We clear the invasive trees, shrubs and vines that take over Virginia properties, including:

• Trees: tree of heaven, Bradford (Callery) pear, mimosa, princess tree (Paulownia) and Norway maple

• Shrubs and thickets: autumn olive, multiflora rose, Amur (bush) honeysuckle, Chinese privet, wineberry, Japanese barberry, trifoliate orange and Japanese knotweed

• Vines: kudzu, Oriental bittersweet, Japanese honeysuckle, porcelain-berry, mile-a-minute and English ivy

Every one of these is on the Virginia Invasive Plant Species List from the Department of Conservation and Recreation, and 13 of them are ranked highly invasive. Don't see your plant here? Ask us about it during your estimate.

• They crowd out native trees. Invasives grow fast, shade out young native trees and take over fields, fence lines and woods.

• Tree of heaven feeds the spotted lanternfly. It's the lanternfly's favorite host tree, and the insect has spread across Virginia since it was first found here in 2018. Removing tree of heaven takes away the lanternfly's foothold on your land. Learn how to spot and control it on our Spotted Lanternfly page.

• Bradford pear breaks in storms. Its weak branches split easily in wind and can fall on houses, cars and power lines.

• Kudzu smothers trees. The vine climbs over trees and shrubs and takes over the landscape.

Forestry mulching is our main method. One machine cuts and grinds the invasive growth in place and spreads it back over the ground as mulch. There's no herbicide spraying, no burning, no hauling and no brush piles left behind, and the soil stays in place.

Forestry mulching is selective. We walk the property with you, mark the trees you want to keep and clear the invasives around them. We run all-new, top-of-the-line Cat equipment, with machines for projects of every size.

We can remove invasives with either land clearing method, depending on where they're growing and what's planned for the land, if anything. Forestry mulching is our first choice wherever it fits. Where your site plans call for building, paving or completely clean ground, traditional land clearing takes out the stumps and roots too.

Some invasives can sprout back from their roots after they're cut. For almost all of them, we don't use chemicals. We'd rather not put herbicides into your soil, your streams or the wildlife that live on your land, and many of our customers feel the same way. Instead, we follow a chemical-free plan that works with nature:

• We clear year-round. Any season is a good time to clear. The first cut takes out the growth above ground, and the steps below take care of what comes back.

• Don't let the sprouts recharge. New sprouts are soft and easy to cut. Cutting them back before they rebuild their energy wears the roots down until they can't send up new growth. Early summer, when the roots' stored energy is lowest, is the best time for these touch-ups. You can keep up with this yourself using a mower or brush cutter, or we can do it for you.

• Let your native trees take back the ground. Because forestry mulching is selective, your native trees stay standing. As they fill in and shade the ground, it gets harder for invasives to return. The mulch layer also covers the bare soil, so it stays in place.

Clearing an established stand without chemicals takes patience, sometimes a few growing seasons, and we'll be straight with you about what your property needs.

Tree of heaven is the one exception. Cutting it alone makes it come back worse. It sends up dozens of new sprouts from its roots, sometimes 50 feet or more from the original tree, so a targeted herbicide treatment is about the only way to kill it for good. The most targeted option is hack-and-squirt, sometimes called a frill application: a few small cuts are made around the trunk and a small amount of herbicide goes right into the cuts, so nothing is sprayed into the air or onto the plants around it. It works best in mid to late summer, about a month before the trees come down. We can point you to a licensed applicator for this step, and then we come in and clear. If you'd rather clear now, at any time of year, we can, and the regrowth can be treated the next summer.

We'll walk through the plan for your property during the estimate.

• Warrenton (Fauquier County): forestry mulching across the 53-acre Rosehurst Estate, mainly clearing autumn olive, tree of heaven, Bradford pear and kudzu.

• Aldie (Loudoun County): a 40-acre project focused on removing invasive species, including autumn olive, tree of heaven and Bradford pear.

• Gladys (Campbell County): 120 acres of forestry mulching, clearing invasive growth to reclaim the land.

"Kevin did an amazing job mulching brush and woodlands. The property looks like a park and everyone that sees it comments on the remarkable transformation." —A. Alvarez, Warrenton, VA

We also support invasive species work beyond our own jobs. We're proud to be a Friend of the Clifton Institute, a nonprofit nature preserve in Warrenton that restores native habitat and removes invasive plants like autumn olive and tree of heaven. We donate to their work and follow it closely.

Every property is different, so we price each job after walking it. The price depends on how thick the growth is, the size of the trees, slope, access and total acreage. You'll get a written price before any work starts.

Do I need a permit? It depends on your county and how much ground is cleared. Under Virginia law, clearing vegetation counts as land disturbance, and once the cleared area passes a certain size, many counties require a land-disturbance permit. The size limits for Prince William, Fairfax, Stafford and Loudoun counties are listed in the questions on our Forestry Mulching page. During the estimate, we'll let you know what your county's rules say. The property owner is responsible for getting any permit that's needed.

Our home base is Woodbridge, in Prince William County. We work throughout Prince William, Fairfax, Loudoun, Stafford and Fauquier counties, and across the rest of Virginia, including the Eastern Shore.

Call 540-408-2114 (7 AM to 7 PM, seven days a week) or use our contact form for a free on-site estimate.