Penn State Extension and elsewhere had said broad spectrum glyphosate was effective, I didn’t search further since there’s nothing on that hillside that I want to survive [the onslaught]. I used to think that mechanical removal was the only way that I would deal with weeds in the future but I’m slowly coming round to using chemicals.
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Agree. When you’re dealing with plants that send roots and suckers everywhere, mechanical control requires digging up the whole area which just creates space for invasives that thrive in disturbed areas, and it doesn’t work very well, so you have to dig again the following year, exposing more bare soil… it’s a vicious cycle. Better to spot apply an herbicide and leave the soil where it is. I went through this whole cycle myself and finally gave up on purely mechanical control for Virginia creeper. In my area at least it’s outrageously destructive and fills up the soil with so many criss-crossing roots, you’d have to remove and replace the top 5 feet of soil to get rid of it.
My brother, who is involved with land management stuff, has said something like “it’s amazing how much of conservation work these days is just using herbicides.”
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My understory nemesis (autumn olive) is only killed by cutting the top of the plant and painting concentrated glyphosate on the cut stump or sprout. I have not added any oil as it was not recommended in my reading but may try in my next culling.
Despite being a PITA, this method does work and seems to kill most things. You do need to be careful if desired trees are nearby and related to the one you’re killing. Gylphosate will travel through the roots. I accidently killed 2 trees this way and one did not even show effects until the following spring.
The basal oil (diesel which is an oil fuel) turbocharges the herbicide absorption. This is well documented and even included in some of the instructions for several herbicides.
Does anyone know how affective flame weeding would work against forest undsrbrush.
I have a 1/4 acre cleared… was heavy timber… i cut all that timber up into firewood and sold it. Cleared all the underbrush… which included lots of bush, vines, hard green briars, regrowth from tree, etc…
I tried spraying TSCs version of roundup on it all a couple times… but it was not all that effective.
I have been cutting it all down with a combination of push mower and weed eater since. It takes me a couole hours to get that done.
I have done a lot of small stump removal so about half of it can be mowed with a push mower.
Those dang hard green briars regrow fast… and lots of the other woods underbrush does too… so I am fighting this thing every 2 weeks for a couple hours to keep it clear.
Eventually will have an excavator out to remove the large stumps and smooth it out so all can simply be mowed.
Some of the stumps (in our new home area) will be removed by excavator… others by stump grinder.
Anyway… just wondering if I toasted really good with a flame weeder some of this underbrush, briars, muscadine vines, poison ivy, virginia creeper, honey suckles, etc…
Would that kill it … or possibly kill 50% of it ?
I would rather not spray any more chemicals.
Thanks
TNHunter
I’d love to hear how good it is for underbrush or for anything really. I’ve kind of wanted to try it.
The non-glyphosate roundup doesn’t seem to do anything to most of my weeds. I do try to look up by weed what is most effective and when/how to apply - I had to go to the farm co-op to get glyphosate because nothing else was deemed effective for certain things.
Not forest underbrush, but I learned this lesson the hard way with some Japanese wisteria. I look up weeds now before attempting to remove them.
For those folks that are looking at really intense string trimmers attachments:
I had a huge problem with wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia) which is native but very aggressive. It’s also got a super tough stem. A lot of the time the thick string trimmer wire wouldn’t cut it. It’d run it over with my mower and because it was so long it would lay down under the mower and not get cut.
I ended up using an American scythe to “mow” it.
There are different scythe types and I have one with a brush type blade. I got mine from a friend who got it as an ornament at a second hand place. Having to sharpen the blade is a bit of a pain, but I actually prefer the scythe and find it just as easy as the weed whacker. The weed whacker is better for tight places though.
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There are plants that you can just dig up and be done with them. I got lots of choke cherry (prunus virginiana) that keep sprouting from seed, I just pull those and are done.
Things that propagate via looooooong root systems like Viburnum Edule (mooseberry, highbush cranberry) are not going to be bother much by localized fire. They do put a tap root and from there long lateral roots that are thick and continue to spread the plants while developing more tap roots as the new sprouts come out. Burning may kill that one particular plant coming out of the ground, but it would likely freak out the rest of the roots to go into overdrive sprouting new plants.
As a matter of principle I avoid chemicals as much as I can, but glyphosate when used correctly can be the least intrusive method to control hard to kill plants. I’m modifying my approach; instead of spraying I’m cutting, leaving 6 inches, and coating the stubs including the bark with undiluted glyphosate. With the product I’m using it takes 4 ounces of the concentrate to a gallon of water, I would take two of those to cover the area I want to treat. Cutting by hand and painting the stubs probably takes half an ounce, and should be more effective which would reduce the number of applications. It is up to me to use a small brush and to be extra careful not to let it drip. I’m probably taking the extra step of going back to cut the stubs, which should still hold a good amount of the glyphosate that doesn’t need to be added to the soil.
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I’m guessing it depends on a variety of factors such as how deep the roots of these specific plants are, and whether they’re fire adapted in their native ecology. I would look at it in terms of what you want to replace all those weeds with. Burning might be a good option if you do it in early spring and follow up immediately with planting a ground cover that gets going fast and will compete with all the stuff you want to suppress. Generally speaking, grasses do well after fire compared to other types of plants.
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Just noticed that Roundup no longer contains glyphosate. New ingredients are:
triclopyr, fluazifop, diquat.
I just bought a 2.5 gallon jug of 50% glyphosate Roundup Pro concentrate.
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Yes, looks like the “Pro” is still using the glyphosate.
Roundup has become a trade name vs. a chemical name.
Plenty of products out there with Roundup on the label. One includes a chemical (Imazapyr?) That offers season long control. A farmer friend will only use Roundup Powermax.
As with any herbicide, always read and follow the label.
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