Makes a nice hedgerow. Anybody thinking of planting some should look up this article. Just my .02.

Natty B.

[rabbit whacker]

The best defense is a good offense, burn that crap. It is an extremely invasive plant that threatens are native habitat.

I did a quick search and here are some quotes:

"Once established, this species is highly invasive and difficult to control. Burned, mowed, or cut plants will resprout vigorously."

"They can grow into tight ground cover and do an excellent job stabilizing slopes or other erosion-prone areas. The problem is that these plants readily spread beyond the desired area. All three produce berries attractive to birds for food, and this leads to the seed being spread literally everywhere. Any of the three plants can easily "take over" idle fields in a few years. They also can become established in active pastures, particularly on steep slopes inaccessible to machinery. Autumn olive is listed as a noxious weed."

"Autumn-olive and Russian-olive aggressively out-compete native plants and shrubs. They grow rapidly and re-sprout heavily after cutting or burning. Both species are prolific fruit producers, with seed dispersal mostly accomplished by birds."

"Autumn olive is found from Maine to Virginia and west to Wisconsin. It is drought tolerant and thrives in a variety of soil and moisture conditions. This trait allows it to invade grasslands, fields, open woodlands and disturbed areas. It threatens native ecosystems by out-competing and displacing native plant species, creating dense shade and interfering with natural plant succession and nutrient cycling. Because autumn olive is capable of fixing nitrogen in its roots, it can grow on bare mineral substrates."


"Do not plant autumn olive. Individual young plants can be hand-pulled, ensuring that roots are removed. Cutting, in combination with herbicide application, is effective. Hedges can be cut down using a brush type mower, chain saw, or similar tool, and stumps treated with a systemic herbicide like glyphosate or triclopyr. Application of these herbicides to foliage is also effective but is likely to impact non-target species."

Here is a website to read up on it being one of Michigan's 9 most nasty invasive plants that are threating our native habitat.

Kill all Autumn Olive, and while your at it Russian Olive.

Before you go planting it, think about all the land surrounding your own, because it will affect a lot of people around you. The birds and other animals that feed on its fruit will be out depositing its seeds in every direction. Yes it is great at providing cover, preventing erosion, but there are many native plants that are capable of doing this also.

Just my .02

[Luv2hunteup]

If I'm not mistaken the DNR passed out packets of russian or autumn olive with your hunting licence in the mid to late '70s. My how things have changed.

Any other gray hairs, oops mature sportsman, remember that?

Goby's, zebra mussels, purple loosestrif are just a few non natives that have taken over in the last 20 years.

[bishs]

This has been dicussed a few times on this thread. Quite a few including myself do not have a spreading problem. I have 6 rows planted since 1994, they are 10 feet tall. I have open weed fields on either side. There is no AA growing. Apparently it can't compete with my weed cover. It has popped up in a few other areas. But it is surely not "invasive" on my ground. I suppose if you have poor dry soil, it may "take off" since most trees can't grow. AA is common everywhere. Its along all the roadsides, fencerows ect.

[NATTY BUMPO]

bishs,

Thats been my experience w/ AO also. Its certainly not "extremely invasive" on our property. Its certainly hasnt "taken over "everything either. Some of the original hedgerows planted years ago are still just that- hedgerows and a surefire spot to find the pats. We dont have yards or pastures to worry about - just wildlife habitat.

Thats just my experience BUT its "real world" and not something taken out of a book and written by who?? from where?? Like I said, read the article for another viewpoint, thats taken from actual field experience in Michigan.

Natty B.

[trout]

The AO near me seems to be OK, But I would rather see some type of Crabapple planted.

[farmlegend]

Count me in as an AO fan.

I cannot speak for every circumstance. However, on my farm, which is mostly heavy loam soil, with a dense sod layer in the old fields, AO is absolutely not invasive. It is certainly less invasive in my fields than is multiflora rose or especially Hawthorn. Even less invasive than Eastern Redcedar, Crabapple, Box Elder. and brambles.

I've planted thousands of shrubs over the years. Silky and Gray Dogwoods, Tatarian Honeysuckle, Nannyberry, and Highbush Cranberry, in addition to AO. AO beats 'em all when it comes to transplant success and the ability to compete with cool-season grasses and weeds.

[Linda G.]

is invasive in more accomodating climates, but here in northern Michigan, although it will spread during a period of decades of milder weather, it's not invasive. One good hard winter whacks a lot of it back. Like last winter, or about 5 years ago. We had a big winter kill last winter.


Autumn olive is one of the few shrubs in northern Michigan which produces reliably every year. It is utilized in all forms by all sorts of wildlife, including deer which if you don't protect your plants when young will eat them right down to the roots. Everything eats the buds and shoots, a variety of birds eat the berries, including wild turkeys, and when planted in hedges also provides excellent cover and nesting habitat for a variety of wildlife and birds.

The DNR, US Forest Service and USFWS's pendulum has indeed swung from handing out seedlings for free to refusing to allow it to be planted on public lands in their new zeal to only allow native plantings, and soon, you'll hear a lot more about getting rid of non-native species, too. That's what the universities are preaching nowadays...which is a wonderful concept, but mostly unworkable in today's world, imho, for those of us who enjoy hunting and fishing (brown trout, steelhead, salmon, pheasants, and in many parts of Michigan, wild turkeys and whitetail deer)

Most local conservation districts, however, still believe in autumn olive, and still sell it. I know I still believe in it...it's one of the few shrubs in northern Michigan that I KNOW will provide something to eat, year after year. It's wonderful for neo-tropical songbirds to have when migrating through the state, too.

In many parts of southern Michigan, it was probably never needed, anyway...there's already a ton of natural food available to most species on a year around basis-not like northern Michigan at all.

[NorthJeff]

I had the plants, and planted them, down in the thumb. They are excellant for wildlife and provide significant cover, even thermal cover, to many cover-starved areas.

If I had an open field, to be planted for deer cover/bird cover/small game, I'd plant AO. It establishes quite well, and grows fast. It is simply, excellant cover.

You have to know the players in this game. The forestry department only has 1 thing on their mind......boards per foot. Wildlife restoration, habitat improvement, etc., can be thrown out the window, it all boils down to future boards per foot. They see AO as a threat to that, and it may be, so their opinion is to destroy it all.

But on the other hand, for wildlife restoration, cover, birds, small game, deer, it's great. I guess we can make a choice of which each of us manages our property for....future boards per foot, or wildlife. And in my experience, if you want both, I haven't see that it readily destroys habitat at a rate that would hurt a properties production any time soon.

[mike hartges]

I have autumn olive on my property and it has lots of wildlife benefits. Also, the bucks like to make scrapes beneath the branches. I have one scrape that's forming a depression in the ground. Yes, they're already scraping on my property in July.

[fowl]

I have to fully agree with rabbit whacker. AO is useless. For those of you that dont think that it is invasive, visit just about any SGA in Southern MI. The majority of public lands that I hunt are a monoculture of AO. From what i have seen it has minimal value for wildlife. It takes over, and outcompetes everything.

i have seen excellent prairies decimated by AO. A prairie that is composed of warm season grasses and forbs provides superior nesting cover for pheasants and quail. An old field full of AO is just about useless for nesting pheasants. I have seen open fields that used to be good turkey strutting areas, taken over by AO.

If you must plant a shrubby component, i would recommend native dogwoods over AO.

AO can be put in the same category with purple loosestrife, spotted knappweed, phragmites, zebra mussels, eurasion milfoil, etc.

If I had any AO on my property i would fertilize liberally with glyphosate (repeat as necessary).

[Linda G.]

Like I said, there probably wasn't ever a need for it in southern Michigan, where it can be invasive. But it just doesn't do that in most areas of northern Michigan, there's just too much winterkill and things that will eat it. Southern Michigan has a much milder, warmer, longer growing season, and autumn olive thrives on that. I have no doubt it will force out warm season grasses that aren't as competitive. But I disagree about it not serving any use to nesting pheasants-it serves as a windbreak and in a hedge, great cover. Out in Kansas or Iowa, you'll find most of your quail in a hedge of russian olive or autumn olive, or wild rose. In South Dakota, just about every pheasant we flushed that wasn't in the CRP came out of russian olive thickets.

[Swamp Ghost]

I love the stuff and plan on planting more, along with the many varieties of crabapples I plant with it. The dogwoods cannot get established in even a moderate deer density area. If you plant dogwoods in So. Mi. your wasting your money! I hope to add some ninebark to the crabapple and AO mix on bishs recommendation.

AO establishes quickly and grows even quicker, provides excellent security and thermal cover and the berries are a great food source. The deer leave the plants alone and I have never seen AO get "highly invasive".

Alot of the bad press has to do with, as Linda G. said, "The DNR, US Forest Service and USFWS's new zeal to only allow native plantings"

A good prescribed burn followed up with bush hogging pass every few years will keep AO from taking over any prarie grass stand.

[rabbit whacker]

Swamp Ghost - Perhaps your neighbors, as far as a bird flys and drops the seeds, don't want to burn their fields and brush hog every few years. It affects more than just your property when you plant Autumn Olive on your property.

Part of the reason that the DNR, MDA are recommending native plants is because the problems exotic plants and pests can cause.

Anybody from the Detroit area can attest to this. Ask them how their Ash trees are doing. Exotic pest like the Emerald Ash Bore or Gypsy Moth reak havik on our plants because their is no natural preditors here. I put Autumn Olive, Russian Olive, Purple Loosestrife, Zebra Mussles, and eurasion millfoil in the same category as these insect pests, get rid of them and don't plant them.

Just my opinon, your entitled to your own.

[fowl]

As I said in my earlier post, those that have never seen AO become "highly invasive" should go look at some of the public lands in southern MI.

The reason that many natural resource agencies are pushing natives over exotics is that natives have had thousands of years of evolution to establish a niche. Many exotics fill an open niche and become invasive. Michigans natural systems are not adapted to deal with these exotic organisms. They have no natural predators, insects, or disease that allow them to become part of the natural system with out taking over. This is why some of these exotics so easily outcompete native vegetation.

I see too many fallow fields that are composed of 2 non-native plants, AO and spotted knapweed. These fields are just about useless as far as wildlife value goes. If you dont believe me, go pheasant hunt some of them and let me know how many birds you put up.