Multiflora Rose Control

Bulletin 857

Mechanical Control

1. Grubbing, pulling, or removing individual plants from the soil is only effective when all roots are removed or when plants which subsequently develop from severed roots also are destroyed (Figure 12). These approaches are most applicable to lighter, scattered infestations. Bulldozing can be used to clear severe infestations, but the resulting unvegetated, looser ground may be subject to significant soil erosion.

   Figure 12	Figure 13

2. Repeated defoliation will eventually kill most plant species, and multiflora rose is no exception. The single late summer mowing often used for general weed and brush suppression in pastures and idle land, however, may restrict topgrowth, but seldom kills multiflora rose plants (Figure 13). West Virginia University research compared various defoliation intervals over several seasons with survival of individual multiflora rose plants. This research compared 1-, 2-, 4-, and 8-week defoliations each season beginning in May. One year later, 84% of the plants were dead. A subsequent experiment compared 4- and 8-week defoliations with 21% of plants dead at the beginning of the second year, 78% by the third year, and 94% by the beginning of the fourth season. In both trials, closer spaced clippings resulted in significantly shorter shoot growth but no differences in the number of shoots, hardiness of thorns, or plant kill. Smaller plants survived the longest.

The West Virginia research, which simulated both mechanical cutting and close animal grazing, indicates that 3 to 6 mowings per season for 2 to 3 consecutive seasons are required to achieve effective plant kill. In a 1993 Ohio State University Extension survey, farmer custom rate cost per rotary mowing averaged $10 per acre, with a range of $4 to $16.

Back | Forward | Table of Contents