Autumn Olive: Friend or Foe?

Autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) is a beneficial but controversial species. In the video, Michael Dolan explains why we grow it, how we use the fruit, and whether he thinks the benefits outweigh its invasive potential.
Like other nitrogen fixing shrubs, autumn olive has great potential for use in permaculture and agroforestry systems, and as a companion plant for nut orchards. In addition, the fruit is a superfood, high in cancer-fighting antioxidants. The plant can be used for silvopasture and grazing livestock, as well as for generating biomass and restoring damaged and degraded landscapes. However, in some areas it has the potential to naturalize, leading to bans and prohibitions in numerous states. Michael recommends two books to help us reconsider invasion biology and consider these plants from a more holistic perspective.
Burnt Ridge Nursery www.burntridge...

[@osobaked9278]

FRIEND, no doubt! I love love love autumn olive! The foliage is gorgeous, the berries are gorgeous & delicious. I make jam but my favorite is to just eat them by the handfuls straight off the branches ❤❤❤

[@imysteryman]

Best way I have found to pick the autumn olive berries, is use and umbrella up side down, when they fall they bounce to the center. Then dump them in a bucket.

[@maryholloway4122]

we made some amazingly delicious wine from the berries. Everyone loved it!! 🧡💘🧡🧡

[@dougclem7711]

Number one plant for strip mine reclamation in Eastern Kentucky, Virginia.

[@chaboi7]

I just moved onto 5 acres and this land of is full of these autumn olives and grapes, I usually walk in circles around my property everyday doing exercise until I've reached 5-8 miles so on the warmer days I'll be eating these and grapes, I just planted apple,pearl and cherry trees so I can't wait until they're is so much fruits and vegetables that I don't have to go get them at the store anymore, at least not in the summer lol

[@chopsddy3]

Thanks. The adjoining land is full of it and it’s starting to spread into my space. After perusing the cancerous substances used to war with it , and finding that it’s edible with cancer fighting properties , it seems more prudent ,to me, to work with it. BTW, it also makes pretty nice charcoal for drawing .

[@hmoore1016]

I appreciate you mentioning its age and you standing beside different examples.

[@ByGraceIGo]

I moved into a place in the Appalachian mountains almost 2 years ago and I'm finding that this place is a treasure trove of different kinds of plants and berries. I have a very long driveway and these things are growing along the driveway intermingled with multiflora invasive rose. I would like to do something with the Autumn Olive berries. Thank you for the information on this plant!

[@HuwRichards]

Very informative and interesting video, thank you so much for sharing

[@MsGaella]

Your cat is so adorable and comfortable on your shoulder. 🐈‍⬛Good video overall. Thank you.

[@ladydje906]

You're full of truth, thank you for sharing!I've just found today in Varna, Bulgaria one the 90 species of Elaeagnus angustifolia

[@commonsensehome]

We have wild autumn olive on our property. A neighbor mowed them for years to keep them under control in the former pasture where we build our home. Once we figured out that they were edible and nitrogen fixers, we let most of them grow. We're using them as nursery plants for other taller trees. They protect the young trees from the heavy winds we get here, and are enriching the soil. The deer and other browsers love them, as do the flocks of migrating birds. Another neighbor had been keeping his property mowed, too, until he saw all the deer hanging out in our autumnberry patch. They make very good jam and fruit leather. A friend has used them for wine.

[@sheldon740]

Love your videos! Very informative. Thank you!

[@healthyhealingsolutions]

Great video! Love the cats meow near the end.

[@mikerevendale4810]

Very informative commentary! And your co-host was very entertaining too! Thanks! *Subscribed

[@annebeck2208]

Wow! First post where I could tell the actual size. Thank you so much!

[@mannurse7421]

Oh shoot I just realized who I was watching. I get your catalogs in the mail i didn’t know you had a KZbin

[@peterellis4262]

"Invasive" is a human concept the plants don't have ;) Michigan prohibits planting these, precisely because they have naturalized ;) And as you know, they're successful in both a wide and narrow range. The wide range relates to temperatures, water and soil conditions. While you're suggesting they are "quite shade tolerant", my experience and I observation is that they cannot survive in full shade. They are a transition plant, working to move grassland into woodland. They thrive in open grassland, survive well enough on edges, and give way to full woodland. On our site they only exist along the roadside, because our site is closed canopy woods and they simply do not appear under the closed canopy.

[@CampingforCool41]

Grasslands are important ecosystems and carbon sinks, we shouldn’t want them to be covered up by these.

[@TSorovanMHael]

They're invasive because we planted them were they would never have gone without humans. We fucked up and did something careless and impulsive. It doesn't matter if it's a human concept since we're the one to blame for the terrible unintended consequences Alien species can absolutely be both invasive and highly disruptive, generally because humans move them to areas where their previous insect predators and diseases are absent. This causes certain plant species to develop dense monoculture stands like Melaleuca quinquenervia. Another example is Phragmites australis. Normally such stands would at some point be decimated by disease and insects or other predators.

[@myguitardidyermom212]

whether a plant has a concept of something is a moot point. what a silly thing to even bring up. An ecosystem doesn't need to be aware of an intellectual concept to be destabilized by human activity. The 50-foot tall black ash trees that used to grow where I grew up don't need to "know" what an emerald ash borer is to be dead.

[@tjcihlar1]

I ordered 3 of them last year and they have been big, healthy looking plants. They don't seem to mind the shade, they can handle the sun, they handle our poor soil, so it seems they are a very useful plant. They are attractive plants. I'm still waiting for the fruit. I have a couple more coming, and I can't decide whether to put them in the dry shady area where we don't have a lot of things growing, or in the dry, sunny hot area with bad clay soil where it will be more fruitful. These get compared to goumi, and we have them also. After just a year they both seem fine, but the goumi plants are apparently in higher demand and you don't get as much plant for your money. Our goumi's are almost a foot tall now, where the autumn olives we bought are 4 feet. But of course the answer to which of them to get is "both".

[@ginac8674]

You might have 5,000 of them soon!

[@abenjamin13]

Fantastic thank you 🙏 for the explanation and book 📚 recommendations 👍

[@insidethegardenwall22]

Friend! But I would like to purchase the Autumn Olive jam first if possible before considering if I want to plant them.

[@adriane8565]

I've spotted one in California recently, it's now spread from coast to coast.

[@buckstarchaser2376]

Deer spread this weed throughout my old-growth woods, and the shed berries obscure blood trails. Any spot that isn't mowed frequently is encroached and swallowed up by this thorny pest, meaning that no desirable native trees and shrubs can grow. You can either have grass, or Autumn Olive. The "17x Lycopene" factoid does not specify volume nor weight, but the berries are so small that you could get significantly more Lycopene from simply eating readily available tomatoes, and concentrated tomato products. If these berries at least tasted good, and had a good flesh to seed ratio, then it may be worth harvesting berries before wildlife gets to them and spreads them. It's probably a better idea to chop and drop them around more useful plants/trees before they fruit, as they are essentially a form of pollution that spreads out from suburban areas, harming the food production that everybody needs, and spoiling outdoors activities that aren't on treated and manicured lawns.

[@Dontreallycare5]

As someone trying to maintain a native prairie that is regularly invaded by autumn olive, I agree with your sentiment 100%.

[@Lone_Wolf79]

Good video

[@mariacatojomartins1851]

We have them back home we just cut the branches with the fruit and they sell it in tiny bunches

[@johnc7512]

Foe for sure

[@rhombifer566]

Excellent video

[@xavierprotocols]

I like your furry parrot :) 🐈

[@LivingBreadHomestead]

What about the Golden Autumn Olive that supposedly isn't invasive? Do you have any knowledge of this other species?

[@peterbalanda7896]

Because of autumn olive's incredible invasive nature and high prevalence in Michigan, I have to spend the greater part of one day each year removing them. They don't just spread across disturbed soil, they rise wherever there is sunlight reaching the ground. There tear clothing, dull mower blades and even puncture tires. They may build the soil, but they also take hold and create thick, impenetrable stands. I say foe.

[@John-ii4si]

Then just move to New York.

[@hilaryhageman9270]

Also from Michigan: agreed. They seem to team up with invasive honeysuckle bush and multiflora Rose to create an ecologically "dead" space. This is because these are seemingly the only three plants the scourge of overpopulated deer will not decimate. They do not allow beneficial native places a chance to create a diverse understory. They hog all the sunshine so that even the trees cannot reseed. We are losing our oak forest to the autumn olive and multiflora Rose.

[@maryalice5357]

What do you do with the black walnuts and how do you do it? I have numerous trees and can't crack them without destroying the meat .

[@modernmountaineer]

A+

[@williamsouthall1048]

Here in WV they hauled it in after building I-77. Its been slowly ingulfing my property. Choking out my other trees. Like a jungle etc and its so so hard to get rid of. I've been digging it out by the roots. Its unreal how far the roots branch off. Almost like Bamboo. Im not able to cut it anymore. So my mini backhoe has been ripping them out good. There thorns are the worst and they smack you in the face. Cant hardly crawl through them. And difficult to get into to cut.

[@priestesslucy3299]

Sounds like a fantastic hedge crop

[@user-bw6qy3pk6y]

theyve been in west virginia long before interstate 77 and the actual bush has no thorns.

[@williamsouthall1048]

@@user-bw6qy3pk6y yes sir they have. But in my area specifically. Because of 77. They are now so thick you can't crawl through them if you have to

[@traviskingrey4335]

@@priestesslucy3299view of my property from the outside in is blocked by a swath of these and other shrubby bushy stuff, for that reason only I leave them on the border, but anywhere else they get cut down and sent through my wood chipper. Can’t even enjoy a walk through the woods because of these things

[@Rymorin4]

Is this good as a chop and drop support species in a forest garden? I was thinking it could build soil in my dry climate and provide shade. Then I can just coppice it back to make room for other species as required. What do you predict would happen?

[@brushcrawler8612]

The dead limbs on the ground are very dangerous. Hard, thick woody thorns easily pierce street shoes.

[@Fred-yx7fv]

Informative, but you didn’t touch much on how this crowds out native plant species - why is that? Do you not believe that is an issue? Genuine question

[@acharyajamesoermannspeaker6563]

It like honey suckle grows more quickly than natives taking sunlight, space, and nutrients away. Also like honey suckle it is both heat and cold resistant last to go dormant in autumn and first to green in spring. Basically taking over more rapidly and dominating. Like my Tai Kwon Do instructor used to say "Strike first" that way your opponent is forced to play defense.

[@mannurse7421]

Autumn olive doesn’t invade my woods I have to plant it in my woods if I want it and it only lives on the edges. My neighbors wetlands are thick with it. But it’s by no means a monoculture and again is more on the edge than anything. A lot of “invasive” species have a hard time invading established areas and only take over disturbed areas. Also it is naturalized in the US. You couldn’t get rid of it if you wanted to.

[@mannurse7421]

I have brambles in my woods that are thick with multiple invasives and some natives. They just all grow on top of each other. No one really crowds anybody out. Except for oriental bittersweet that is invasive that I have yet to find any apologies for.

[@MySliceOfHeavenoutdoors]

That was very interesting, I never knew you could eat the berries from Autumn Olives. Can you eat the fruit from the wild varieties?

[@danielsmith336]

Yes, as long as the plant is correctly identified. I often find them in the wild growing alongside poisonous honeysuckle which also has small red berries and is spread by birds. However wild ones can be pretty astringent, even when ripe, but some are as good as named varieties. If they are in season I taste them on any bush that I find growing wild. Some are too astringent but the majority are good. Usually they have smaller fruit than the named varieties though. There are a lot of varieties that have been named but are harder to come by. Charles golden wasn't covered in this video but it is a really good orange colored one that birds ignore, just like Amber. It was bred by Hector Black in Tennessee before the state shut down his autumn olive breeding program. I have it grafted onto a Ruby bush and the birds pick the Ruby branches clean but completely ignore the Charles golden branch. I also had an Amber bush but it died and a graft of Amber that I put onto my Ruby bush got snapped off by some workers installing a fence. I have mine planted between two apple trees in a line of apple trees along a fence. After a few years together it is obvious that the tree closest to the autumn olive is definitely growing faster than all of the others in that line.

[@MySliceOfHeavenoutdoors]

@@danielsmith336 good to know, thank you.

[@takeheart9962]

Yes there are many many many of them in my back yard and I eat them

[@mannurse7421]

The wild varieties are fine to eat and very easy to identify with a little research. I think they are delicious. They have a little astringency that fades as they ripen. My daughter and I gobble them up seeds and all but my other daughter and my wife don’t care for them.

[@tarantulady8565]

@@mannurse7421 I find they become much more palatable - a lot sweeter and less astringent - after the first frost. I’m going to make jam out of them for the first time this year. Fingers crossed…🤞😬 lol

[@j.bumatay8585]

I ordered one so far. I have a quarter acre with an edible food forest of canopy, semi-dwarf, dwarf fruit trees from mulberry to santa rosa plums to apples plus blackberry. I am wondering what other companions can Autumn Olive (got the Red) can this plant be a good nitrogen fixer for in an edible landscape like mine in Mediterranean climate California.

[@vanusarodrigues1684]

Coloque a legendas em português por favor.

[@lucycats6282]

How about learn and understand English knumbnut Why should anyone cater to your requests? I guess entitlement is not just here in the U.S

[@foxtatict6364]

Grow a cultivar like Sweet Scarlet goumie berry. Tastes WAY better and doesn't spread like crazy.

[@thirstylilguy]

Thank you for the info, I am right up the road here in Longview. Do you have a whole store operation? I would love to visit sometime!

[@rileylewisdolan]

They post farm tours on their Facebook page. Normal visiting is by appointment only

[@atinm8995]

Any tips for growing autumn olive from seed?

[@kerem7546]

do you or anyone find that certain varieties of autumn olive have a lesser potential for being spread unintentionally? i've read that birds sometimes are less likely to eat yellow fruit, if there's any truth to that then it may make sense to use varieties like "amber" to mitigate the spread of these species in ways that may cause difficulty with neighbors or parks etc.

[@davidritchie8049]

these are every where here in Eastern Ky. guess many came in with all the mine activity. I have been trying to see what these are related to as was wondering about any possible use of grafting to it. I just not finding any info. I have one next to my orchard that is about 10 yrs old and I have cut most of it down as it reached over 30 feet. it reminded me of mulberry a little as how it grew. has there been ANY work done on grafting attempts you are a ware of? Sure there is a book some place but I have not that either

[@jt659]

It will readily take goumi scions. Carmine is the largest and best goumi variety I've had.

[@j.bumatay8585]

@@jt659 Great idea. I am in California. They are not invasive here but I do feed our birds to keep them away from my other fruit trees and berries. I bought one from Burntridge for the birds. I have an area that used to be a chicken pen but I am allergic to chickens and eggs. So, the plan has been to fill that area with the goumi but my goumi never got more than 3 feet here after years. I never added the goumi to the chook pen due to them being expensive and so small. Thanks for the idea that I can graft the goumi to the autumn olive.

[@ernestallen5154]

I love this plant, but it is invasive. In south west Ohio, it's giving the mountain honeysuckle a run for it's money. It's a great wildlife plant. Birds love the fruit.

[@bridykes9986]

its pretty 😂 I'm assuming a feathered friend dropped it as a present LOL at first I thought it was another wild cherry tree I have them everywhere and I hate them they're growing out of my irises another growing out of my rose bushes had a small one try to grow in my calla lilies I have a beautiful crepe myrtle and it's so pretty right now but a cherry tree is growing out of the middle of it I cannot cut out dig it out because it's right next to the trunk and I'll kill my crepe myrtle cherry trees are the devil😅 I noticed the autumn bush I just started chopping LOL but I noticed it look kind of silvery on the leaves and the flowering and already have berries so I Googled it I'm debating on keeping it it's literally growing right next to my flowering pear tree if it's very invasive I'll cut my ties right now while it's small it's near a flower bed and I'm so glad I look this guy's video up if it's smothers out my other flowers or spreads like bamboo I don't want nothing to do with it LOL it's crazy how much ranndoo stuff birds drop in my yard can't drop anything awesome just wild cherry trees and honeysuckle and blackberry bushes lol😅🤦‍♀️🙄🥺

[@robfilmedit]

How do the 2 year plants get shipped out?

[@jimmorgan2497]

Is now a good time to order my wishlist from the nursery for winter delivery?

[@burntridgenursery591]

Yes, the sooner the better

[@greenriveracres]

I just found some young autumn olive on my property here in southern missouri! Is it possible to take cuttings for propagation?

[@burntridgenursery591]

Yes. They are easiest to root in late winter or early spring before the leaves come out.

[@greenriveracres]

@@burntridgenursery591 these have quite a few leaves so I suppose I should wait until end of this year! Thank you for your response.

[@nolandonohue3514]

There are plenty, plenty of delicious native plants you can grow cuttings from. Native bugs prefer that so do it. These aren’t that good

[@jackjhonsen2780]

THIS TREE SURVIVES HOT DESERTS AND COLDEST WINTERS AND YET EVERY YEAR PRODUCES FRUIT ONLY ONCE A YEAR AN AMZING AZOREAN PLANT TASTE LIKE SOUR CANDY LOL

[@aurelienyonrac]

ripens on July 4 in portland OR 😂 waw 38 years old plant

[@ralphy1989]

Planting a invasive species genius

[@marklam8548]

"It's an I'll wind that blows no- one some good.!"😂

[@rhombifer566]

Ohio I think

[@bobjones4469]

Does it taste good? Free food. Dude, these plants seem like a godsend from God or Vishnu or whatever fairy tail you believe in.

[@colinrice6865]

This aint it.