Southeastern Privet

[hijrah]

Greetings folks, this question is about what to do with privet in the southeastern US. Online information says it is the most invasive weed in the southeast and kill it with roundup. How should I begin thinking about privet from a permaculture perspective?

[stonethegardener]

Privet needs to come out.
As you've read, the privet is spread by birds trying to make a meal on berries that are said to not be good for them... and then it crowds out the things that they would rather be eating.

I use a mattock, when the soil is moist. Round-up is nasty, not the fix-all that we're told.

From a permaculture perspective... Privet isn't going to feed you, maybe you could build a brush pile out of it... provide the butterflies, birds and lizards with a refuge.

[adiantum]

Privet, like all of the widespread invasives (kudzu, wisteria, bamboo, mimosa, chinaberry, tallowtree all come readily to mind for the SE) is here to stay. You could spend your life and strength trying to eradicate it on a landscape of any size. Maybe it's possible in a small yard. The challenge on larger sites is to make use of these plants, obtain a yield from them, (and perhaps by so doing, control them). More than a few of the invasive plants make excellent forage....privet and bamboo are particularly valuable for goats because they are evergreen, providing browse in the winter when there are fewer sources. Basketry, hedges, kindling, chipping for mulch or biochar all come to mind as potential uses besides forage. Repeated coppicing of these plants for these uses also hinders them going to seed, reducing their spread.

[hijrah]

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated.

[heftzwecke]

I feed privet to my sheep she likes it.

[sweetpea]

I've lived with one for decades, and it is a pain when it starts to threaten other trees, and rodents make nests in it. I would coppice it to death. Just have a really cathartic afternoon with a chainsaw and get yourself a bunch of firewood and leaves to compost. And if it comes back, stay on it, and you will have great leaf mulch and quick new growth. If you really want to get rid of it, don't let it form any green leaves so the roots can't be fed. Cover it with a double black garbage bag tied at the base between sawing the new shoots off. But if it's already there, using growth that gets up to person height and cutting it back is a nice renewable source of compost

[Walker]

People interested in bonsai's will happily take the privots away for you, trust me i have removed my fair share of unwanted plants for use in my bonsai garden

All you would need to do is put a message out on bonsai forums (there are a lot of them) telling them what the plant is and to include a picture if you can. The bigger the privet the better for a bonsai enthusiast.

Your option is to put a message up on Craigs list or Gumtree saying you have this plant to be removed and but the name of the plant in there and the word bonsai, you will be inundated with requests in no time.

The biggest plant i removed was a Murraya that was 2.5m tall from a construction site, I didn't end up making it a bonsai but that was my initial intention.

Giles

[Michaelangelica]

Privet was extensively used in Oz for fencing in the early settlement years; and lilac rootstock ( most of the country is too hot for lilac)
now it is everywhere
Perhaps you could bud a lilac hedge? The flowers are edible (apparently)
A couple of types/varieties
It also has some medicinal uses
http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_privet.htm
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...67326X00001829
But is probably best tuned into compost or bio-char

[Michaelangelica]

Antihyperglycemic effects of fruits of privet (Ligustrum obtusifolium) in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats fed a high fat diet.
Lee S-I, Oh S-H, Park K-Y, Park B-H, Kim J-S, Kim S-D
Journal of Medicinal Food 2009 Feb;12(1):109-17.
AN: 0119906

AB The protective effects of freeze-dried privet (Ligustrum obtusifolium) fruits (PFs) were observed in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats on a high fat diet by measuring levels of blood glucose, serum insulin, fructosamine, and hepatic reactive oxygen species generating and scavenging enzyme activities. A PF-supplemented diet was prepared by mixing an AIN-76 diet with powdered PF (final concentration, 1% or 2%). It was fed to STZ-induced diabetic rats on a high fat diet for 6 weeks. Diabetic animals receiving the PF-supplemented diet showed a significant increase in body weight, feed efficiency ratio, liver, kidney, and heart weight, and serum glucose, insulin, and fructosamine levels compared with high fat diet-fed diabetic animals. The treatment with PP showed improved hepatic glutathione S-transferase, superoxide dismutase, and xanthine oxidase activities as well as glutathione and lipid peroxide levels in the diabetic animals. Intracellular swelling and vacuole formation in diabetic pancreatic beta- and delta-cells were ameliorated by the PF-supplemented diet. Furthermore, necrosis of tubular epithelial cells and dilatation of luminal space in diabetic kidneys exhibited near-noninjured condition.
This is the first time an antihyperglycemic effect of L. obtusifolium fruit in STZ-induced diabetic rats has been identified.

[eco4560]

Where do you get this stuff from MA?!