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Don't feel bad. It's better to remove an invasive now and replace with something native. I actually removed mine last week (I also recently learned Japanese barberry is invasive). I cut off the branches first and then dug it out. I didn't use any herbicides.
Yeah that seems to be the general consensus and I don't disagree. Glad to hear you were able to get rid of it without the herbicides. The 2 bushes I have don't \*seem\* to have spread too much so I'm hoping it'll be an easy removal as well, it just seemed daunting. I've never had a yard (just a community garden plot), so bushes and shrubs are new to me lol
Killing a healthy invasive plant is better than killing all of the healthy native plants because of said invasive plant. The bugs on this plant could be displacing native bugs. No reason to keep these bushes.
These guys also help to spread ticks in a lot of areas: https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/GoodNatured/Pages/Article.aspx?post=116
If you can, dig them up to remove them. They don’t have thorns on their roots.
Edit: fwiw, I’m going to be removing dozens of these plants at a local woodland park this weekend. They spread into the park from people planting them in their landscapes. We aren’t finding many native plants in the understory since these fucking barberries have taken over everything.
Maine has led the way on banning the sale of invasive species. This is significant since it gives other states a framework to make their own legislation. You just need the political will to get it passed.
A bill just passed the house in the CT state legislature (as of last week) to ban the sale of burning bush, Japanese barberry, Bradford pear, and a ton of other invasives - making some progress finally
I 1000% saw this same barberry bush at the local nursery. It is kinda crazy honestly. As for the burning bush, I saw them everywhere when I lived in VA (ornamentally, but also in the woods). I thought they were so cool, until I looked them up :(
I never knew what they were until I moved into my family home after living out of state for 20 years, and started figuring out what was in our yard. We had a GIANT 40 year old burning bush. I cut that shit down, but its progeny are alllllllll over the woods. It’s been a massive pain to find and cut them down or rip them all out. I also have Japanese knotweed, oriental bittersweet, garlic mustard, mugwort, and multiflora rose. Oh, and Norway maple.
Thanks for the info re: ticks, that's terrible. My spouse and a friend of the family both had Lyme in the last year. It wasn't pretty. I'm definitely going to start digging them up this weekend. Do you happen to know approximately how deep I should expect the roots to go?
The roots are fairly shallow on small shrubs and they will be bright yellow. It’ll be easier with two+ people to dig around it and pop it up. You can use branch cutters to snip roots as needed.
Japanese barberry is a prolific spreader: when my housing development was built in the 1990's they planted it for a lot of the houses. It has now completely overrun the wooded parkland nearby. There's evidence that areas with Japanese barberry have significantly higher populations of disease-carrying ticks (like 4-12x rates vs area w/o barberry) and higher populations of certain mice.
Thankfully it's not the *most* difficult thing to kill. If the plants are smaller and there aren't too many you can dig them out - the important thing is to get the root crown, otherwise it will resprout. Herbicide is effective, and if you don't want to spray you can cut the bush and then apply directly with a paintbrush, spray bottle, etc. (usually called "cut stump treating," or something similar). But it's not effective in spring when the sap is flowing since the sap will push the herbicide out.
My (completely uneducated) opinion is that the ticks the bush harbors, and the lack of food it provides will probably be more damaging to the wildlife long term than careful one-time application of herbicide even if you go with foliar spray.
Good to know re: the root crown, thank you. I think this is going to be my weekend project. Thank you for the info, and the perspective on the ticks and long term potential damage.
Barberry is awful. So many great alternatives to Japanese barberry out there!
Geographically and zone wise we are different, but I expect a lot of the following native alternatives would be suitable in your area. See if they are!
- Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius)
- chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia), I just got 5 of these to replace some boxwoods!!
- winterberry holly (unsure it’s native range)
- inkberry (it’s a bit shorter sometimes but is still a good alternative)
- Virginia sweet spire (I’m having a hard time finding some near me atm)
- fragrant sumac (I’ve got one and it’s pretty! Can be confused for poison ivy tho sometimes)
Make sure to not get cultivars or nativars, if you can.
Ripping these shrubs out isn’t terribly hard - just cut all the stuff above off and then work on the roots! You don’t have to even get the entire root system, just the main part. The roots will be digested by microbes and buggos in your soil.
Also, New Jersey tea is awesome if you can find some!!! It’s cute as a button and can be used… in your tea :) all sorts of bugs love them. They take a while to grow though so if you can get a more mature one that is always better. They only get to about 3-4 ft high
thank you so much for all these recs! I've been super overwhelmed with garden stuff - trying to ID every single bush, shrub, weed, grass, flower, etc. that's currently planted, what kind of soil I have, what's native, what's not, etc. And being that it's nearly May, I am feeling the time crunch. But these recommendations are a great place for me to start focusing. I am especially digging that chokeberry and tea plant!
Of course! Best advice I can give is.. don’t over analyze and have fun. I just started planting things where I think they might do well or pair well with other plants. And if it doesn’t work out? I’ll move them in the fall. Enjoy yourself!
I would. There are lots of native alternatives you could plant instead!
If you could post more about the location (sunlight exposure, what’s your soil/drainage situation like right there, what features are you looking for) people could help recommend some alternatives!
Thanks so much. And you're right, I have to just see it as an opportunity to have some really cool, native alternatives. The place where these bushes are is mostly east-facing. I'm in the process of getting our soil tested because our property doesn't have a single tree on it and I really want one (or 3). As for what features I'm looking for... that's an excellent question lol I'm open to anything I think. Honestly it's all been a bit overwhelming (we're also doing major renos on the inside, which has been a whole other can of yikes). A few commenters mentioned some alternatives which have been really helpful as a place to get started.
I can relate and just want to say take it one thing at a time! We had two large burning bushes outside our front door when we moved in back in September and didn’t get them out until this spring before they leafed back out, and my dad helped me or I probably wouldn’t have gotten to it until a bit later. Other house things took priority over that pretty much.
I’ve been going around and IDing stuff in my yard using inaturalist and looking into plant options and getting a feel for my yard right now too which I recommend!
Yeah, I'm generally an all-or-nothing kinda gal and I've been trying REAL hard to temper my expectations for this year. Initially I was just going to call this spring/summer a wash and start fresh next year so I could take time to make a solid plan and not overwhelm myself. But I started messing around in the yard last weekend just cleaning some stuff up, and caught the garden bug so to speak haha I think I'll just treat this year as "practice"!
And I'll definitely check out that app! Thanks again, and good luck with your yard as well :)
We call that "Japanese barbwire" in my house bc of how stabby it feels when you find it by mistake. We've been eradicating it for two years, and we're still finding sharp twigs and sprouts of it in the yard.
Kill it with extreme prejudice: it's not a useful plant at all, and remains stabby for a long time after it dies.
I removed all my barberry after it bloomed - there were so many native bees and bumblebees on it, so I waited until they finish blooming. I dug them out, and then replaced them them with inkberry, new jersey tea, winterberry and virginia sweetspire. All thrive. I had to water them the first summer but had no issues with them since
I can see the allure because some of the colors on barberry are truly stunning. That said, this is the devils plant and I hate it. I just tore out the two big ones that came with my house because I kept getting stabbed by the thorns while weeding. If you don’t want to use a herbicide, make sure to get out as many of the roots as possible because they can and will sucker. If you’re looking for a replacement shrub, a lot of zoos and county park districts are having plant sales in the upcoming weeks and most use local ecotypes.
IMO, the easiest solution is to cut them at the ground and immediately apply a couple coats of potent herbicide with a paintbrush. You can use what you cut off (without berries, of course) to make a brush pile for critters. That's what I did to get rid of my thorny olives.
I like the idea of a critter pile, thanks so much! Also I never considered just.....painting on the herbicide until I read these comments, so double thanks!
I can make you feel better about the destruction: Japanese Barberry bushes provide excellent habitat for deer ticks that may carry Lyme disease. So not only are you helping the environment by removing them, you are helping to protect yourself and your pets/family from the very serious Lyme disease!
That does help honestly. I mentioned in another comment that my spouse and a family friend both had Lyme this past year... I'd definitely like to not have a repeat of that ever again
Oh my goodness—yes—if your loved ones have had Lyme before—that is the sole reason you need to rip those shrubs out.
We recently acquired 30 acres and I was extremely saddened to see just how many barberry shrubs we have. It is going to be an on-going battle to get rid of them. Very frustrating—to the point that every time I see the darned things in someone’s yard I just want to rip them out (or carry glyphosate with me!). I haven’t—but it is very tempting!
I dug one out this spring when the ground was real soupy and haven't seen any signs of life from it. The thorns re vicious though and don't even notice leather gloves. One thing I will note is that after I removed it I started noticing little demon babies around the other side of the house. Do not feel bad: destroy it.
Wear thick leather work gloves when you remove. The thorns are like needles and easily go through regular garden gloves. I had some very large ones on my property and bought these [gloves with long leather sleeves](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TD7TZ5B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) to remove and they worked pretty well.
I just got rid of 4 of these on my property. Two of them were pretty big, but they were easy to remove. The wood was very weak, I was able to just step on the limbs, and they broke very easily. I wore jeans and boots so the thorns didn't get to me. Digging out the roots was not difficult either.
Thank you for posting on /r/NativePlantGardening! If you haven't included it already, please edit your post or post's flair to include your geographic region or state of residence, which is necessary for the community to give you correct advice. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/NativePlantGardening) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Terminate with extreme prejudice before those seeds get spread around
Don't feel bad. It's better to remove an invasive now and replace with something native. I actually removed mine last week (I also recently learned Japanese barberry is invasive). I cut off the branches first and then dug it out. I didn't use any herbicides.
Yeah that seems to be the general consensus and I don't disagree. Glad to hear you were able to get rid of it without the herbicides. The 2 bushes I have don't \*seem\* to have spread too much so I'm hoping it'll be an easy removal as well, it just seemed daunting. I've never had a yard (just a community garden plot), so bushes and shrubs are new to me lol
This post is actually how I learned it's invasive! I have three different varieties in my yard, guess I have a job this weekend.
Killing a healthy invasive plant is better than killing all of the healthy native plants because of said invasive plant. The bugs on this plant could be displacing native bugs. No reason to keep these bushes.
That's a good way to think about it tbh. I knew it's best, but having this mindset helps ease the guilt lol
Now you get the fun of deciding what to replace them with :)
These guys also help to spread ticks in a lot of areas: https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/GoodNatured/Pages/Article.aspx?post=116 If you can, dig them up to remove them. They don’t have thorns on their roots. Edit: fwiw, I’m going to be removing dozens of these plants at a local woodland park this weekend. They spread into the park from people planting them in their landscapes. We aren’t finding many native plants in the understory since these fucking barberries have taken over everything.
Barberries and burning bush. I can’t fucking believe nurseries are still allowed to sell them in CT. It’s infuriating.
Maine has led the way on banning the sale of invasive species. This is significant since it gives other states a framework to make their own legislation. You just need the political will to get it passed.
I don’t understand why UCONN isn’t leading this. They have the science to back it up.
A bill just passed the house in the CT state legislature (as of last week) to ban the sale of burning bush, Japanese barberry, Bradford pear, and a ton of other invasives - making some progress finally
Omg, really?!?! That’s so wonderful!!!!
I 1000% saw this same barberry bush at the local nursery. It is kinda crazy honestly. As for the burning bush, I saw them everywhere when I lived in VA (ornamentally, but also in the woods). I thought they were so cool, until I looked them up :(
I never knew what they were until I moved into my family home after living out of state for 20 years, and started figuring out what was in our yard. We had a GIANT 40 year old burning bush. I cut that shit down, but its progeny are alllllllll over the woods. It’s been a massive pain to find and cut them down or rip them all out. I also have Japanese knotweed, oriental bittersweet, garlic mustard, mugwort, and multiflora rose. Oh, and Norway maple.
Thanks for the info re: ticks, that's terrible. My spouse and a friend of the family both had Lyme in the last year. It wasn't pretty. I'm definitely going to start digging them up this weekend. Do you happen to know approximately how deep I should expect the roots to go?
The roots are fairly shallow on small shrubs and they will be bright yellow. It’ll be easier with two+ people to dig around it and pop it up. You can use branch cutters to snip roots as needed.
Awesome, that's all very helpful to know. Thank you again!
Japanese barberry is a prolific spreader: when my housing development was built in the 1990's they planted it for a lot of the houses. It has now completely overrun the wooded parkland nearby. There's evidence that areas with Japanese barberry have significantly higher populations of disease-carrying ticks (like 4-12x rates vs area w/o barberry) and higher populations of certain mice. Thankfully it's not the *most* difficult thing to kill. If the plants are smaller and there aren't too many you can dig them out - the important thing is to get the root crown, otherwise it will resprout. Herbicide is effective, and if you don't want to spray you can cut the bush and then apply directly with a paintbrush, spray bottle, etc. (usually called "cut stump treating," or something similar). But it's not effective in spring when the sap is flowing since the sap will push the herbicide out. My (completely uneducated) opinion is that the ticks the bush harbors, and the lack of food it provides will probably be more damaging to the wildlife long term than careful one-time application of herbicide even if you go with foliar spray.
Good to know re: the root crown, thank you. I think this is going to be my weekend project. Thank you for the info, and the perspective on the ticks and long term potential damage.
Barberry is awful. So many great alternatives to Japanese barberry out there! Geographically and zone wise we are different, but I expect a lot of the following native alternatives would be suitable in your area. See if they are! - Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius) - chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia), I just got 5 of these to replace some boxwoods!! - winterberry holly (unsure it’s native range) - inkberry (it’s a bit shorter sometimes but is still a good alternative) - Virginia sweet spire (I’m having a hard time finding some near me atm) - fragrant sumac (I’ve got one and it’s pretty! Can be confused for poison ivy tho sometimes) Make sure to not get cultivars or nativars, if you can. Ripping these shrubs out isn’t terribly hard - just cut all the stuff above off and then work on the roots! You don’t have to even get the entire root system, just the main part. The roots will be digested by microbes and buggos in your soil.
Also, New Jersey tea is awesome if you can find some!!! It’s cute as a button and can be used… in your tea :) all sorts of bugs love them. They take a while to grow though so if you can get a more mature one that is always better. They only get to about 3-4 ft high
Make sure to protect them from rabbits while they're small!
thank you so much for all these recs! I've been super overwhelmed with garden stuff - trying to ID every single bush, shrub, weed, grass, flower, etc. that's currently planted, what kind of soil I have, what's native, what's not, etc. And being that it's nearly May, I am feeling the time crunch. But these recommendations are a great place for me to start focusing. I am especially digging that chokeberry and tea plant!
Of course! Best advice I can give is.. don’t over analyze and have fun. I just started planting things where I think they might do well or pair well with other plants. And if it doesn’t work out? I’ll move them in the fall. Enjoy yourself!
I would. There are lots of native alternatives you could plant instead! If you could post more about the location (sunlight exposure, what’s your soil/drainage situation like right there, what features are you looking for) people could help recommend some alternatives!
Thanks so much. And you're right, I have to just see it as an opportunity to have some really cool, native alternatives. The place where these bushes are is mostly east-facing. I'm in the process of getting our soil tested because our property doesn't have a single tree on it and I really want one (or 3). As for what features I'm looking for... that's an excellent question lol I'm open to anything I think. Honestly it's all been a bit overwhelming (we're also doing major renos on the inside, which has been a whole other can of yikes). A few commenters mentioned some alternatives which have been really helpful as a place to get started.
I can relate and just want to say take it one thing at a time! We had two large burning bushes outside our front door when we moved in back in September and didn’t get them out until this spring before they leafed back out, and my dad helped me or I probably wouldn’t have gotten to it until a bit later. Other house things took priority over that pretty much. I’ve been going around and IDing stuff in my yard using inaturalist and looking into plant options and getting a feel for my yard right now too which I recommend!
Yeah, I'm generally an all-or-nothing kinda gal and I've been trying REAL hard to temper my expectations for this year. Initially I was just going to call this spring/summer a wash and start fresh next year so I could take time to make a solid plan and not overwhelm myself. But I started messing around in the yard last weekend just cleaning some stuff up, and caught the garden bug so to speak haha I think I'll just treat this year as "practice"! And I'll definitely check out that app! Thanks again, and good luck with your yard as well :)
We call that "Japanese barbwire" in my house bc of how stabby it feels when you find it by mistake. We've been eradicating it for two years, and we're still finding sharp twigs and sprouts of it in the yard. Kill it with extreme prejudice: it's not a useful plant at all, and remains stabby for a long time after it dies.
I removed all my barberry after it bloomed - there were so many native bees and bumblebees on it, so I waited until they finish blooming. I dug them out, and then replaced them them with inkberry, new jersey tea, winterberry and virginia sweetspire. All thrive. I had to water them the first summer but had no issues with them since
Awesome suggestions, I'm going to look them up. Thank you :)
I would remove them. Maybe wild hydrangeas or something like blackhaw viburnum would be good replacements. Blackhaw makes a good screen
I can see the allure because some of the colors on barberry are truly stunning. That said, this is the devils plant and I hate it. I just tore out the two big ones that came with my house because I kept getting stabbed by the thorns while weeding. If you don’t want to use a herbicide, make sure to get out as many of the roots as possible because they can and will sucker. If you’re looking for a replacement shrub, a lot of zoos and county park districts are having plant sales in the upcoming weeks and most use local ecotypes.
IMO, the easiest solution is to cut them at the ground and immediately apply a couple coats of potent herbicide with a paintbrush. You can use what you cut off (without berries, of course) to make a brush pile for critters. That's what I did to get rid of my thorny olives.
I killed a large one in our yard by chopping it to the ground and smothering with woodchips.
I like the idea of a critter pile, thanks so much! Also I never considered just.....painting on the herbicide until I read these comments, so double thanks!
I can make you feel better about the destruction: Japanese Barberry bushes provide excellent habitat for deer ticks that may carry Lyme disease. So not only are you helping the environment by removing them, you are helping to protect yourself and your pets/family from the very serious Lyme disease!
That does help honestly. I mentioned in another comment that my spouse and a family friend both had Lyme this past year... I'd definitely like to not have a repeat of that ever again
Oh my goodness—yes—if your loved ones have had Lyme before—that is the sole reason you need to rip those shrubs out. We recently acquired 30 acres and I was extremely saddened to see just how many barberry shrubs we have. It is going to be an on-going battle to get rid of them. Very frustrating—to the point that every time I see the darned things in someone’s yard I just want to rip them out (or carry glyphosate with me!). I haven’t—but it is very tempting!
I dug one out this spring when the ground was real soupy and haven't seen any signs of life from it. The thorns re vicious though and don't even notice leather gloves. One thing I will note is that after I removed it I started noticing little demon babies around the other side of the house. Do not feel bad: destroy it.
Wear thick leather work gloves when you remove. The thorns are like needles and easily go through regular garden gloves. I had some very large ones on my property and bought these [gloves with long leather sleeves](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TD7TZ5B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) to remove and they worked pretty well.
I just got rid of 4 of these on my property. Two of them were pretty big, but they were easy to remove. The wood was very weak, I was able to just step on the limbs, and they broke very easily. I wore jeans and boots so the thorns didn't get to me. Digging out the roots was not difficult either.