Using plants to control buckthorn

Management of common buckthorn is often ineffective since buckthorn rapidly re-establishes from seeds and re-sprouts.

At experimental buckthorn removal sites around Minnesota, the Cover It Up! project has found that re-establishing dense native revegetation can limit invasion by buckthorn.

Since the Cover It Up project started in 2016, researchers have found how establishing dense cover of native plants can fill the void left by removed buckthorn, stifle returning buckthorn, and suppress other invasive plants. In some cases, this type of restoration planting can completely prevent buckthorn re-establishment. Their ongoing work continues to advance our understanding of which species to plant, how to plant them, which conditions favor their success, and how these methods can be used in conjunction with other management strategies.

This talk will focus on new ways of preventing buckthorn from returning in the years following buckthorn management and a comparison of the outcomes and limitations of those different approaches.

Our speaker is Dr. Mike Schuster, a researcher at the University of Minnesota & Minnesota Invasive Terrestrial Plants and Pests Center.

Date: January 23 (Tuesday)
Time:  6pm to 8pm
Location:  Bethel Lutheran Church
504 Frontage Road / Hudson, Wisconsin 54016