Killing Suckers Without Chemical

[Crofter]

Have 4 clumps of maple and red oak stumps that were cut down this summer. They aare sprouting a mass of suckers and I dont want them growing up again. Since they are close to well and garden I would rather not "poison" them. They aare also close to underground lines so cant dig them out. How can I discourage them?

Frank

 

[DadF]

A couple of layers of black plastic would work also but Roundup is so much easier. Unless your talking a hand dug well and spraying directly into it, there is no way that RU is gonna affect your water supply.

 

[Crofter]

Thanx

Decided to give those suckers a little shot of Roundup but the hardware store has put the garden stuff away and the Christmas decorations in their place. Got to go to the feed store next week for some.


Frank

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

You can drink roundup, if you first eat some soil.

Brian, round up is not safe, it does not bind to the soil. It hurts trees. It has been shown that it hurt humans too.

Here's some light reading:

http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/service76.htm

http://www.thecampaign.org/newsupdates/august01e.htm

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Originally posted by RockyJSquirrel
Roundup molecularly binds to the soil so tightly that even plant roots cannot pull it off. Therefore it is completely benign once it contacts soil. Fear typically springs from ignorance.

This sounds like Monsanto's claims. Truth is it always salinates the soil and if there isn't enough clay to bind to it does have residual effects. It's not that easy Brian; a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, like when people who know a little call others ignorant.
As usual, I agree with Mr. Bombast; thanks for the links, MM.

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Originally posted by RockyJSquirrel
Why would you take the 'ignorance' thing as an insult? I didn't, because you called the original poster ignorant, not me.

'Fear typically springs from ignorance. Once you understand something, you do not fear it.'

Rocky I fear toxic chemicals in the air water and soil not out of ignorance but out of understanding. The leukemia I got may have been caused by exposure, so my knowledge is on a level I don't want you to experience.:alien:
Even if I didn't have cancer I'd be leery of promiscuous use of poisons, and seek ways to minimize their use.
For woody stumpsrouts, smothering works and so does chopping the bark off the stumps.
I use roundup but I am not snowed by its maker's claims of safety to the environment. It's safer than DDT but it is not benign--that's why it kills weeds.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

Checked out those out of country links.

Interesting anyway.

Apparently there is little information about what kind of studies were done.

What the application rates were, who applied the RoundUp, etc..

I'm taking a wild guess that what they are referring to a very large commercial applications of frequencies unknown to us.

Whereas those sites make an announcement, they also provide no actual information.

If application rate info was given, then the 5 times higher concentration thing would be a significant piece of information.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Stump grinder?
No chemicals there!

 

[Crofter]

Yes, the stump grinder would be the way to go. The stumps are on an adjoining right of way and don't warrant that expense. I see that it is getting late to do the Roundup thing any way so that is off till spring. I may just try smothering with black plastic and cover with dirt for a year. If they were individual stumps it would be easy to chop the bark etc. but they are clumps that have pollarded several times from previous cutting. I apreciate the input pros and cons regarding Roundup
Thanks,
Frank

 

[MasterBlaster]

Originally posted by Crofter



..... and don't warrant that expense.

Even smaller, walk-behind grinders? With no clean-up we've got guys around here that will do a job like that for dirt cheap.

Jusss trying ta help!

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Ya ever try one of them non-hydralic, toe'trimin grinders with the wheel where the operator can watch everything(reversed of pic setup)?


Talking about trying to hold the bull's nose to the ground!! i've had to take out the counterbalancing battery (and then have it jump started) that sits away from operator to keep from getting tossed sometimes! But, then i saw a 320# young buck (Tiny)make it look like a small toy as he stood on a small mound bending over the machine in his mitts accentuating the look!

'Nough ta peees a'lil MF'er off , seeing that!

 

[ORclimber]

Originally posted by TheTreeSpyder
Ya ever try one of them non-hydralic, toe'trimin grinders with the wheel where the operator can watch everything(reversed of pic setup)?/B]

Oh yea, Know a guy who got a bite taken out of his thigh with one of those old promarks. The cutter wheel caught his chaps and sucked his leg in. Nothing some stitches couldn't patch up, but no more grinding in chaps after that .

 

[coffeecraver]

Non-chemical could be Bleach,or rock salt,or stump grinder

Chemical choice- Garlon
Applied to fresh cuts can kill in a day.


Registerd use,Obtain a Certified Pesticide Applicator

 

[Reed]

Glyphosphate has become so prevalent in water sampling it's a standard element of the assay performed here now.

Rule of thumb is anything Monsanto states is a flat-out lie. That's the dictate the chemists at my State Health Dept. employ in their work - all data starts from ground zero, no extropolating from industry-supplied information. Sad state of affairs, but very wise.

I let Monsanto work on a forty-acre test at my old place, giving them the benefit of a doubt based on their claims to have developed a binding componant of an ester formulation for R.U. After all was said and done and one year and five repetitive trials later, it became clear they were hiding the fact that resistance has developed in targets and they simply "upped" the dose to attempt a reaction. Complicated and simple lies from a Fortune 500. The state has started a criminal investigation but Texas is pro-chem industry, nothing will become of it except a lot of money spent.

 

[Stumper]

Reed's post brought this back up and I just noticed Coffeecraver's post. CC bleach and salt are chemical treatments! Shakespeare was so right when he said that"familiarity breeds contempt". Just because something is common or "household" doesn't mean it loses its inherant nature or is automatically safe. (That said-I have never seen much cause for worry about direct treatment with ordinary salt (sodium chloride). The quantites can be low enough and leaching quick enough to avoid soil sterilization. When salt is carried away in runoff/groundwater the big issue is dilution ratio-if ithe concentrationisn isn't high enough to cause immediate problems then residual effects aren't likely to be an issue-so far salt is one of the few things that I haven't heard blamed for cancer etc. )

 

[coffeecraver]

To achieve your goal

You could Hand prune the suckers once a week,or as needed.
No Leaves ,No Photosynthesis,no plant.

You could try to hand paint the chemical.
Hand painted chemicals on leaves do not leach into the soil or water.

 

[southland1]

Long story short, 3 acres covered in about 400 trees, leaves are unbearable, decided to get rid of all sweet gum trees to lessen the leaves. To date have cut down 38 sweet gums starting about 6 weeks ago and treated some of the stumps with rock salt and ground some up. Both ground and salt stumps have suckers sprouting everywhere. Think I'm going to try glyphosate but there are trees I want to keep that are very near the stumps. The question is, will the glyphosate kill the surrounding trees if I only spray directly onto the sweet gum stumps? Will the glyphosate be sucked into the sweet gum roots and kill root system of the surrounding trees. Some keeper trees are less than a foot from the SG stumps.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

I bought the mega concentrate Round Up $129/gal.

2.5oz to a gal of water. I mixed it 3oz (didn't have a 5oz measuring cup).

Didn't even phase the tree sicker or anything else aside from a few small weeds. I sprayed about 10 gallons 8n all.

 

[ropensaddle]

Long story short, 3 acres covered in about 400 trees, leaves are unbearable, decided to get rid of all sweet gum trees to lessen the leaves. To date have cut down 38 sweet gums starting about 6 weeks ago and treated some of the stumps with rock salt and ground some up. Both ground and salt stumps have suckers sprouting everywhere. Think I'm going to try glyphosate but there are trees I want to keep that are very near the stumps. The question is, will the glyphosate kill the surrounding trees if I only spray directly onto the sweet gum stumps? Will the glyphosate be sucked into the sweet gum roots and kill root system of the surrounding trees. Some keeper trees are less than a foot from the SG stumps.

Sweet gum is prolific but I just keep it bush hogged it eventually gives up. I make sure to mow it in august when its hot and dry.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Sweet gum is prolific but I just keep it bush hogged it eventually gives up. I make sure to mow it in august when its hot and dry.

Here August is rainy. It's pretty much "fall". Trees start loosing leaves in about a month.