Buckthorn is a Eurasian shrub brought to North America by European settlers. Many people planted it as hedges. Unfortunately, its berries are very attractive to birds, who spread the seeds everywhere. As a result, understory vegetation and bird diversity (including songbird diversity) are disturbed when buckthorn moves in.

So removing buckthorn from your yard is a definite priority. To do it, you cut down the shrubs and then kill the stump, because if you don’t, the plant will resprout. Some folks recommend using Monsanto’s RoundUp (glyphosate) to kill the stumps.

But before you start spreading poison in your neighborhood, you might want to do a little research. Not heard of any negative impact from Round Up? Remember, what Monsanto has to say about its chemicals might be more than misleading. Try Guarding Our Earth for a start. (Another buckthorn busters weblink is Just Add Water.) However, you don’t need poison to kill buckthorn. Buckthorn only resprouts from the crown. So rather than toxic chemicals, a soup can and a nail does the job of glyphosate with little chance of harm.

Simply cut the trunk to within a few inches of the ground, then press a can a few inches bigger than the trunk over the stump. Nail it in place. All the sprouts will be sun starved and die in short order.

For a larger stump, I use a bucket held down by a large rock. You’ll find no buckthorn in my yard.