How To: DIY Invasive Plant Removal for Homeowners

The weather turned glorious this past weekend, and – even though we were a little disoriented by the clocks springing ahead – my family rallied to get outside and do some yard clean-up in the form of invasive plant removal.

To be clear: spring yard clean-up does not mean leaf-blowing or piling brush at the curb for takeaway. 

Nevertheless, I heard plenty of gas-powered machines blasting away throughout the neighborhood all weekend. 😣

Those chores are for folks who aren’t “in the know.” Folks who don’t yet realize that they can be liberated from the time-wasting, money-draining task of blowing leaves from place to place and degrading ecosystems in the process. 

You, on the other hand, are a Sanity Gardener. You know that cleaning up your yard in spring can be more mindful, productive, and rewarding. 

When you embrace conservation landscaping, you normalize alternatives to the lawn-culture status quo. And over time, by witnessing your compassionate yard care, those other folks grow to be more in the know. 

It’s that whole “be the change you wish to see in the world” concept attributed to Gandhi. 😉

At my house, our spring cleaning consisted of organizing tools and toys, and eliminating invasive plant species from our property. It was a free and impactful way to kick off the spring season and make room for native species in our yard.

Leaf piles – with firefly larvae, box turtles, bumblebee queens, and caterpillars all waiting to emerge –  were left in peace and stray sticks and branches were added to our brush piles. 🐛🐝🐌

With longer daylight hours and warmer temps upon us, I’m guessing that you are also longing to get to work in your yard and create a thriving habitat for wildlife and, by extension, your family. 

Invasive plant removal is a free or low-cost way to enhance biodiversity in your yard by encouraging native plants to return, which creates a more resilient landscape (think watershed management and flood prevention). Read on to learn the ins and outs of invasive plant removal for homeowners. 

Why is invasive plant removal important?

Doug Tallamy, author of How Can I Help?, defines an invasive species as “a non-native organism that displaces native species,” (pg. 144). Invasive species outcompete native plants, which disrupts local ecosystems. They are able to do this because “we have removed the means by which nature used to restore balance in disturbed ecosystems” (pg. 147). 

An invasive species has an unfair advantage because they “are typically introduced without the predators, parasites, and diseases that keep them in check in their homeland, so they are healthier when they enter into competition against native plants that must survive attack from multiple species of herbivores and diseases,” (pg. 145). 

Plus, seeds from invasive plants on your property are spreading to other yards and natural areas, whether by wind or birds. It may just look like one insignificant plant to you, but when you think of all the generations of invasives that it is capable of making, its potential for negative impact becomes clearer. Invasive plant removal helps restore some of the 135 million acres of residential landscapes back into healthy woodlots, wetlands, and meadows that support the ecosystem services that humans rely on (pg. 147). 

But why does it really matter if the invasives take over? 

The negative impact becomes clear when we examine the food web. Berries that develop on invasive species are like fast-food fixes for our native birds, instead of healthy, nutrient-rich meals. According to Doug Tallamy, “no bird species in North America can live or reproduce on berries. Most depend on high-protein seeds or insects to get them through the year, and the vast majority require insects and spiders to reproduce,” (pg. 149). 

Since invasive plants don’t support our native insects – at least not anywhere near the levels required to sustain breeding bird populations – those insects leave, and the birds leave – or perish – along with them. This has a negative cascading effect on our local food webs, devastating bird populations and the wildlife that they sustain. 

How to identify invasive plants

The invasive species that degrade your local ecosystem will vary depending on where you live. If you happen to be in central NJ, like me, our environment is overrun with multiflora rose, barberry, privet, bamboo, Amur honeysuckle, and autumn olive, just to name a few. 

It’s important to make sure that you’re not accidentally removing native plants when you start to pull out invasive ones. Here are some resources to help you identify common plant invaders so you can weed with confidence. 

Books

Books are the primary method I use to identify natives and invasives. In the book How Can I Help? by Doug Tallamy, he recommends different plant ID books for each region of North America:

• Southeast:
  • Native Plants of the Southeast: A Comprehensive Guide to the Best 460 Species for the Garden
• Northeast:
  • Native Plants of the Northeast
• Southwest, Texas, and Rockies:
  • Landscaping with Native Plants of the Southwest
  • Landscaping with Native Plants of Texas
  • Native Plant Gardening for Birds, Bees & Butterflies: Rocky Mountains
• Midwest:
  • The Midwestern Native Garden
• California:
  • Calscape
• Pacific Northwest:
  • Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest

I recommend checking for these titles at your local library first, to save money, or you can order from bookshop.org or thriftbooks.com. 

Apps

Another great way to quickly identify the plants in your yard is by using apps. These work by using your phone’s camera to instantly identify plant species, or by crowdsourcing identification from the community of users:

• iNaturalist
• Seek
• Google Lens
• Pl@ntNet

Using plant ID apps has the added benefit of contributing to citizen science projects, too. 

How to: DIY invasive plant removal for homeowners

I’ve removed invasives as a volunteer Trail Maintainer for the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, as a Seasonal Park Ranger for my county park system, and as a Stewardship Intern with a local nature conservancy. I’ve battled with the thorniest, most stubborn, nastiest invasive plant species that my region has to contend with and lived to tell the tale. 

My experience has taught me a few important things that I’m here to share with you.

Invest in protective gear

When you are fighting the good fight out in your yard this season, you’ll want to be prepared with a few core pieces of protective gear. I recommend:

• 👕 Long-sleeve t-shirt in a light material and color. This will protect your arms from thorns, biting insects, poison ivy, and the sun.
• 👖 Pants, also in a light material and color. The light color keeps you cooler outdoors, and it makes it easier to find any ticks that sneak onto you while you’re working. 
• 🧤 Gloves. When I was slicing up a thorny privet shrub last weekend, I was definitely glad to have gloves on. Your hands stay clean and you can operate around the yard confidently with protected hands. I linked the pair of Carhartt gloves that I use – they are pricey but man, have they held up! I will be buying these again!
• 🦟 Bug spray, for obvious reasons! I recommend this one.
• 🌞 Sun protection. Again, goes without saying. 

Gather the right invasive plant removal tools

To manually remove invasive species in your yard, try to have these tools within arm’s reach:

• Bow saw – for slicing through thick branches
• Pruners – for clipping off tiny branches to access obstructed parts of the plant
• Loppers – for clipping small-to-medium branches
• Mattock – for popping out embedded roots

When I removed the privet and Japanese holly from my yard, I mostly relied on a bow saw and loppers. The stumps and roots are still currently in the ground, and my job isn’t done until those are removed, too, because “No matter what species you’re dealing with, you have to kill the root stock to be rid of the invasive once and for all” (pg. 150). 

My plan is to head back out after it rains, when the ground is soft and moist, and try to whack out all the roots with a mattock. In my fantasy, it will be therapeutic and rewarding. In reality, it might also be sweaty and exhausting! Either way, I’m excited to get after it. 🔥

Consider applying an herbicide

If you cringe at the thought of using an herbicide in your yard, I feel you. But, again according to Doug Tallamy, “when they are properly used, they are an important tool in our ecological toolbox and can facilitate the fight against invasive plants…Not controlling invasives causes far more ecological damage than using herbicides correctly” (pg. 151). 

If using a mattock on my current invasive species doesn’t work, then I plan to use Doug Tallamy’s method in my own yard soon: “cut the stem or trunk near the ground and paint the stump with an oil-based herbicide that kills the roots. It uses very little material and often works with a single application” (pg. 152). This will ensure that my hard work chopping down the plants wasn’t in vain – getting rid of the roots is the most important part of the job. 

How to properly dispose of invasive plants

Once you’ve wrestled an invasive plant out of the ground, the job isn’t quite finished. Many invasive species are incredibly resilient, and if they’re handled incorrectly, they can easily spread to new areas.

In other words: pulling the plant is only half the battle.

Don’t compost invasive plants

Your backyard compost pile is great for kitchen scraps and garden clippings — but invasive plants should stay out of it.

Many invasive species can resprout from small root fragments or stems, and others will continue to ripen and disperse seeds even after they’ve been pulled. Tossing them into your compost pile risks spreading those seeds or fragments back into your garden later.

When in doubt, assume the plant could regenerate.

Bag and send to the landfill

The safest disposal method for most homeowners is simple:

1. Place invasive plant material in heavy-duty yard waste bags
2. Seal the bags tightly
3. Dispose of them with your municipal trash

Sending invasive plants to the landfill prevents them from re-rooting or spreading seeds into natural areas.

If your town offers curbside yard waste pickup, check their guidelines first. Some municipalities specifically ask residents not to include invasive species in yard waste collections.

Burning (where permitted)

In some areas, homeowners are allowed to burn invasive plant material. This can be an effective way to eliminate seeds and root fragments, but always check local regulations and burn restrictions before doing so.

Open burning is tightly regulated in many communities for safety and air-quality reasons.

In our yard, we’ve been using our firepit to enjoy small evening fires and we’re slowly burning pieces of privet as firewood to dispose of it and somewhat “recycle” the invasive plant scraps. 

Drying out roots and stems

For smaller infestations, another option is to leave pulled plants in the sun on a tarp, driveway, or rock surface until they are completely dried out and dead. Once the plant material is fully dry, it can be safely bagged and discarded.

The key is making sure the plant cannot re-root in contact with soil.

Removing invasive plants is real ecological stewardship. Done thoughtfully – from removal to disposal –  it helps protect nearby forests, wetlands, and natural areas from further spread. It represents a more impactful “spring cleanup” than leaf blowing, for sure. 

Immediate Gratification

Aside from inviting native species back into my yard and enhancing biodiversity in my local ecosystem, invasive plant removal provided the satisfaction of making tangible progress outside. In a screen-heavy culture where we often work for hours seated at a desk, sending emails into the ether and wondering if we’re even moving the needle, gardening projects often provide a welcome sense of visible, immediate gratification: where once there was an invasive plant, there is now an empty space for healthy systems to restore themselves. 

An added bonus of doing a spring clean-up was that while I was working outside, I took time to notice light, shadow, and moisture in my yard – all part of planning a native garden. It got my gears turning about which parts of my yard I’m going to convert into wildlife habitats this year.

If you feel the call to restore your yard back into a natural habitat, snag my Sanity Garden Get Started Guide to help you launch a native garden without stress and overwhelm. 

Inside the Get Started Guide, you’ll receive:

• A flexible starter plan
• Low-maintenance plant suggestions
• Seasonal task checklists

And more! Click the button below to download your free guide. 

-Kristen

Pin your favorite image below to your native garden board for easy reference!