Pullers Available for Apple Valley Residents to Banish Buckthorn

Common Buckthorn is a non-native invasive plant from Europe that can grow either as a shrub or small tree. It invades forested areas and displaces beneficial native shrubs and understory plants. Its berries do not offer nutritional value to wildlife because they act as a laxative. Many people have Buckthorn growing in their yards because it was once commonly sold as a landscape plant. For these reasons, it is important to remove buckthorn from your yard if you find it growing there.

Buckthorn can also be removed by pulling out the entire root, according to a news release. Buckthorn pullers are available for Apple Valley residents, just call (952) 953-2400. Small buckthorn sprouts can be killed with a shrub strength concentration of glyphosate (e.g. Roundup).

Fall is one of the easiest times of year to spot buckthorn growing on your property. The leaves of buckthorn tend to stay green and on the shrub/tree longer than other shrubs. So, if you are looking at a wooded area or shrub line and you see a bunch of green where most other trees and shrubs have dropped their leaves, it is a good chance that all that green is buckthorn.

Buckthorn can resprout from stumps if left untreated; the stumps of buckthorn must be treated with a shrub strength concentration of glyphosate (e.g. Roundup) shortly after being cut to prevent regrowth.

Keep in mind that there are probably a lot of buckthorn seeds in your soil, so you may have to go back for a number of years and treat small buckthorn sprouts.

Image via le Husby, Flickr, used under Creative Commons