Property owner reveals unusual method to keep land-destroying plants at bay: 'Feels like a small reward'

A Redditor took to the site to show off their spoils in hunting invasive plant species on their property, while also sharing some of what you could do with the fruits of their labor.

Posting in the r/invasivespecies subreddit, they shared pictures of their haul of wineberries.

"I've got several thickets of wineberry on my property," they said. "Cleared one small thicket out last spring, but so many remain that I'm using another tactic to prevent their further spread. Picked roughly 4 quarts / liters so far, just from what was ripe and safe to access & eat. These things are so dang productive!"

.The pictures showed a large bowl full of wineberries, as well as several of the bright red fruits sitting in a drink.

"Feels like a small reward for all the times I got pricked while removing wineberry, Japanese barberry, & multiflora rose this past year," they continued. "Working on replacing them with native berries over time, but I'll enjoy eating them until then."

According to New York Invasive Species Information, the wineberry is in the same genus as raspberries and blackberries. They were introduced to the United States from East Asia in the 1890s to cross-breed with raspberries and quickly spread out of control, invading natural areas by the 1970s. While they have similar structures to their cousins, the wineberry's thick spiny branches create practically impenetrable thickets that make it virtually impossible for native wildlife to live within them.

Wineberries also outcompete native vegetation that wildlife rely on for food, and their thick tangles of branches make them incredibly stubborn to remove. They've spread across the eastern United States and are found in almost every state east of the Mississippi. However, their fruit is edible and delicious, and eating it will keep it out of the eager mouths of birds and other animals who could spread the seeds across the countryside, making the poster's life more difficult.

Commenters celebrated the haul of delicious berries.

"I grew up on wooded property covered in wine berries, and they're truly my favorite berry," said one. "We'd freeze gallons and gallons of them and have them in pies, custards, on cereal, all year long. I was heartbroken to find out how invasive they are!"

"My 'favorite' invasive!" said another. "So tasty and you are helping by eating them and keeping the seeds out of the seed bank."

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