Killing a tree..

[john87]

Hi all,

Cut down a very large laurel last year. Needless to say the thing keeps trying to make a comeback. If i drill holes in the stumps and fill them with diesel, will that work or do i need some sort or proprietory stump killer??

 

john..

[Doug Tait]

Ecoplugs would probably be cheaper than diesel these days!

[GarethM]

Cheaper and less chance of getting reported for doing something naughty.

 

Ecoplug and keep cutting off any new shoots, eventually it'll use up all it's stored energy and die. Might be worth stump grinding to accelerate the process.

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, Doug Tait said:

Ecoplugs would probably be cheaper than diesel these days!

Same drill, some corks and amcide cheaper still and no plastic.

[john87]

Ahh, i have seen them "ecoplug" things but did not know what they were called.. Seen the price of them??

 

That Amcide stuff seems cheap though!!

 

john..

[Guest Gimlet]

You can kill just about anything off by painting or spot-spraying the stump with Glyphosate at 9:1 stump treatment strength. Do it immediately it has been cut down when the cambium layer is fresh and green and the sap ways are open and it'll take it all in and that will be game over. 

Edited July 17, 2022 by Gimlet

[Sviatoslav Tulin]

14 minutes ago, Gimlet said:

You can kill just about anything off by painting or spot-spraying the stump with Glyphosate at 9:1 stump treatment strength. Do it immediately it has been cut down when the cambium layer is fresh and green and the sap ways are open and it'll take it all in and that will be game over. 

Absolutely true, did it many times work 100 %, sometimes I drill 10 mm hole in the trunk filled with Roundup  bio, and it's gone. 

[Guest Gimlet]

I've killed off thousands of saplings and medium sized self-seeded scrub trees as part of landscape restoration stewardship programmes and never yet had a fail. I use it to kill off elder in hedgerows too when hedge laying. Never fails.

You can even do it in the rain because if it's done immediate the tree is cut, the stump sucks the spray down instantly and becomes rain fast.

 

You do have to take care with glyphosate during the growing season when all plants are feeding, especially it it's wet, because spills or overspray may get into the soil where other species can draw it up. Doesn't happen in winter because everything's dormant and there's no take-up from the roots.