I have cottonwood all over the place but the worst offenders are the ones that keep sending roots across and around my orchard, sprouting new trees everywhere.
What’s the most effective thing I can inject into the small stumps so it will kill them and the horse they rode in on? (the root). If it kills the parent tree it would not be a great loss, I have tons where those came from and is not like it wouldn’t take just 2 years for them to come back.
I’ve not had to eradicate Cottonwood but am at war with Bush Honeysuckle.
I have used Crossbow/ Crossroad and Tordon Blue with success. Cutting it off and applying to the cambium. I read that the poison should be applied with in 30 minutes of cutting.
Dye mixed in is pretty handy for making sure you got all the stumps painted if you are doing a bunch. Tordon Blue as the name implies is already dyed and comes in a quart bottle ready to apply.
Crossroads may be stronger, comes in gallon jug. $50 bucks for the last one I bought.
Wear gloves and try not to get it on you!
Good luck!
Dormant basal application of Crossbow and diesel hasn’t failed to kill anything I’ve applied it to.
Tordon will do the trick, but it’s highly likely it will kill the parent tree as well.
I had a whole slew of them pop up when I trenched in a hydrant. I just mowed them until they quit coming up.
Triclopyr 4. Doesn’t need a penetrant.
Dont use Tordon it will kill your orchard trees too and anything within the root system. I tordoned a siberian elm and it killed my mulberries 25 ft away.
I also am at war with cottonwood but even more with siberian elm…
Brothers in arms! Every tree I’ve had to take out was a Siberian Elm. They’re my nemesis. I’ve used Tordon RTU on the stumps in close proximity to other trees with zero problems. I don’t know how it could get absorbed by other trees.
Cottonwood? Here they never stop coming and I have been mowing them for 6 years now.
Yes, cottonwood. It depends on where they’re suckering from. I severed the roots with the trencher, so they were suckering off a root stub.
sounds like our balsam poplar and quaking aspen. cut 1 down you have 200 sprouts. i 3rd. the crossbow and diesel. like others said , if your fruit tree roots are intermingled with the tree youre trying to kill, you may also kill it as well. i had a elder that was growing too close to a cherry. i chopped the elder and painted it with crossbow. it killed the elder and the following summer slowly killed the cherry. powerful stuff! use with caution. from now on ill try roundup 1st.
If it’s cottonwood, just girdle each trunk. The roots will continue feeding the tops, but the tops will stop sending sugar to the roots so they will be fully dead above ground and below in about a year.
You may have a different variety of cottonwood than we do. Down in a low area I downright cut down the trees, they just snap right back. In two years they are once again a full grown tree.
As I said, they need to be girdled. Simply cutting them down accomplishes little unless you have time to spend the next few years trimming suckers.
You are likely dealing with black cottonwood, correct?
I have not had to deal with cotton wood trees , but I have killed many trees by girdling the bark.
With most trees I have had the best results by girdling the bark down to the wood , a ~ 4 inch band , “after “ they are in full leaf ,
Around 1st of June here in WV.
This allows the roots to send all their food reserves to the top, developing a full canopy of leafs. Draining the root reserves,.
“Then “ girdling the bark , so the carbohydrates from the top cannot feed the root. ( but their is a lot of top needing water from root )
The roots are still working hard but not getting fed, so they die.
Often with no suckering .
Conversely, girdling before in full leaf often results in suckering from roots, in species that tend to sprout from roots.
My neighbor’s property was full of cottonwood. There was a string of large trees that ended a few feet before my fence. There are roots snaking all throughout my yard and sending up suckers. I would just mow them over.
The neighbor sold the property and new owner ripped out the cottonwood with a backhoe. They dug out the entire yard and ripped out all the roots. The roots on my side of the fence have been sprouting like crazy and I took a shovel and a hand saw and spent most of the day ripping out the root system on my side and I’m not even sure I made a dent. Most of the time the roots are within a few inches of the surface, but sometimes they turn and go straight into the ground and I’m not able to rip them out.
The roots are really aggressive and apparently they survive (and thrive) just fine without the parent tree.
There’s no parent tree to apply anything to- just the roots. How do I kill the roots? Is it possible?
This is about half the pile of roots I pulled up.
i have a balsam poplar growing amongst my big spruces. it sends roots up to 50 yrds into my orchard. ive found some of the roots as they come out of the wood line and cut them then hit the sprouts with crossbow. doesnt always kill them the 1st time. they are very persistent but beats digging 50yrds of roots out of hard rocky clay soil.
Continually removing the top growth will deplete the roots’ resources…sooner or later.
You could also try letting the sprouts grow for the last month or so before fall dormancy, then treat basal spray each sprout with crossbow and diesel.
