annyone know what these are

[kaiser 100]

i've never seen "choke cherries" before, but from others descriptions i thought that maybe these are choke cherries.

i have about 1/2 acre of theses demons, all knarly and twisted together. the biggest of them is 25-30 feet tall.

they densely populate that 1/2 acre too. ton's of em.

[KC9KAS 4,741]

Check this link: http://www.ehow.com/how_4500958_identify-chokecherries-wild.html

[kaiser 100]

thanks, even though mine seem pale in color everything else seems to match up. it's been a cold summer so maybe they are struggling to ripen like my tomatos.

[tunahead72 2,334]

Autumn olive?

 

http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/elgum.htm

[kaiser 100]

could be that too. nasty little buggers. they are pretty hard too.

 

i may "hollow" out the interior and leave a hedge. maybe put a fire pit in the middle and the tipi the wife keeps nagging me about.

[IthacaJeff 151]

My field is getting overgrown with choke cherries. Yours look different from mine, but

that is not to say that there may be different varieties. My leaves are fatter with a more

prominent point. If you trust yourself, taste the fruit (I say this with great reservation).

A choke cherry is not poisonous, but it is very astringint. Not good at all. Not sure what

you have, or if it is dangerous.

 

Jeff

[tunahead72 2,334]

i may "hollow" out the interior and leave a hedge. maybe put a fire pit in the middle and the tipi the wife keeps nagging me about.

 

You know, I've read a bunch of articles and talked to several people in the last few years about how to control autumn olive, and not one of them ever mentioned this particular approach.  Interesting idea, maybe even fun!

[kaiser 100]

confirmed they are autum olives. they are edible but super invasive like choke cherries.

 

i think turning the area into a private camp site will be fun. i'll start this fall after the leaves drop. no one will be able to see in there at all, it's dense.

Edited September 6, 2013 by kaiser

[Lane Ranger 10,472]

Autumn olive is considered invasive but it places a lot of nitrogen in bad soil and plating walnut trees or other good hardwood can grow alternatives if interplanted with these plants.  Walnut trees will actually start to elimiinate the autumn olive in time from the ligens droppings.

[AMC RULES 36,941]

confirmed they are autum olives. they are edible but super invasive like choke cherries.

 

i think turning the area into a private camp site will be fun. i'll start this fall after the leaves drop. no one will be able to see in there at all, it's dense.

Would like to see the process, and what you ultimately come up with...

especially if you end up working some   's into clearing of these olives.  

[tunahead72 2,334]

We have tons of autumn olive on our place in Virginia, and I can tell you it's a huge pain in the arse to get rid of.  Goats and other livestock will eat the smaller plants, and it can be sprayed with various herbicides (some more successful than others, none completely effective that I know of).  It can also be "managed" mechanically, i.e., by cutting, but as a guy from the Forest Service told me a few years back, cutting autumn olive just p*sses it off and it comes back even stronger than before by spreading underground.  It seems that a combination of all these methods has a chance of controlling it, but I haven't done that yet.  Some of the local excavators are trying to eliminate it by digging the larger trees out of the ground completely and then burning them, which I think might work, it would at least get the plants back to a manageable size again.

 

I hadn't heard Lane Ranger's information before now, it's probably worth looking into.  But I think you'd have to be careful about encouraging too many walnut trees in an area as well, I believe their roots release toxins into the ground that make it difficult for other plants to grow.

 

And Craig, with all due respect, seriously, I don't think I've ever met a Wheel Horse I'd want to abuse that badly, although I confess I've mowed over my share of the smaller plants.  I've also beat the crap out of a 7' bush hog type mower on some 10' tall autumn olive trees, and I promised myself I'd never do that again, it's just too much abuse.

 

In any event, I did a good bit of research a few years ago on this pleasant little piece of nature, and I'd be happy to provide some more links if anybody's interested.

 

Kaiser, good luck with your project -- it sounds like fun, and it has as good a chance as anything of helping you manage this stuff.  I'd love to see pictures as you get it done.

 

Oh, I almost forgot...  Wildlife love the berries, especially deer and birds, which is part of why this stuff has spread so quickly and widely since it was not-so-wisely introduced into this country.  But be aware that bears also like them, they'll even push the trees completely down to the ground and sit on them to get to the berries more easily.  Be very careful if you see that some of your trees look like they've been almost uprooted, and you didn't do it.

[kaiser 100]

after reading a bit i do understand that these things are tough to control. what i may end up doing is clearing the area i want to use inside the thicket and then cover it with plastic or a tarp for atleast a year.

i think i'll invest in a bench mounted chain sharpener too, i'm gonna need it. as soon as the leaves drop i'll start cutting them down as close to ground level as possible. then cover with plastic.

i'm not going to let my stallion near these things though, maybe just use it to drag them out. i'll pile up the wood to use for future campfires. once it's cleared and covered for a year i may put down a very thinck layer of muclh, maybe even rubber playground mulch.  or i could just chip them right there and use that until it rots and then cover with mulch. now i wish i bought that mighty mak chipper!

 

it's going to be a long process for sure.

 

looking to eventually put a 20' tipi in there:

 

 

Edited September 9, 2013 by kaiser

[tunahead72 2,334]

looking to eventually put a 20' tipi in there:

 

Okay, that's just cool.  I don't know why exactly, but it is.