Poke berrys

[WICKED WHITETAILS]

Just curious. My big pen is over ran with these things. I only get to see the deer if they come to the feeder or right on the couple small grass areas i mow. I cann't just mow them down either bc the majority of the pen is a hill side/valley. I can only mow the logging roads. Im not real sure if that is the real name for these things or not, but they get around 6'-7' tall the stock is like celery (real watery) & they get these blue berrys on them. I was wondering if anyone has ran into them and is there any thing i can spray them with early next spring so i dont have to deal with them hiding the deer.

[Texas John]

I've used spot treatment with Round-up and it seems to kill them. Problem is that the berries will produce another plant! So it's never ending.

[Russell Van Hees]

Assuming that they are a broad-leaf plant, Grazonnext is what I would use. A 1% (1.28 oz per gallon) mixture is what I would use in the pens. It is designed to be used without removing the animals from the area and it is cheaper than Roundup.

[Neeby]

Wicked I have those same plants here on my farm in Pa . If you spray with roundup when about 2ft tall it kills um to the root and no berries, but There not poisonous to deer and they love to hide in them. the wild deer hide themselves and fawns in them, so if you dont have any shade in your pens those pokeberries sure work, they spread like wildfire though!!

[Bruce]

We had the same problem in our old pens. I got them under control by cutting them down with a small machete and then seeding area with orchard grass and creeping red fescue. Now is the best time of year to seed in my opinion. Then next year if/when they reappear cut them back b4 they crowd out sunlight to new grass.