Oriental Bittersweet Primer

Seeing as a large portion of the traffic to my blog has been through this picture of a large Oriental Bittersweet vine that I posted a few months ago, I decided to go back and take a few more pictures of it.

This time I parked in the Mill Lane parking area for the Norwottuck Rail Trail as it is a short walk to the vine from there. Of course 20 feet from the Jeep I had to stop and take a picture of the sky through the leaves.

Not far from there I noticed this face, or rather half of a face on a post, on the side of the trail. I’m not exactly sure what it is or why it is there but it was at the very least, interesting.

I veered off onto the Emily Dickinson Trail and saw this fantastic American Hornbeam tree or as it is sometimes called, “Ironwood”. I call it a muscle tree because if you put your hand on the tree it almost feels like muscles running up through the tree. It is very unique and I love the feel of them. This is one of the bigger ones I have seen.

Finally I get to the Oriental Bittersweet vine. It has leafed out since I was last there so I couldn’t get a good shot of the same view as the first picture. But I was able to get some pictures of where the vine had wrapped itself around this tree and taken it down.

I would say this part of the vine is a good 14 inches around and it is quite a distance from the base. Of course I didn’t think to take a tape measure.

As I was leaving I noticed this young Bittersweet Vine growing up this small little tree. After I took the picture I removed the vine from the tree and broke it off at the base. Too bad it will grow back with no problem at all. The poor tree hasn’t got a chance.

Some facts about Oriental Bittersweet:

Oriental Bittersweet was introduced to this country in the 1860s as an ornamental plant. It has been used extensively as a decoration in the winter, especially to make wreaths, floral arrangements and baskets.

It is usually found along the edge of forests, roadsides, meadows, hedgerows, coastal areas, salt marches, railroad tracks and just about anywhere there has been some kind of soil disturbance.

Oriental Bittersweet can grow up to 60 feet and 4 inches in diameter. It is a climbing woody vine that grows vigorously and smoothers vegetation. The excess weight of the vine growing in the crown of trees can cause them to uproot and blow down during storms. They can also bend a tree until it snaps.

As with most invasives getting rid of Oriental Bittersweet is not always easy. When they are very young they can be pulled out but you have to make sure you get all of the roots. If there is fruit on the plant put the whole thing in a plastic bag and dispose of it. Do not put it in your compost pile, it will only spread to places it wasn't before.

For larger infestations cutting the vine near the ground and being vigilant with recurring growth is a start. Often a small amount of pesticide applied directly to the cut is helpful too. While I do not advocate using herbicides for weed control I recognize that some things can really only be permanently removed with a controlled application of a herbicide.

Sadly I also recognize that we will never be rid of these invasives. There are just too many and they are ultimately stronger than we are. The best we can do is to continue to beat back Mother Nature to make our own individual idyllic space on this planet until the human race has passed and Mother Nature will reclaim all that is hers.