How do we get rid of Chinese privet on our HOA common areas?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised October 31, 2026

How an HOA board removes Chinese privet from greenbelts and fencerows: identification, cut-stump and spray timing, Texas and Florida rules, and what to replant.

Part of the HOA board handbook: vendors, projects and upkeep.

The short answer

Chinese privet is the hedge that got loose. Developers and owners planted it for screening, birds carried the berries into creek buffers, fencerows and wooded greenbelts, and it now fills those spaces with thickets that shade out everything else. Cutting it back makes more stems, not fewer. The method that works is to cut each stem close to the ground and treat the fresh stump with herbicide right away, or have a licensed applicator spray solid thickets in late fall. Pull seedlings by hand. Cut or bag plants before the berries ripen, replant the bare ground with something that will not escape, and come back the next year for sprouts. Budget it as a two or three year project, not a single work day. Rules vary by state and by your governing documents. This guide is general education, not legal advice.

Make sure it is Chinese privet

UF/IFAS describes Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense) as an evergreen to semi-deciduous shrub or small tree up to about 16 feet, with leaves 1 to 3 inches long set in opposite pairs and a hairy midrib on the underside. The Texas Invasive Species Institute adds two field checks: fine hairs on young twigs, visible with a 10x hand lens, and fragrant white flowers in narrow clusters from about March through May. Mississippi State Extension says the small fruit can be seen from July to March and turns dark purple to black from late fall through winter. Japanese privet is the usual mix-up. Mississippi State notes it has larger, thicker leaves. Opposite leaves also rule out hollies such as yaupon, whose leaves alternate along the stem. The Texas Invasive Species Institute says Chinese privet tolerates shade and forms dense thickets in bottomland forests, along streams and in old fencerows. In a subdivision that means the strip behind back fences, drainage easements, creek buffers, the edge of any wooded common area, and sometimes the association's own entrance hedge. If unsure, take a cut branch to your county Extension office.

Why the board should not wait

Privet spreads two ways. It sends up sprouts from its roots, and birds eat the fruit and drop the seed elsewhere. The Texas Invasive Species Institute says one mature plant can produce thousands of seeds. Mississippi State reports that germination is low, around 5 to 25 percent, but birds move so much seed that privet becomes abundant in disturbed ground anyway. UF/IFAS describes a shallow but wide root system that frequently suckers. For an association, the cost shows up as blocked drainage swales, creek buffers nobody can walk and a maintenance crew that bills more every year to keep the edges back. Every fruiting season adds seed, so the job only gets bigger. Check your own landscape plan first. If the entrance or pool hedge is privet, the association may be seeding its own greenbelt.

Removal methods that work

Seedlings and small plants. Pull them when the soil is moist and get the whole root, as UF/IFAS and the Texas Invasive Species Institute advise. Dig larger ones. Cutting alone. UF/IFAS says cutting stems close to the ground at least once a growing season will not eradicate privet. Mulching or mowing a thicket opens it up, but expect regrowth unless the stumps or the new sprouts are treated. Cut-stump treatment. This is the workhorse for HOA hedgerows and fence lines because it puts herbicide only on the stump. UF/IFAS calls for treating the stump immediately after cutting with a 25 percent solution of a triclopyr amine or glyphosate product. Mississippi State also says to apply it immediately and lists both chemicals for the job. Every stem has to be treated. A stem the crew misses will resprout. Basal bark. For smaller stems an applicator can spray the lower trunk with a triclopyr ester product mixed in oil, without cutting. UF/IFAS and Mississippi State give different stem-size limits for this method, so let the applicator choose from the label. Foliar spray. For a solid thicket with nothing worth saving underneath, UF/IFAS suggests a 3 to 5 percent glyphosate product, ideally in late fall or early winter. The Texas Invasive Species Institute says herbicide work goes best from August through December in dry weather. Overspray kills what it lands on, so foliar spraying does not belong next to a hedge of azaleas. Near trees and water. Mississippi State warns not to apply imazapyr or hexazinone within two times the dripline of trees you want to keep, because tree roots can take them up. Near a creek or pond, only a product labeled for aquatic sites should be used. These are calls for the licensed applicator, made from the label. Fruit and debris. The Texas Invasive Species Institute says to cut or mulch when no fruit is present. If berries are on the plants, bag them for the dumpster instead of chipping them into the greenbelt. Goats eat privet readily, Mississippi State notes, but grazing is a form of cutting, so plan to treat the sprouts afterward.

What Texas, Florida and Colorado rules say

Florida. Chinese privet is on the state noxious weed list at Fla. Admin. Code r. 5B-57.007(1)(tt), with exceptions for the cultivars 'Variegatum' and 'Sunshine'. UF/IFAS notes it was added in 2014 and is a Category 1 invasive on the Florida Invasive Species Council list. Fla. Stat. 581.091(1) makes it unlawful to knowingly sell, offer for sale or distribute a noxious weed, so the association should not give away dug plants or let a landscaper resell them. For licensing, Fla. Stat. 482.156 lets landscape maintenance staff with a limited certification apply herbicide in plant beds using handheld or backpack equipment and only products labeled with no signal word or "caution". Anything beyond that needs a licensed pest control company. Our guide on removing invasive plants from Florida HOA common areas covers Brazilian pepper and air potato, which often grow in the same buffers. Texas. Chinese privet does not appear on the Texas Department of Agriculture's noxious and invasive plant list in 4 Tex. Admin. Code 19.300(a), so it is not a regulated plant there, even though the Texas Invasive Species Institute treats it as invasive. For herbicide work, TDA's Structural Pest Control Service licenses businesses and applicators who apply pesticides in and around structures. Get both license numbers in the bid and confirm the license category with TDA. Colorado. The Texas Invasive Species Institute's list of states where Chinese privet grows wild does not include Colorado, so most Colorado boards will meet it only as a planted hedge. Before treating any plant as a noxious weed there, check the state list and the county weed program. Our guide on complying with Colorado noxious weed law on HOA open space walks through that process.

Replanting and owner hedges

Bare soil where privet stood fills with privet seedlings. Replant the same season. N.C. Cooperative Extension's list of privet alternatives calls southern wax myrtle its go-to native hedge plant and says it tolerates poor, dry and occasionally wet soil and grows fairly fast. The same list includes native hollies, native anise trees and mountain laurel. Some plants on that list are not native, so check any choice against your state's invasive list and ask your county Extension office what suits your soil. Privet in owners' yards is a separate question. Nothing in the rules cited above orders an owner to dig up an existing hedge. Whether the board can require it depends on the declaration, usually a maintenance or nuisance covenant. A better first step is to adopt a rule, following your documents' rulemaking procedure, that adds privet to the architectural committee's do-not-plant list, and to offer owners along the greenbelt a chance to have their hedges treated by the association's contractor at their own cost.

Wording, a sample timeline and the usual mistakes

Contract clause: "Contractor shall remove Chinese privet from the areas shown on Exhibit A by cutting each stem as close to the ground as practical and applying a labeled herbicide to the entire cut surface immediately after cutting. Plants bearing fruit shall be bagged and removed from the property. Contractor shall return between [date] and [date] of the following year to treat resprouts at no additional charge. All herbicide work shall be done by a licensed applicator, whose license number shall appear on the invoice." Motion for the minutes: "Move that the association hire [company] to remove Chinese privet from the [greenbelt/creek buffer] shown on the attached map at a cost not to exceed $[amount], including one return visit next year to treat resprouts, and that the landscape committee recommend replacement plantings by [date]." Newsletter paragraph: "The dense evergreen shrubs along [location] are Chinese privet, an invasive hedge plant spread by birds. This fall the association's contractor will cut and treat it on common property. If you have privet in your yard, removing it keeps it from reseeding the greenbelt. Please don't cut or spray on common property yourself." A sample timeline. Year one, late summer: walk the common area, map the thickets and photograph them. Early fall: get bids from licensed applicators. Fall into early winter: cut-stump the hedgerows, spray solid thickets, bag any fruit. Winter: replant. Spring: volunteers pull seedlings after rain. Year two, fall: the contractor's return visit for sprouts. Year three: walk it again. The mistakes that keep privet coming back: cutting or mulching without treating the stumps, chipping fruiting branches into the greenbelt, skipping the year-two visit, spraying under trees or beside a creek with the wrong product, hiring an unlicensed crew to apply herbicide, and leaving the ground bare after removal.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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