[AT] Common Buckthorn, our current invasion.

Kyle Sands willys_46 at hotmail.com
Fri Nov 22 17:18:59 PST 2019


Here, here, Farmer.  I’ve got lots of buckthorn on my place.  I’ve begun a systematic process to at least control it to some degree.  I know I will never be able to get rid of it entirely…the understory of the woods is thick with buckthorn and it does a nice job of shielding our yard and house from the road.  But I’ve decided it’s got to go.  I also have a lot of poison ivy and my hope is if I open up the understory by getting rid of the buckthorn, it will cause the PI to retreat as well.  It’s worth a shot.  I’m using a manual puller to rip up the smaller stuff.  Where I can get at it with my loader, I use a grubber to yank out the larger stuff.  And the really “big stuff” (3-4 inches), well that will meet the business end of the Jonsered.

As you said, it is a VERY dense wood and makes fantastic fuel!  Of course it’s generally so small that a lot of labor goes into processing any appreciable quantity.  At least it doesn’t need splitting!  When my wife and I built our house, we cleared a lot of buckthorn and most of it I salvaged for firewood.  It seasoned for about 4 years before the stack rotation had me hauling it into the house to burn last winter.  I was surprised at how much I had in my piles – I very much like it for fuel.  At least it’s good for something!

Kyle Sands <>< Brandon, MN

From: AT [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Indiana Robinson
Sent: Tuesday, November 19, 2019 6:58 PM
To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
Subject: [AT] Common Buckthorn, our current invasion.


This stuff is "extremely" invasive... If it isn't in your area yet just wait, it will be. Between it taking over and the Emerald Ash Borer killing all of our ash trees our wood lots and forest are changing radically.
https://fmr.org/buckthorn-how-can-a-shrub-be-so-harmful
It is a very hard wood or at least is here. I once made a longbow out of it and I almost can't draw it. I just saw some folks using thin stems to make wreaths. If you have one of those small high efficiency air-tight stoves that require the wood to be split down pretty small it can serve well as firewood. I have a smallish batch cut to make walking sticks. Quite small diameter sticks are very strong. I have not tried it yet but it may well make good strong arrows if they can be straightened well. I believe they can.
This stuff is a tough kill, partly because it is so invasive. You don't want to just spray everything in sight but it takes over so bad it is almost everything in sight.
There must be a half zillion versions of this plant.
Old tractor connection: I can see this stuff being trained to grow straight and making first rate sickle mower pittmans.

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Francis Robinson
aka "farmer"
Central Indiana USA
robinson46176 at gmail.com<mailto:robinson46176 at gmail.com>







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