He’s right, at least for what I’m dealing with. Even in the forested area the top soil is rather shallow, and the understory plants like to dig deep.
For a different project I did a small 5’x5’ at the edge of a forest where I took my time trying to clean it up to perfection, it was a pain in the ass for sure. It looks like every bit of root that was left behind sprouted. Highbush cranberries were the worst; there were plants in the 5x5 area with long roots radiating out. Now all those roots that got cut at the perimeter are just reversing direction and coming back.
Glyphosate - and other herbicides, for that matter, need to contact living plant tissue - leaves, exposed cambium, thin bark, etc.,to affect plants. A hole drilled into the heartwood of cedar, or any other tree, is essentially into ‘nonliving’ structural material.
If you make a girdling cut all around the trunk with chainsaw, hatchet, etc., and spray herbicide on the exposed cambium, you’ll get a much better kill than drilling a hole and depositing herbicide into inactive tissue.
Girdle an oak and use no herbicide…it’ll kill the top and maybe the roots. Girdle an evergreen and use no herbicide, and its dead. Double girdle an aspen or other tough to kill deciduous trees and remove the bark between the girdles with a hatchet. Dead tree. No herbicide.
There are many plants where the best way to propagate them seems to be bulldozing them over. Somebody I know quite literally and unceremoniously bulldozed over an area with two rhubarb plans. Fast forward a few years and he had to pull dozens that started sprouting.
Once the dirty deed is done I should be able to maintain by hand. The highbush cranberry will try to return, there is no helping that one as it sends long roots to sprout everywhere. But I can suppress other growth by reshaping the composition of the plants in that area, introducing plants that through competition can help to keep the others in check.
Mechanical removal isn’t a good option for forest underbrush. Many of the species will quickly bounce back much worse than before. Herbicides will work, but may kill canopy trees if not applied carefully. For a smaller area, clearing and tarping could be an eco-friendly option, if you’re willing to wait a couple years for all the seeds under the tarp to die.
I dare say that properly applied a herbicide can be in a way the more eco friendly solution The area can be kept extremely targeted, the half life of glyphosate is a few days.
I’m probably going to clear about 6 feet wide, long track. The problem is not seeds, the problem are plants that will send roots straight across that expanse and would start sending plants up the second the tarp is gone.
I use Stinger (clopyralid) to control thistles and many other broadleafs in brassica foodplots. If there’s pigweed, lambsquarters, waterhemp, or amaranth in the plot they will be untouched.
The last couple of times I’ve clicked on a video in YouTube I’ve seen advertisements for this string trimmer attachment:
I’m presently running a really thick flexible nylon line, one which is intended for a walk-behind string trimmer, but I’m curious what your take is on a twisted crimped wire wheel sort of string trimmer head.
They are selling the heads with chainsaw chain again… not my thing though. I have no need for a wire brush head… my guess is that it would get very aggravating with weed clogging.
I only clear areas for planting wildflowers or shrubs or trees that i give to wildlife., so i cut alot of ironweed and multflora and autumn olive.
I have gatorline with wire insert as well as gatorline braided. I have echo and stihl line also… none are very good at what i need for this chore.
My neighbor gave me a dozen feet of this stuff… its way better than anything else that i have other than the one i cant remember the name of…
I will have to look at this other line that i have. I bought it at a yard sale about 10 years ago.
I use it for my fence line and scrub. I have to carry a pair of small dykes as it does not break. It also eats my brass eyes out of my trimmer. So i use it sparingly. The ends after about 1000000 hits of the fences or rocks gets whittled but doesnt shear off.
I pull the trigger until my trimmer is at redline then go into the briars and autumn olive.
Im afraid to do so with the blade or a fixed wire i think… i think it would break the shaft eventually… whereas the line whips it to death.
I dont enjoy weed whacking but i would rather grow pollinator or fruiting things rather than ‘weeds’
I do have to weedeat alot of ditches as well leaves clog them up here where im surrounded by hardwoods… and those leaves quickly nourish scrub and whatever seed falls into those ditches…
Ive not tried it myself but someone once shared that these double barrel crimps on the end of the line looped onto itself are like a ginsu to brush.
I would definitely be interested in knowing about that one. I don’t use my Stihl FS 91 with any regularity but when I do it is a mix of trimming grass that grows beside landscaping lumber, killing the weeds that grow in the cracks between the pavement and the gutter and whacking back unwanteds, like the Japanese stiltgrass I was tackling yesterday at my property. I used to have the circular chainsaw blade that came with the walk-behind string trimmer that I was gifted secondhand but I didn’t find that blade to be all that useful and let it go.
How long do you think they will have their “glass trimmer” up for sale before they change it to read “grass trimmer”?
I’ve thought of those blades. Some similar ones have been posted in another thread. I’d be concerned that they would hook and yank the head into what I was cutting and would stall the engine, or at least would clog up. The slots on masonry cutting blades for angle grinders run the opposite direction of what you might expect and like that I think that I’d want the back side of the hooked tooth to be the cutting edge.
Oh those, I’ve never seen that style before! They aren’t as dangerous as some might imagine since the outside of the chain doesn’t consist of the sharpened “chisel points” of an actual chainsaw chain, just the drive links that are normally hidden inside the chainsaw bar and which are propelled by the motor.
That was just a random picture I found on the internet, but in Japan I saw plenty of them being used. The ones there were quite powerful gasoline models.
Im sold on it other than its going to cost me money on my trimmer head if i keep using it… probably much cheaper to just go thru my other line honestly.
I do not weedeat much other than my fencelines so that my chickens can be aware of snakes etc… and have a chance to run… and my dogs need to see the things that they chase as they monitor my fencelines. I keep the autumn olive and multiflora at bay the best i can and try to introduce brambles and other things that flower and fruit instead… its a losing battle but im trying.
It sounds like my skepticism is unwarranted! When I saw the similar ones in the other thread I had wondered if they were Japanese or Chinese, but if they are being used in Japan I would guess that they work against the stiltgrass that is invading here.
A serious nemesis here… I do “weed whack” a lot of it but what I can’t get to that way I spray. Both Ornamec over the top and Fusilade II seem to work relatively well FYI. If you know of other selective herbicides that will kill it I’d love to know. Fusilade of those two seems to be the best bang for the buck. They otherwise seem fairly equal in their effectiveness against it.
Fireweed, which is not much of a problem, was the most affected. Dandelions were also very affected, which also doesn’t help considering that they are not in the forest… Prickly rose is beginning to show good signs of distress. Baneberries also showing signs of distress. Cow parsnip doesn’t look overly concerned but that’s an easy one to control by hand.
The one I care the most if V. edule/highbush cranberry. The root system is extensive and they just keep popping willy-nilly. They are showing marginal response, but according to the literature they would eventually sucumb.
Fortunately, il looks like best control is achieved with basal application of herbicide enhanced with a basal oil. In plain English, you chop the plant down, leaving a few inches, and treat the bark and stub with herbicide that has a carrier oil. The oil itself enhances the ability of the herbicide to penetrate the plant. Worth mentioning is that while diesel has been traditionally used, there are some studies that suggest it may not be ideal, as it may damage the bark before it has a chance for the herbicide to penetrate. Kerosene could be a better alternative over diesel.
Next weekend rather than a foliar application I’ll cut and do the basal application, cut down and smear the oil enhanced herbicide into what’s left of the trunk.
The area can be kept extremely targeted, the half life of glyphosate is a few days.
