How do you kill buckthorn stumps?????

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suaf

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I just cut down 3 large buckthorn trees - probably at 6"" diameter each. A neighbor was telling me that driving copper nails in to the stump will kill it off completely. I was just looking around online and there are an amazing amount of blogs about it. However, I can't seem to find any that are absolutely certain or not whether it works. Does any one have a definite answer to this?

And if copper nails are not the answer, what is the best way to kill the stumps of buckthorn. I just cut them down less than a week ago - so anything that should be done 'within minutes after cutting down' is no longer an option.

Thanks in advance!

Suaf
 
If you leave the stump up about 3 feet and attach a come-a-long, you can put pressure on it, and chow at the roots at the same time, and then pull the stump out.
A stump grinder makes fast work of this size stump, you should be able to get all three out for less than $100.
I don't think copper nails do anything because lightening protection has copper hardware that you drill into the tree.
Then there is always the option of poisons. Tordon kills them dead the first time. It takes a small amount painted on the stump. For best results you might want to make a fresh cut, but the stuff is so strong it will likely work anyway.
 
Stump grinding is the way to go,it would take longer to back up to them than to grind them.Thats sounds like a $50 to $75 job if they backfill holes,no cleanup would be cheaper. or you can drill holes,put a little deisl fuel on there and burn them out.Thats the way we get out the ones the grinder cant get to.
 
If you leave the stump up about 3 feet and attach a come-a-long, you can put pressure on it, and chow at the roots at the same time, and then pull the stump out.
A stump grinder makes fast work of this size stump, you should be able to get all three out for less than $100.
I don't think copper nails do anything because lightening protection has copper hardware that you drill into the tree.
Then there is always the option of poisons. Tordon kills them dead the first time. It takes a small amount painted on the stump. For best results you might want to make a fresh cut, but the stuff is so strong it will likely work anyway.

Thanks Mike -are you saying grind them out with a rented grinder for 'less than $100' or that a tree co. would come out and do that job for less than $100? Seems unlikely I could get someone to come out and do it for less than $100 but may be you meant with a rented grinder??
 
AS Mike states, a stump paint is the best way to keep stumps from resprouting.

If you cut after dormancy, then mixing with an oil as a carrier will keep the product there till it buds out in spring. WDNR had studies that showed this method with a RoundUp:Garlon mix had a very high kill ratio.

Waiting for spring regrowth and doing a foliar application of any TVK, or broad leaf pesticide works well too.

As with any pesticide, the label is the law, read it and follow it.

I think the $100 region for 3 small stumps in a yard is not unreasonable for grinding.

Get the utility locate done.
Call a nearby company and say you have these to be done, they can have it for $100 total, if they can do it soon.
If they don't show, then call another.

Get a small hand can for a broadleaf herbicide to apply to the seedlings as they sprout up around the yard every year.
 
Thanks Mike -are you saying grind them out with a rented grinder for 'less than $100' or that a tree co. would come out and do that job for less than $100? Seems unlikely I could get someone to come out and do it for less than $100 but may be you meant with a rented grinder??

A service would charge less than a $100 to grind them out. It may seem cheap, but its a 5 minute job. What most of them do is build up a 1/2 a day or a days worth of stumps and then do them all at once. They put pins in a map and drive around just doing stumps.
With stumps, they are typically bid by the inch of diameter, going rate around here is $2.50 per inch of diameter at ground level, just ground out, no clean up of stump debris. There is some variability in measuring, some measure the stump, some the hole afterwords, but you get the idea.
If one organizes his day of grinding, he can make thousands of dollars at that rate.
 
stumps

When you use round-up to paint stumps, you only have a short period of time to apply it (straight roundup pro, no diluting) after that it doesn't translocate very well and your success rate drops. Garlon 4 is by far the best product I've ever used to kill trees and brush. Basal bark treated a maple in winter (below 0 day) and the tree never leafed out in spring.
 
I agree with Mike Maas

Stump grinding small stumps is easy for the operator. Although you hear rates like $2.50 per inch w/o cleanup, this is over priced on baby stumps like 6 inch-ers. For three 6 inch stumps (measured at ground level) my rate would be around $25 to $35. (If you were close to Scott Co., Iowa and I could combine the trip.)
 
When you use round-up to paint stumps, you only have a short period of time to apply it (straight roundup pro, no diluting) after that it doesn't translocate very well and your success rate drops. Garlon 4 is by far the best product I've ever used to kill trees and brush. Basal bark treated a maple in winter (below 0 day) and the tree never leafed out in spring.


WI-DNR did a study a few years ago that found that Roundup/Garlon had the best kill ratio for buckthorn and honeysuckle.

As a stump paint in season the ratio fell off significantly after 20 min from cutting.

A stump paint in the dormant season with a oil or diesel carrier had a something like a +90% kill rate of spring buds

In this type of application one can get a glyphosate only product, because the namebrand has surfactants and adjuvants that are not needed with the oil carrier
 
I don't think that glyphosate is soluble in an oil-based diluent. If you were going to use a glyphosate product to treat stumps in cold weather I would just use a 100% application (which is allowed per the label), otherwise a garlon 4 in diesel or bark oil at like 5% will most definitely do the trick. Garlon will not kill honeysuckle either, best to use 2 4 D or Roundup.
 
I found a sure fire way to kill buckthorn trees and it also went in the roots and killed all the small saplings around the back yard. Cut down the big buckthorns (I had three) leaving a stump about six inches tall. Right away drill about a one inch hole in the middle of the stumps and make them over a one inch deep. Throw in lots of "Stump Out" and some water to wet it down. Leave it alone for three months. It will slowly soak in and go into the roots which will also die. Stump Out will finish its job in about three months. Then the directions say pour in kerosene and let is soak for a couple weeks and the set it on fire. It should smolder to deeply burn the stumps. Be sure to FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS on the STUMP OUT.

In a few years you might develop a few more buck thorn which excaped but again find the mother tree and do the same. It does work.
 
Pull the stump out. I have pulled several this size with an F150. Make a cable choker to go around the stump, I use 3/8" cable for mine. Put a ring on one end of the cable and a hook that will pass through the ring on the other end. Pull away. If I cannot drive up to them I paint the stump with straight roundup. Seems to kill them just fine. If too much time has passed after you cut it, just make another cut to expose fresh wood on the stump.
 
I just pee on them, problem solved...

;)

On all my stumps I crisscross cut, with the tip of the chainsaw blade deep into the stump a few times, put dirt inside to get the rotting speedstarted and water nicely.

7
 
using a small stump grinder is the easiest, but I also dig up a lot of smaller stumps. an axe, madexs and a com along will do the trick . Be sure to leave the stump tall for leverage
 
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