Hey, I did listen, terryr; but Tractor Supply didn't have the Tordon either online or locally, and I haven't found another source. Looks like I need to check out ebay. Meanwhile, BrushBGone seems to be effective on ailanthus, but sloooooooowly. And yes, Lauren, I do have fantasies of ripping off every leaf, every bit of bark, you name it. And there are the fantasies of an alter ego as the midnight RoundUp fairy, going out and spraying all the invasives next door that created and continue the problem. Like terryr, I can't quite do it on someone else's property, but dreaming is free.
Like the idea of burying the pampas grass, zanymuse, and may have to resort to that if it continues to shrug off the Fusilade. Lord knows we've got plenty of rocks here in the mountains, and I find plenty more every time I dig a new planting site.
The image of the giant litter box is way too gross, Lauren; don't blame you for having it all hauled off. But what's going to stop the dear stray cats from doing the same thing to the new sand?
How to kill pampas grass?
Has anyone seen the new book on Invasive Plants by Sylvan Ramsey Kaufman and Wallace Kaufman? Don't see it listed on the Bookworm forum yet. Looks to me like a pretty good field guide, with excellent photos for ID and practical suggestions on management; but I'd love to hear from others with a wider range of species experience than mine.
We had tried spraying with round up pro. and several orhers but they had very little effect. We burned it to the ground 3 times and it came back lusher than ever. But without light and air it died.
You have to admit that is hysterically funny, at least to me it is.
Oh if only dreams of covert missions came true... none of my neighbors would have burning bushes flanking their front doors and those lousy Siberian dogwoods growing in my other neighbor's front yard would be long gone by now.
No, haven't seen the new book. Go list it in the book worm and then post a link. How exciting, a new weed book! Yay!
The floating turds were an eye opener for me too. If we hadn't gotten so much rain, I would have never known how bad that sand box was. It's going to cost me a little bit over $1000 when all is said and done because of the digger they had to bring out here and the loader to get it all in a truck that hauled it off. It didn't take that long but it was still three men, two pieces of equipment, plus one dump truck. It was a big sandbox and I have no idea how many yards of sand were in there but it was definitely turd laced. Replacing the actual sand will be cheap, I just need to call up the material yard and give them the dimensions of the sand box and let them calculate how much to deliver. I've been pretty good about trapping the stray and feral cats the last few years because I got fed up. Those turds must have been accumulating and I didn't notice. The kids really need to keep the sheets of plywood over the whole thing but I do understand they are very long and very heavy for kids to move around and kids are lazy by nature and they'd have to level their creations and all so I guess it's going to be me who is going to get trained to stick the plywood on. Guess I'll start setting the traps again too. Let animal control deal with the ferals. This is the third major bill I've gotten because of all the stray and feral cats.
Yeah, I got a chuckle out of the light and air comment, too; wish I could do that to mama ailanthus. It does work; we had a holly (inherited) way too close to the house that was too big for the weed wrench and too close to the house to get in there and dig it out. I hacked it down to a stump or two, put two upside-down black plant pots with an opaque trash bag between them over the stump, and voila! dead holly stump.
I'm with you on trapping ferals; have to control their population somehow or you'll lose all your wildlife (not to mention the sandbox costs....). And good luck getting kids to pull plywood over the sandbox....you'll need it.
Not sure I know how to post a bookworm listing, but I'll figure it out.
I don't know if this helps or not, my dad gets his Tordon RTU from a landscape place here in town. Cliff special orders it in for my dad. You might have someplace like that? These are Landscape Architects and Designers, then they have a crew that plants......but like Equil, there fav plants seem to be the burning bush, the barberry, spireas.....
My dad had a guy out there pruning. I refuse to make shrubs into boxes, so he hired somebody...lol. The guy was there when I was and my dad was just off aways, but within hearing distance. So I said to my dad, didn't you want these cut all the way down and that one too? Pointing to the barberry and burning bush. The guy was confused...lol....and dad told him I was just talking to myself. It sure feels like it when my dad doesn't believe a word I say. How long before I have to start pulling that cr@p out of his woods? Or since I'm already cleaning out the jab honeysuckle and multiflora rose in there, what's 2 more??
Thanks, terryr. Don't you hate it when you can't even get your own family to see the light? And the landscape designers don't help when they pick what's easily available and invasive as heck.
Lauren, here's the link for the new book on invasives:http://davesgarden.com/products/gbw/c/2375/
I'd be interested in hearing what you more experienced folks think of it. Know it would've saved me a ton of research if I'd had it when we first moved in here, and began ID'ing and going after the invasives (not to mention the one I planted in ignorance, vinca minor; it too is in the book, and I'm just about rid of it on the property).
Ooooh!!! My mommy and daddy just LOVE vinca! The vine stuff?? Oh yes, my dad was going around with his trusty Round-Up one day this week while we were there working and he didn't want to spray in this particular bed because he'd kill the vinca. Their landscaping was done by the same landscape architect and his designer I mentioned above. My parents have baby redbud's popping up all over in their beds. I know it's just a matter of time before my dad sprays them with his Round-Up. I want to replant them and he said he was disgusted because "he did his homework and this one wasn't supposed to have seeds". He's disgusted over redbud volunteers! You should hear some of the crazy stuff he says about what the woods are supposed to look like. Like you're supposed to go pick a tree and leave it but take out all others within a 30' radius. In the woods?! And he makes me prune trees in the woods....lol. I do it because they're my parents and I love 'em.....it's just really hard! When I say he makes me, no, he doesn't hold a gun to my head, but if I don't prune them, he will. It's easier to just go along....sigh.
Your folks can have all the vinca I've ever seen; and unfortunately, that's a lot of vinca. The darn stuff runs underground and goes everywhere; I had it showing up 75' and more from the original planting in less than a year. Then spent a whole year pulling every little tendril of it, which is impossible; and then spraying where a miniscule missed tendril resprouted. Grrrrrrr.
Gee, what a shame to have little redbud seedlings sprouting everywhere. Do you know what I'd give to have redbud sprouts instead of tree of heaven sprouts appearing everywhere in my beds?????
The vinca, if it were to show up far away, like in the lawn, wouldn't live because of all the weed and feed put down.
No kidding! My tree of heaven is gone, no suckers, but who knows how many seeds are still out there. I pull them up everyday. And then there are those that are in a shrub(s) and I can't see it till it gets a certain size......I've found that the roots aren't too bad on them, that's the only thing that saves me. My female tree was in the back yard. The churches is behind that. I have neighbors, across the street opposite direction and almost a block down with trees of heaven in their beds too. It just never ends. I'm sure you'd give what I'd give to find redbud seedlings and not tree of heaven seedlings. With that female still behind me, I'm sure I get lots of her seeds too. sigh.
Don't you just hate when the baby trees of heaven pop up right next to a shrub? You're right, it's easy to miss them at first. Every time I dig for a new planting, I can bet on new seedlings coming up there, often right among the foliage of the new planting. Yes, the seedlings are pretty easy to pull, thankfully; but here there are times I'll pull what appears to be a seedling, only to find it was actually a root sprout. By pulling it, I've just stimulated more sprouts all along that looooong root. Grrrrrrrrrr. That's when it's time to grab the RoundUp, even though I hate using it in the planted beds.
I'm so happy for you, and also jealous, that you got rid of your beast. My mama ailanthus is definitely wounded, but still kicking; I will outlive her, even if it kills me (lol).
I have this huge Sambucus out back. I've had I don't know how many tree of heaven seedling in it. They have to start searching for light before you see them. A quick sweep of the plant, and to my eyes, the leaves look very similar so it's hard to miss. Sometimes, it's like I'm weeding, I've got them all, then the next day I'm out and I swear there was no tree of heaven in that spot. It's now almost a foot high. But it comes up easy. I swear they're opportunist like the HOSP are!
I'm glad my mama ailanthus is gone too and I'm waiting or the day when yours is too! You'll get her. I have no doubt. It's so nice to not have any suckers and to just be rid of that nasty tree in our yard. It was so rotted on the inside, I don't know really, how it was still standing.
Agreed, they're every bit as opportunistic as the HOSP, and every bit as deadly to the natives.
Periwinkle is up there with English Ivy for me. I planted both many years ago. Took me years to get rid of them and mine were confined by 4' wide sidewalks. Periwinkle is such a perky name for such a hard to control plant. No wonder why so many people unwittingly buy Vinca sold as Periwinkle.
I don't think I have any left anywhere but with those plants, you never know.
I'm with you, Equil; the stuff is insidious. I hadn't seen any new vinca for months, thought I was well rid of it; then found a strand this week poking up between the leaves of a heuchera. Just have to keep watching for it, I guess.