FAQ's & How To's

Brushy encroachment is normal in prairies, especially when fire, grazing, and regular disturbance are absent. Birds drop mulberry, cedar, autumn olive, honeysuckle, willow, and other woody seeds. Edges creep inward. Small saplings appear. If they are ignored long enough, a prairie can start turning into shrubland or young woodland. The best response depends on the size of the problem. For scattered saplings in a small or medium planting, elbow grease is often the best tool. Cut the woody plant low and treat the stump immediately with an appropriate herbicide if the species can resprout. A sponge dauber, small applicator, or careful cut-stump method can put herbicide where it belongs without spraying the prairie around it. Timing matters because cut stems can begin sealing off quickly, so apply treatment soon after cutting. Be careful with brush hogging as a default solution. It makes the site look better for a few weeks, but many woody plants respond by sending up multiple suckers from the base. One small tree can become a wide, low shrub with several stems, making future control harder. Brush hogging can also leave sharp stubs that are hard on tires and equipment. Eastern red cedar is an important exception. If you cut a cedar below the lowest green needles, it usually dies without herbicide. Many other woody species need treatment because they resprout. Fire helps reduce woody encroachment, especially when saplings are young, but it will not catch everything. Some trees survive burns and become harder to kill later. On larger sites, a combination of prescribed fire, targeted cutting, spot treatment, and sometimes grazing or professional mechanical work may be needed. The key is to act early. A few small trees are a weekend project. A neglected brush problem can become a restoration project of its own.