Chinese Privet

[skilletcreek]

Looking for opinions on Chinese Privet. I have a lot of it and was going to get aggresive getting rid of it this year.

The deer are hammering it, seem to love the berrys. I know this is an invasive plant but it sure seems to draw the deer.

Would like to hear some thoughts, keep it or cut it.

 

[Boll Weevil]

Spray it to kill completely. I spray the stuff at every opportunity and would be tickled if it was eradicated altogether (at least on my farm).

 

[BSK]

skilletcreek,

Deer will use it when other higher quality food sources are in limited supply. I would consider heavy browsing of privet to be a bad sign, in that quality winter foods are not available, which means herd health is suffering.

However, if I did not have the resources necessary to greatly improve winter food quality, I would leave the privet alone. By killing it, you are removing the very food deer are using to survive. Yes, it's poor quality food, but it's better than anything else available.

 

[maddhatter82]

Anyone have a picture of this plant? I think that's what they have been eating where I hunt

 

[skilletcreek]

Boll and BSK thanks for the response.

BSK-I was afraid of that. I really thought I had plenty for them to eat I guess I need to reevaluate that. What do you suggest as a good winter food source?

 

[BSK]

Agricultural plantings are always going to provide the highest level of nutrition, but it's darn hard to provide enough winter agricultural plants to feed a large deer herd, especially during those not-so-rare acorn failure years.

On a list of top winter plants, I would have cool-season clovers, winter peas, cereal grains (wheat, oats, etc.), standing corn (grown in summer), brassicas (turnips, rape, etc.).

Anyone else want to add to that list?

I would also like to see any property have a lot of early succession areas that will naturally grow honeysuckle, native forbs, native legumes, greenbrier, etc. Although these plants aren't real high quality, an acre of successional regrowth can grow a huge volume of these moderate-quality plants.

 

[catman529]

From what I've noticed, deer will eat privet even with other good food sources nearby. They like to bed in the thick cover of the bushes and will eat on it as they come out off the bed headed towards other places.

 

[skilletcreek]

I currently have a lot of early succession area probably 10:1 over food plots. Plots are in clover and wheat.

Looks as though I need to focus on getting my succession area to plot ratio at around 3:1 which is in the plan this year.

If I have success with the plots I should be able to then start reducing the privet as I will have replaced that food source with a better one.

My problem may be deer density, on average I see 10-15 deer per set, saw ~20 Sunday AM.

 

[BSK]

If I have success with the plots I should be able to then start reducing the privet as I will have replaced that food source with a better one.

Correct.

My problem may be deer density, on average I see 10-15 deer per set, saw ~20 Sunday AM.

Deer seen per hunt is a complicated measuring stick, as stand location and visibility are huge players in these numbers. But outside of big agriculture areas, seeing 10-15 deer per hunt is an extraordinarily high number, and suggests over-population. Heavy utilization of privet, even with considerable early succession regrowth available, also a key indicator of deer over-population.

 

[BSK]

From what I've noticed, deer will eat privet even with other good food sources nearby. They like to bed in the thick cover of the bushes and will eat on it as they come out off the bed headed towards other places.

Deer will eat a little of everything they walk past. However, HEAVY use of low-quality food sources is never a good sign.

 

[skilletcreek]

BSK-Thanks very much for your responses, always informative.

You have confirmed my suspicions on the quality of food. I do have neighboring bean fields ~200 acres. And the deer look healthy, shot a doe Saturday 124 LBS dressed.

Don't believe it will hurt anything to give them better food than they have.

 

[Boll Weevil]

I'm a huge fan of "going native" and agree 100% w/BSK.

It'll take you about a growing season to pull off a full "conversion" but I've enjoyed good success spraying in very late winter/early spring with a superhot mix of glyphosate. Even though it will look dead in just a few weeks time RESIST THE URGE TO CUT, trim, or push it out just yet or it'll resprout like crazy.

Even in places like overgrown fencerows you'll be able to see all the way through from one side to the next. At 60-90 days the branches should be totally brittle (you should be able to easily crumble them). It is this point not only is the "parent" hedge dead but all it's little devil-babies in that particular colony.

From this point, it's easier than you'd think to encourage the healthier native vegetation that BSK suggested. Just be watchful as you disturb the soil; there's lots of seedbank there (but nothing an annual mowing won't address. I've been able to reclaim a significant amount of field edge, hedgerow, and old fencerow like this...now I just mow it periodically.

Tons of food, little to no maintenance, and on any given evening or morning you can see deer nibbling away on this edgy-stuff. Certain times of the year they even appear to prefer it over the ag crops (which is fine by me)!

 

[BSK]

It is this point not only is the "parent" hedge dead but all it's little devil-babies in that particular colony.

"Little devil-babies." HA! Can I use that Boll Weevil?

Tons of food, little to no maintenance, and on any given evening or morning you can see deer nibbling away on this edgy-stuff. Certain times of the year they even appear to prefer it over the ag crops (which is fine by me)!

Years ago, a grad student at Auburn conducted a "food plot plant preference" study by using human observers watching from high platforms and recording the amount of time deer spent feeding on test strips of different plant species planted in a large food plot. And these strips included some of the most hyped food plot plants on the market.

And which "crop" did the deer spend more than 50% of their time feeding on? The weeds growing around the edges of the plot!

 

[catman529]

From what I've noticed, deer will eat privet even with other good food sources nearby. They like to bed in the thick cover of the bushes and will eat on it as they come out off the bed headed towards other places.

Deer will eat a little of everything they walk past. However, HEAVY use of low-quality food sources is never a good sign.

deer seem to eat a lot of privet around Yanahli WMA and there is plenty of red oaks, white oaks, agriculture, CRP and other farmland all around. There was a good acorn crop this year. Maybe the deer feel safe from hunting pressure in the privet thickets and eat a lot more privet just to keep from getting shot...

 

[skilletcreek]

Boll- Thanks very much for the info, just saved me some time and heartache. I was planning to start cutting but instead will plan to spray late winter.

Catman- I think they may like the berries, I don't see them eating the leaves. It does provide some good cover. I have a 2 acre patch of it as a result of tornado damage and it is one heck of a sanctuary.Just last week I watched them pick berries for about 30 minutes before entering a food plot just at dusk.

 

[catman529]

Boll- Thanks very much for the info, just saved me some time and heartache. I was planning to start cutting but instead will plan to spray late winter.

Catman- I think they may like the berries, I don't see them eating the leaves. It does provide some good cover. I have a 2 acre patch of it as a result of tornado damage and it is one heck of a sanctuary.Just last week I watched them pick berries for about 30 minutes before entering a food plot just at dusk.

they do eat leaves sometimes, I find the leaves in the stomach often and have killed them eating the leaves

 

[Boll Weevil]

"Little devil-babies." HA! Can I use that Boll Weevil?

Yeah'man. For the record also applies to river cane/bamboo too!! I shall never wish such angry ill on any botanical lifeform as privet (or river cane) trying to overtake field edges and hedgerows. As the saying goes, "Give'em an inch and they'll take a mile."

Skillet: One more native edgy grower you might want to consider is poke. Along with whatever blackberries you pick that ain't worth a cobbler + greenbriar and honeysuckle berries, collect some poke berries as you wander about. Toss viable seed in some of those reclaimed privet areas...the birds will take care of the rest.

I really don't know about protein or digestibility but deer just plain love a poke'salit and to be perfectly honest, if all my big fields were totally lined with poke it would be a blessing. They dive in there and somehow, can't keep up with it during the warm/wet summer months.

Swap out privet for poke..easy choice and not a crazy amount of work. They love it.

 

[catman529]

Isn't river cane good bedding sanctuary? Nobody goes inside it

 

[Boll Weevil]

Unless you've got REAL big dense blocks of it maybe, river cane just seems to be one of the less preferred areas for a deer to bed where I'm at. It doesn't seem to be altogether comfortable to them, provides little thermal buffer, and doesn't "lay down" like other cover vegetation. Short pines, broomstraw, or even cedars seem to be preferred to bamboo.

 

[nwsg76]

Go by your local nrcs service center. They have financial help to kill privete. Also ask them to get a biologist out to your property to help evaluate your habitat. Lots of free help out there and financial help also.