Invasive Plant Management

Based on the Department's Missouri Vegetation Management Manual, this section presents control recommendations for more than 25 of the most troublesome invasive, non-native plants in Missouri. Because of the variability between sites, results can't be guaranteed. However, these recommendations can save you years of experimentation. Use the contact information on each guideline to get in touch with Department staff who have experience controlling that species.

Autumn Olive Control

Once established, this species is highly invasive and difficult to control. Burned, mowed or cut plants will re-sprout vigorously. A combination of mechanical and chemical treatment appears to be the most successful.

Bush Honeysuckles Control

The two species of honeysuckle shrubs planted (Morrow's and Amur) that cause the most frequently observed invasive problems will be referred to collectively as bush honeysuckles. Learn to identify and control them.

Callery Pear

Use this publication to learn how to identify and control the Callery pear.

Canada Thistle Control

Canada thistle is distinguished from other thistles by its deep-running perennial rootstocks, more slender stems and small compact heads. Learn to identify and control this invasive plant.

Chinese Yam Invasive Species Fact Sheet

This flyer shows you how to identify and control Chinese yam, an invasive, non-native plant that, like kudzu, can smother acres of native vegetation with dense, heavy vines.

Common Buckthorn Control

Common buckthorn readily invades natural communities. Once established, it crowds or shades out native shrubs and herbs. It can invade woodlands, savannas and prairies. For complete control in established stands of buckthorn, burning yearly or every other year may be required for five to six years or more.

Common Reed Invasive Species Fact Sheet

Learn how to identify and control common reed, a perennial wetland grass whose rhizomatous growth frequently results in dense, often impenetrable stands, with this downloadable fact sheet.

Crown Vetch Control

Crown vetch is a serious management threat to natural areas due to its seeding ability and rapid vegetative spreading by rhizomes. Learn to identify and control it.

Common and Cut-Leaved Teasel Control

Teasels are aggressive exotic species that have the capacity to take over prairies and savannas if allowed to become established. Lack of natural enemies allows teasel to proliferate. Probably the most cost effective method of control is the use of foliar applied herbicides.

Garlic Mustard Control

Garlic mustard is an invasive, non-native plant that can take over a forest floor, crowding out native plants, including wildflowers.

Japanese Honeysuckle Control

This aggressive vine seriously alters or destroys the understory and herbaceous layers of the communities it invades, including prairies, barrens, glades, flatwoods, savannas, floodplain and upland forests. Efforts to control Japanese honeysuckle infestations have included the following methods: mowing, grazing, prescribed burning and herbicides.

Japanese Hop

Download this publication to learn how to identify and control Japanese Hop.

Japanese Knotweed Invasive Species Fact Sheet

This full-color, two-page fact sheet shows you how to identify and control invasive Japanese knotweed. This exotic perennial grows quickly to form dense thickets that exclude native flowers and prevents native trees and shrubs from establishing.

Japanese Stiltgrass Invasive Species Fact Sheet

This two-page, full-color fact sheet shows you how to identify and control Japanese stiltgrass, a non-native invasive plant that threatens native plants and natural habitats in open-to-shady and moist-to-dry locations.

Johnson Grass Control

Johnson grass invades riverbank communities and disturbed sites, particularly fallow fields and forest edges, where it crowds out native species and slows succession. Various cultural practices and chemical herbicides will effectively control germinating seed, seedlings, and established plants.

Kudzu Control

Kudzu is a perennial vine of the legume family that grows up to 1 foot per day in early summer and can cover everything in its path. In the South, it has become destructive to the point of pulling down power poles, breaking power lines, collapsing buildings and killing trees. Learn to identify and control it.

Leafy Spurge Control

Native wildflowers and grasses can be completely displaced by leafy spurge in a few years if the infestation is left unchecked. Fire in conjunction with herbicides may be more effective than either method alone.

Multiflora Rose Control

Multiflora rose readily invades prairies, savannas, open woodland and forest edges. It is a thorny, bushy shrub that can form impenetrable thickets or "living fences" and smother out other vegetation. Cutting stems and either painting herbicide on the stump with a sponge applicator (sponge-type paint applicators can be used) or spraying herbicide on the stump with a low pressure hand-held sprayer kills root systems and prevents re-sprouting.

Musk Thistle Control

Musk thistle is a large biennial, growing to 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall. Its flower heads are rose-purple, up to 2 1/2 inches (7 cm) wide and are mostly solitary and nodding at the tips of the branches.

Old World Bluestems Invasive Species Fact Sheet

This two-page, full-color document shows you how to identify and control two species of invasive, Old World bluestem. Highly aggressive and forming a thick sod, Caucasian and yellow bluestem have the potential to completely take over our native grasslands.

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Missouri Department of Conservation