what's the best way to get rid of it?
last year when i was "cleaning up the back, i was undecided on whether or not to leave it alone. I trimmed it back a bit -- but always got stabbed by those darned thorns - which always seemed to get infected no matter what i did.
anyhoo -- i was researching Native/Invasive species in my area and stumbled across images of this thing -- now that i know what it is.. i wanna get rid of it, and plant something else there later.
btw -- it's not real big, 6-8' probably. kinda spindly with the trunk only about 2" diameter.
TIA,
Terese
Buckthorn
Get rid of it any way you can. I dug around the root ball as much as I could, wrapped a rope around it, and pulled with all my might. The roots broke off , but way below the surface, and it hasn't made a comeback.
It is not just bad in your yard, it also has tasty berries that the birds plant all around town. It is a thug, so uproot it as a courtesy to your neighbors.
Equilibrium
Mar 15, 2007
If you have only one, girdle it. Take a small hand axe and hack off the bark about 2-3' from the ground. Go all the way around the tree creating a band that exposes the cambium layer. If you happen to have any Brush-B-Gon at home, you could paint some of that on the exposed cambium layer. I use a different product but this should work fine. I would have to take a look at the trees I've girdled but my guess is my band is around 10" or more and I generally go up high on the tree just in case I need to girdle it again. I leave some of the trees standing and some I chainsaw down after they are dead. This is not an allelopathic species so if you want to leave it on the ground to create biomass for the soil, it's ok to do so.
Equilibrium
Mar 15, 2007
Another thought- If there are any berries on that plant, burn them or bag them and toss them out with your garbage. This is going to sound silly but I have gone out with a hundred foot extension cord and shop vacced up berries that fell to the ground. What ever works I guess. You can hand pull seedlings easy enough.
I would second the chemical killing, those trees aren't happy until they have it all.
Thanks -- are are more than one... but i think 1 is only in my area... it's actually State property, but the neighbor and I are "cleaning it up" the area.
I know there is more stuff out there that i will need help on once it starts growing again.... I recall 2 yrs ago i was transplanting a rose bush (it doesn't flower, but i just can't throw anything away) and when i dug the hole, there was a large root there... so I PULLED on it, and couldn't find the end... so low-and-behold within a few days i had trees growing all over the place near where i had pulled. So i must have brought something back to life. One of the trees, in 2 yrs time was close to 12' tall!! and does it have thorns! huge ones.
when it gets going this year, i'll take some pics. they are nasty and i want to get rid of them all and plant other stuff.
My best is - most of the stuff back there is probably invasive... I'm gonna be busy this spring.
Equilibrium
Mar 15, 2007
Quoting:
Good for you. it's actually State property, but the neighbor and I are "cleaning it up" the area.
If there are more than one, I'd invest in a weed wrench. There is a model out there that can handle a 2" tree.
http://www.canonbal.org/weed.html
E -- wow, if i had one of those... i'd be pulling things left and right
but i dont have a "chipper" - so i don't know what I'd do with all that "brush"
I could drag it to the curb (we have free branch pickup) though they dont take rootballs.
when i was out back this morning (walking dog and filling birdfeeder) i counted 7 buckthorn, and only 1 is behind my house.
this isn't a very good image, as it was taken from my upstairs... but this is the area i'm working on this year.
buckthorn is circled.
Pssst...Weed Wrench listing is here if you want to add your $0.02 for it: http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/6019/
I had to look this one up, as I've heard hubby use the term
"Buck brush" and wondered if it was the same thing.
Guess we don't have it. Here is the link to help others
who are not sure what it looks like:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/50034/index.html
WUVIE -- those are exactly what i have. (though its not my property)
on this mornings walk, i did find a lot more. One that I thought was actually a tree, is in fact, 7!! of these so close togethter, that it looks like 1 big tree. The birds really do seem to like this one -- so i'm leaving it alone... but the smaller ones will go.
terese