Your Habitat Management Plan should include an inventory of current desirable and undesirable bushes, shrubs and vines on your property. Additionally, include a listing of those new bushes and vines you would like to add — including how and where you plan to plant them.

CURRENT UNDESIRABLE PLANTS:

Over the years, government agencies and well-intended organizations have offered free seedlings of autumn olive, Tartarian honeysuckle, barberry, and multiflora rose to be planted for wildlife habitat improvement. Over the years, each of these species has spread, sometimes taking over fallow fields and forest openings. Today, each one of these species is listed as a non-native invasive plant that should be eradicated wherever possible.

If the plants are small enough, mowing them with a brush hog will keep them in check and, over time, begin to eliminate them altogether. While I hesitate to recommend chemical treatments, Roundup is effective in killing each of these invasive species.

On a related subject, there are two other plants that you should eradicate, wherever possible — striped maple and the New York or hay-scented fern. Spraying the ferns — particularly in July and August is very effective. For the striped maple, make a nick in the outer bark of the tree and apply two or three drops of Garlon 4 in the opening. It will kill the tree.

EXISTING BUSHES, SHRUBS & VINES:

Among the more common native bushes and shrubs are the native viburnum species (such as the Arrowood), witch hazel, raspberries, blackberries, and huckleberries. Bittersweet is a native vine that produces an orange berry that is a favorite among birds, and the wild grape is prolific throughout our area and is eaten by turkeys, bears and many other birds and mammals. When clearing an area for a food plot, brushing out fields and forest openings or trimming out logging roads and landings, try to avoid removing any of these species. A sprinkling of 10-10-10 fertilizer at the base of these plants will aid in their health and production.

ADDING BUSHES, SHRUBS & VINES:

Any of the aforementioned plants should be readily available through our area nurseries or landscape businesses. As with tree seedlings, they can generally be planted either in the spring or late fall. It is a good idea, wherever you decide to plant them to plant a grouping to aid in pollination and reduce over browsing by deer where only one plant is planted. Particularly in their early stages, all of these plants are susceptible to browsing by deer; thus it would be beneficial to use a wire cage to allow the plant to get above the level that the deer would damage. Especially during the first few years of growth, a cupful of 10-10-10 fertilizer — applied in both spring and fall — will give the plants a jump start to get above the deer’s reach.

Where a field joins a forest, or where there is an existing forest opening — such as a log landing area — bushes, shrubs, and vines will do very well. When planning a food plot, consider adding groupings of these plants around the edges of the food plot where the clovers, grasses, and other legumes reach the edge of the woods.

All wildlife likes edges, that is, where a forest meets a field. Game will frequently hang back in the woods, waiting and watching before entering a field. When a layer or two of bushes line the edge of a forest and field, it provides wild birds and animals with a little more security as they proceed out into the field, and thus, they are slightly more relaxed and less wary once entering the opening.

Adding bushes, shrubs and vines to your property increases the variety of available food for wildlife — something that most game and non-game birds and mammals prefer.