Preventing Sprouting. Is it possible?

[NickfromWI]

If you cut down a tree that you are not stump grinding, how do you deal with sprouting?

Options I can see are

• Tell the customer to deal with it
• Apply round-up or some other chemical to help prevent it
• Sell that you'll come back to cut them off a few times
• Don't say anything, then act surprised when they call back 6 months later

I worked at one place here in LA that would pour saw fuel all over the stump (they charged a lot of money for "stump treatment"

Just wondering what y'all are doing.

love
nick

 

[stig]

Cover with black plastic and dirt.

 

[Paul B]

Rhythmic chanting

 

[wiley_p]

Garlon, Roundup, drill holes and pound in large guage hunks of copper wire. Depending on the day my urine could be effective.

 

[NickfromWI]

Cover with black plastic and dirt.

Hmm. I like the chemical free idea. For maximum effectiveness, maybe wiley could mail me a bottle of his pee. At least it'd be an all-organic option!

 

[stig]

That idea won't work too well with a PNW stump.
You'll need to cut it as low as you can.

 

[Burnham]

It's worked for me with willows here, Stig...and they are vicious re-sprouters.

 

[stig]

I've used it quite a bit, on different trees.
I prefer to paint the fresh-cut stump with Glyphosate, but some clients don't like herbicides.

Did you mean that it worked on your usual stump height?, I suppose it might, no ligh is no light.
I just figured it would be easier to keep the plastic from blowing away on a low stump.
That is why I cover it with dirt.

 

[Burnham]

Oh, no...I ALAPed them every time I've used that method.

 

[stehansen]

I've used Ortho Stump and Brush Killer.

 

[gf beranek]

Bore holes and fill with rock salt.

 

[SouthSoundTree]

That's a new one to me, Jerry. Interesting. Not an herbicide. You probably don't need a Chemical Applicator's License, technically. Readily available. Cheap. Stores well. A spill is not a huge deal.


TreeDimensional shared a word of warning with root translocation of the herbicide damaging/ killing an adjacent tree of the same species. Some Populus tree. Possibly black cottonwood or Lombardi poplar.


I wonder if using a Pulaski or mattock to knock off the bark would do the trick. A power drill and rock salt sounds easier.

 

[gf beranek]

With stumps under four inches a person can reasonably well hand chop the primary roots and kick the stump out of the ground. We did thousands like that in the right of ways. But only the redwoods, oaks, mertels, and shrubs. Because they were the ones that always sprouted back and had to be cut over and over. It was an experimental project. over 20 miles of right of way. The results were quite successful.

Though the method never got implemented into mainstream right of way clearing here. Chemicals are better, machines are better, hand labor is too expensive. All the same reasons.

I could tell you a thing or two about the rooting habits of a dozen different species here. Whether it has a tap root or not, and just how to cut the roots to get to a tap root. All with an axe. It greatly improved my golf skills too.

 

[Bermy]

It comes down to chemical vs non-chemical, what does the HO prefer?
Tordon is a great stump treatment, BUT has a translocation issue and is phytotoxic in the soil for up to a year, great on isolated speciments not so on those with desirables nearby.
Garlon is great too, mixed with diesel or water...then full strength Roundup...

I like the sound of holes and rock salt too, and the dirt and black plastic!

I often tell people to keep an eye on a stump and any time they see sprouts, kick them off, or chop them off with a machete, keep doing it and eventually the stump will die, just depends on their resolve! If they let 'em get too big its too much work.

 

[Stumper]

Table salt on the sapwood of a fresh, wet cut is pretty effective . As is diesel fuel. As is mix gas. As is Triclopyr(Garlon/Remedy/ Ortho Max Brush and Stump etc) as is Glysophate concentrate. Having used them all I prefer Triclopyr in diesel(approx 12% Tric). It is the closest to 100% effective and it has limited soil activity or residual effect. When dealing with Ailanthus poison FIRST then remove the trees after they start looking sick.

 

[RIVERRAT]

When dealing with Ailanthus poison FIRST then remove the trees after they start looking sick.

What a $h!t stick to be known as the "Tree of Paradise" . I do believe there will be better trees in paradise.

 

[NeTree]

I hope so; I plan on bringing a few saws with me.

 

[DMc]

Chainsaw fuel works great " if " applied within minutes after the base cut. Uptake is very fast but it is still important to cut a 1/2" to 3/4" deep groove with the tip of your saw just inside of and all the way around the cambial zone. The groove keeps it contained on the stump so that the surrounding soil is not contaminated. Not always 100% effective...but darn close.

We have used it for years and have never seen any translocation effects even when used in amongst other woody perennials. It's cheep ,fast, and always on hand.

Dave

 

[Bodean]

Round up on fresh cut, tracing the cambium trough.

Black plastic and dirt stops the eucalyptus here.

 

[sotc]

If someone doesn't want the sprouts. I reccomend grinding. A few species, even if ground, will sprout all over the yard. Most herbicide placed on the stumps may or may not work, I don't want to be called back so I don't do it. I will tell folks that they can apply a broadleaf herbicide if it sprouts but that they should NOT cut the sprouts off. Apply to the sprouts and after the sprouts have died, then they can cut them off. Black plastic and soil does work if it is a place they don't mind having black plastic and soil mounded

 

[Old Monkey]

I trace the cambium and apply Roundup.

We killed a eucalyptus a roadway away once by doing that so I don't use it on trees I suspect of being grafted like poplars.

I wonder if you kill a broadleaf tree right after it leaves out in spring if it has much energy left to root sprout?

 

[bstewert]

I cut down one Mountain Ash to about 16" above the ground, but not lower because it had grown into a chain link fence. For a few couple of years I tried various things like roundup and kerf cuts, but the suckers continued to grow. Someone suggested diesel, and that has worked finally, but it took a year for the smell to dissipate. Don't think I'll try that again. I like the dirt or rock salt ideas.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

The guys that did my parents oak (before I had enough skill set) used a mixture of fuel and salt. I don't think it sprouted at all after that.

 

[Old Monkey]

When you apply something like roundup, you need to apply it as quickly as possible. When it fails, its quite often from waiting too long.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I tell my clients to apply it right after we cut... Usually... they wish they had...
Amazing how much an interior live oak can grow in a year from a stump... !