Using a forestry mulcher along with Garlon herbicide for Buckthorn control

[adlertom]

I have some areas on my property that are heavily infested with buckthorn. These areas have more buckthorn trees than desirable trees, and it would be difficult to cut and spray the buckthorn in such dense conditions.

To remove the buckthorn in these thick areas, I am considering hiring a contractor with a skid steer and forestry mulcher attachment. I would mark the desirable trees with trail ribbon, and have the contractor mulch everything else around them.

I would follow behind the skid steer, ideally within a few minutes, and spray the shredded stump remnants with Garlon 4 herbicide in a 20% concentration.

My concern is how effective the herbicide would be on shredded stumps. I’m used to cutting buckthorn with a brush saw, and spraying the remaining (neat, clean, and flat) stump top. This results in the herbicide penetrating the cambium layer, just below the bark. It’s easy to see where the herbicide is going, and to apply it correctly and sparingly this way.

I’m wondering if the Garlon application will be as effective on a stump that has been mangled and shredded by a forestry mulcher. Does anyone have any experience with doing this, and if so, how well did it work?

 

[Maplechuck]

If you're bringing in a mulcher, why not just keep the area brush hogged a 1-2 times per summer over the next couple years? Brush hogging (after mulching) should eventually starve the buckthorn and allow the more desirable grasses and browse to reestablish themselves.

 

[Hay Dude]

Just did same, promising Results so far.

I have some areas on my property that are heavily infested with buckthorn. These areas have more buckthorn trees than desirable trees, and it would be difficult to cut and spray the buckthorn in such dense conditions.

To remove the buckthorn in these thick areas, I am considering hiring a contractor with a skid steer and forestry mulcher attachment. I would mark the desirable trees with trail ribbon, and have the contractor mulch everything else around them.

I would follow behind the skid steer, ideally within a few minutes, and spray the shredded stump remnants with Garlon 4 herbicide in a 20% concentration.

My concern is how effective the herbicide would be on shredded stumps. I’m used to cutting buckthorn with a brush saw, and spraying the remaining (neat, clean, and flat) stump top. This results in the herbicide penetrating the cambium layer, just below the bark. It’s easy to see where the herbicide is going, and to apply it correctly and sparingly this way.

I’m wondering if the Garlon application will be as effective on a stump that has been mangled and shredded by a forestry mulcher. Does anyone have any experience with doing this, and if so, how well did it work?

I cleared about 15 acres for a customer and the grounds keeper/estate manager following up with herbicide for stumps. He hasn’t called me back, but I would imagine it’s hard to get a good application on splintered wood.
They may give up and decide to have me the property as it greens up. I like that idea better. Lol

Thing you have to watch is how high you leave the stumps. They WILL damage tires if you catch a sharp stump between tire bars. Try to grind the stumps all the way down into the dirt

 

[adlertom]

If you're bringing in a mulcher, why not just keep the area brush hogged a 1-2 times per summer over the next couple years? Brush hogging (after mulching) should eventually starve the buckthorn and allow the more desirable grasses and browse to reestablish themselves.

It's a wooded area, not grassland. So, I want to encourage more desirable trees to grow back in the area, in place of the buckthorn. Brush cutting would cut down that desirable tree growth.

The buckthorn trees are generally/mostly about 10 feet tall with 1-2 inch diameter trunks, but some are as high as 30 feet, with 5-6 inch diameter trunks. I've actually cut some of those for firewood (and sprayed the stumps with Garlon).

 

[Hay Dude]

It's a wooded area, not grassland. So, I want to encourage more desirable trees to grow back in the area, in place of the buckthorn. Brush cutting would cut down that desirable tree growth.

The buckthorn trees are generally/mostly about 10 feet tall with 1-2 inch diameter trunks, but some are as high as 30 feet, with 5-6 inch diameter trunks. I've actually cut some of those for firewood (and sprayed the stumps with Garlon).

How well rooted are they?
Wonder if you could use a tree grapple and pluck em out?

 

[adlertom]

How well rooted are they?
Wonder if you could use a tree grapple and pluck em out?

Not sure. I don't have a tree grapple (nor have I ever used one). In some areas, the buckthorn is just so thick that there's no room to get around an individual tree trunk with any kind of implement.

My soil is also very rocky, and it's hard to pull things out. I've tried pulling old fence posts out of the ground, with mixed results.

 

[ArlyA]

Did you figure out the eradication of your buckthorn?? We've got plenty up here and they offer training programs on how to get rid if it. A crew came throught here last summer and cut all the female trees out. Yes, only halve of them produce seeds, but you'd like to clear them all. Getting the course might be very helpful.

 

[adlertom]

Did you figure out the eradication of your buckthorn?? We've got plenty up here and they offer training programs on how to get rid if it. A crew came throught here last summer and cut all the female trees out. Yes, only halve of them produce seeds, but you'd like to clear them all. Getting the course might be very helpful.

Yeah, I know how to control it. I just want to figure out how to do so with the least amount of effort.

The cut stump and spray method requires three people ideally. One to cut, one to immediately spray, and a third person just to drag the cut trees out of the way of the other two.

Forestry mulching sounds promising, as long as I can apply the herbicide to the shredded stumps in an effective fashion.

 

[ArlyA]

We bagged all the stumps around our property. No spraying involved. Have you been to a eradication seminar there??

 

[Wind Gypsy]

@adlertom - did you have this done last year and how did it work? I'm looking to do the same on a nasty buckthorn infestation on my home 6 acres. The only thing I dont like is the stumps being covered up by mulch and thus being hard to get at with garlon spray. I was thinking about covering the whole area with a ATV sprayer after but if it's all covered by mulch that would be a waste.

 

[jyoutz]

I have some areas on my property that are heavily infested with buckthorn. These areas have more buckthorn trees than desirable trees, and it would be difficult to cut and spray the buckthorn in such dense conditions.

To remove the buckthorn in these thick areas, I am considering hiring a contractor with a skid steer and forestry mulcher attachment. I would mark the desirable trees with trail ribbon, and have the contractor mulch everything else around them.

I would follow behind the skid steer, ideally within a few minutes, and spray the shredded stump remnants with Garlon 4 herbicide in a 20% concentration.

My concern is how effective the herbicide would be on shredded stumps. I’m used to cutting buckthorn with a brush saw, and spraying the remaining (neat, clean, and flat) stump top. This results in the herbicide penetrating the cambium layer, just below the bark. It’s easy to see where the herbicide is going, and to apply it correctly and sparingly this way.

I’m wondering if the Garlon application will be as effective on a stump that has been mangled and shredded by a forestry mulcher. Does anyone have any experience with doing this, and if so, how well did it work?

The Garlon will work as long as the stumps are fresh cut and not sealed over with sap. Be sure to use a dye in your herbicide mix, so you know which stumps have already been treated and which ones were not.

 

[adlertom]

@adlertom - did you have this done last year and how did it work? I'm looking to do the same on a nasty buckthorn infestation on my home 6 acres. The only thing I dont like is the stumps being covered up by mulch and thus being hard to get at with garlon spray. I was thinking about covering the whole area with a ATV sprayer after but if it's all covered by mulch that would be a waste.

I did have it done.

After the mulching, there were no recognizable stumps left, so the concern in my original post was moot.

I ended up mixing the Garlon in a foliar spray concentration (more diluted than the cut stump concentration) and sprayed small buckthorn plants as they resprouted. I'll be doing that again this year, multiple times during the summer, and likely for several more summers to come.

"One years seed, seven years weeds"

The mowing/grinding was useful however, as it allows me to easily walk through the previously infested areas and spray the resprouts. I'm also using less herbicide this way.

 

[wisconsitom]

Hi adlertom. Didn't see this when you originally posted, but thought I'd add my comments.

I've been involved in projects like you're involved in and the realization you've made, that spraying immediately following mulching is not really feasible, and that followup spot-spraying is the answer. And yes, that the original mangling does begin to reduce the buckthorn right off the bat-some of it is destroyed beyond resprouting in the process.

Good luck, miserable stuff that buckthorn!

 

[Hay Dude]

Last fall got 20 acres cleared with callery/bradford pear 10-15’ and 1-2“ caliper stumps. Looks like a mini-forest of pear.
Theres probably 1000 of them. Too many to “paint”.
5 different people own the property. 1 is anti-spray and wont relent. Big squabble.
Stumps made my nice tires look less nice in a hurry.

 

[nybirdman]

I had 10 acres or so cleared(buckthorn) with a SS and Fecon head;expensive but it worked great.We didn't spray but worked up and put in food plots.Mow in the spring.
Saved any "good" trees.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

I did have it done.

After the mulching, there were no recognizable stumps left, so the concern in my original post was moot.

I ended up mixing the Garlon in a foliar spray concentration (more diluted than the cut stump concentration) and sprayed small buckthorn plants as they resprouted. I'll be doing that again this year, multiple times during the summer, and likely for several more summers to come.

"One years seed, seven years weeds"

The mowing/grinding was useful however, as it allows me to easily walk through the previously infested areas and spray the resprouts. I'm also using less herbicide this way.

Good to hear. I got 5+ acres mulched last week. There are still plenty of stumps around as we went for the imperfect mulching route for $6k over the guy who wanted 15-20k to use a planer on everything. I'm dreading the resprout and the explosion from the seedbank now that sun can reach the ground but I feel much better about the value of our property and the long term prospects of the desirable trees we had left.

 

[Bobrown14]

Where we live I'm clearing about 15 acres of brush. It's got buckthorn. Hit the under 2" with rotary cutter then cut the field in spring and fall. The buckthorn doesn’t grow back if I hit it a few times a season with the rotary cutter.

 

[jyoutz]

Last fall got 20 acres cleared with callery/bradford pear 10-15’ and 1-2“ caliper stumps. Looks like a mini-forest of pear.
Theres probably 1000 of them. Too many to “paint”.
5 different people own the property. 1 is anti-spray and wont relent. Big squabble.
Stumps made my nice tires look less nice in a hurry.

Hack and squirt is the answer for tree sized woody stemmed weeds. Slice a slit in the bark with a hatchet or machete through the back down to the woody cambium. Then squirt hexazinone or garlon in the cut. Just carry a small squirt bottle. It’s not necessary to broadcast spray herbicide when you apply it to the bark cut.

 

[Hay Dude]

Hack and squirt is the answer for tree sized woody stemmed weeds. Slice a slit in the bark with a hatchet or machete through the back down to the woody cambium. Then squirt hexazinone or garlon in the cut. Just carry a small squirt bottle. It’s not necessary to broadcast spray herbicide when you apply it to the bark cut.

I mowed them out. No herbies needed.

 

[jyoutz]

I mowed them out. No herbies needed.

Resprout