This plant is TOXIC and is a concern for all homesteaders.  Once the berries turn purple, they can be mistaken for grapes or blueberries. It poses a danger for children and animals.

Distinctive Characteristics:

The plant has green leaves on a very red/purplish stems.  Small white flowers will grow in mid-summer and will give way to green berries. Once those berries ripen, usually in late summer/early fall they will turn a dark purple/black.

Where it grows:

It just seems to grow anywhere and will develop into a small bush rather quickly. It can grow to 8 feet in height.

How to remove and dispose of:

Pokeberries should be removed by pulling the root from the ground as early as possible. This will help avoid it getting too big. If you wait until the end of the season, you will have a lot of plants to deal with.

You definitely want to remove them before the berries ripen in order to:

1. Reduce the chances of it being eaten by your animals and your children
2. Avoid the spread of the plant which is done by birds eating the berries and transferring them elsewhere in their waste.

I try to remove these plants as soon as possible.  We dispose of our weeds and other yard debris in the wooded areas of our homestead and it is just so much easier to dispose of small plants than it is to transport a large established bush up into the woods.  This is great in theory but we have certainly dragged our share of large plants up into the woods in the fall because we were too lazy busy to do it when we first noticed them early in the season.

While these plants seem to pop up all over our homestead and can be a real nuisance, they do have some really beautiful features. The stems that hold the berries turn a super bright fuschia/pink that is really pretty cool.

Do you have pokeberries in your yard? If so, how do you dispose of them?