This is the first page on Ailanthus eradication. You can find much more on the link to the left under the Land|Ailanthus link.
Crooked River Farm has several patches of the dreaded Ailanthus tree, also known as Paradise Tree, Tree of Heaven, or locally called Shumace.
Ailanthus is one of the most dangerous trees in VA. Where it sprouts up, it sets out it’s own natural herbicide that keeps anything else much from coming up except itself. Female trees set tens of thousands of seeds each year, and it readily sprouts from its roots. Cut down an Ailanthus, and you’ll have hundreds of new trees sprout from the roots. So it needs special treatment to eradicate. It now lines our roadways all over VA as well as the edges of forests. VA Tech researchers have been working on biological control agents for several years to no avail.
There are no organic control/eradication techniques for Ailanthus, so here we parted from our organic approach and resorted to limited use of herbicide.
The common recommendation for Ailanthus eradication is to spray the leaves with herbicide. This of course is a bad idea, as there is no way to prevent the herbicide from drifting onto other plants. A common technique of killing undesirable trees and shrubs is to cut off the plant, and paint the stump with herbicide, but Ailanthus foils this technique by immediately sending up sprouts from the roots that don’t die after the host is killed.
So we tried a different technique. What we did was hack into the bark of the trunk with a machete (a hatchet will do) around the tree to expose the cambium layer and create a pocket for the herbicide. If you girdle the tree completely it will sprout from the roots and you’ll create a bigger problem, so the trick is to leave about 1″ of intact bark and cambium in between the hacks. Generally, you do one hack for every inch of tree diameter. And then in each hack, you squirt the herbicide to the point just before it will spill out of the hack. For sprouts less than 1″ in diameter, we’ve had 100% success with just exposing the cambium with a scrape and then squirting the scrape. The Ailanthus thinks it’s still alive while it absorbs the herbicide, and by the time it realizes it’s dying and tries to send up root sprouts, it’s too late.
This must be done while the tree is actively growing or it won’t work. This means from the time of first leaf-set up until the females are flowering. We “treated” trees after flowering, and they seemed to respond much more slowly and will have to wait until spring to see if they have been killed or not.
We just bought a very small hand-held spray/mister bottle at the local garden shop and used Triclopyr herbicide, sold under various brand names. We did not dilute the Triclopyr.
Ailanthus Patch
Ailanthus patch after poison and BullHog
So far at least, it appears to work. The larger the tree, the longer it takes for it to die. One-inch trees will be bare of leaves in 4-6 weeks, 3-4 inch trees seem to take 8 weeks or so, and larger trees even longer.
And the work is fast – with a machete in one hand and the squirt bottle in the left, you can kill one of these nasty buggers in well under a minute. Just this summer, Trish and I killed acres of this “Tree from Hell” and just have some clean-up work to do in the 2009 growing season.
Dying Ailanthus
Crooked River Farm 
43 comments
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March 5, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Jeff
I think you are over-doing it by not diluting the triclopyr. I used it some years ago to kill invasive exotics on my property and found that 10% worked fine on most everything. There were two species that required 20%, though. Also, be very, very careful with this herbicide – it can be absorbed through the skin and causes dizziness and nausea if that happens. Also, because it is mixed with an aromatic petroleum distillate (Penevator), you can breathe the fumes, to a most detrimental effect. I would urge the applicator to wear a respirator when using this very toxic herbicide. It is also not necessary to cut into the cambium – the Penevator will carry it into the tissue. Just spray it at the base of the trunk and then wait for the tree to die.
March 6, 2009 at 5:18 am
Crooked River
Jeff – thank you so much for posting. You bring up some very interesting and valuable points for those dealing with “Tree from Hell”, and herbicides both in general and specific.
I don’t think I was overdoing it by using it undiluted – the product I was using was already diluted. And I’m lazy by trade (engineer) 😉
I should have been more specific when saying Trichlopyr, as it comes in many different formulations. Some (not the product I was using) are specifically formulated for basal bark applications, the technique you describe. The basal bark application is said to work well on smaller trees at certain times of year (with the proper formulation, which it sounds like you had). I don’t like spraying due to the collateral damage, and I chose the cut and squirt technique also because it was what seemed to work best in the summer, when I was at it. But your approach is perfectly valid on Ailanthus from what I’ve read, and thanks for sharing. And major kudos to you for working on getting rid of your invasive exotics.
And I hate using herbicides at all – but it is clearly the only way of dealing with Ailanthus. Although we were not spraying, and had no direct contact with the herbicide, we did use rubber gloves and (sometimes) respirators when applying. And, like you, I encourage anyone dealing with herbicides to know just what you are dealing with and take extraordinary precautions.
Although just a starting point, here is the best web page I found on getting started on the various means of Ailanthus eradication:
http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/aial1.htm
Again, thanks for sharing, and bringing up some good points, Jeff. What started out as just an experiment to see what this blogging thing was all about and share what we were doing with family and a couple of close friends has turned into something that gets dozen of hits per day, many with the search term “ailanthus eradication”, “multiflora rose”, “forest restoration”, “pasture restoration”. So would love to see more discussion of some of the topics here that aren’t really discussed effectively much elsewhere.
October 28, 2009 at 12:28 am
Alan
I want to add my thanks for this blog and the information sharing. Specifically the information on Ailanthus eradication. I work on projects here in California where the tree has become a real problem. We have had the problems you have describe with re-sprouting and doing so quickly after one is cut down.
I will try the methods you have described and let you know how it goes!
September 8, 2011 at 3:31 pm
cindy
I have about 100 ailanthus I treated this summer using hack-n-squirt. The leaves eventually turned brown (in some cases after multiple treatments) but in noticed that when I scrape the bark on some of the trees the layer underneath still looks green and healthy.
Is this normal?
September 8, 2011 at 8:22 pm
CrookedRiver
Cindy – that is unusual in my limited experience. Usually the opposite happens for me – I’ll still have some leaves on the tree-from-hell, but when I hack and squirt again, it seems like the tree is already dead, with the bark starting to peel off, and the underlying wood dry and even starting to rot. That being said, if you treated fairly recently (late in the season), it will kill the leaves but not the tree, it seems. So don’t cut any of them down yet! Wait and see what they look like come spring is my recommendation.
March 6, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Jeff
Chris – and I should have been more specific in regards to the product that I used. It was Garlon-4 and you are correct – it is formulated to be used as a basal bark application mixed with Penevator. Down here in Florida, Garlon-4 works well at any time of the year, but I would imagine that it should only be used during the growing season in Virginia. I purchased pure Garlon-4 from an agricultural chemical supply house and mixed it at a 10% rate with Penevator, which is colored red and is similar to a light machine oil. There are diluted solutions of Triclopyr available on the market (Pathfinder being one of them), but since I had a large number of trees to kill, I elected to go with the undiluted product, as using the diluted solution is rather expensive. I believe Pathfinder is a 10% dilution of Triclopyr and there are probably other brand names available also.
One other tip: RoundUp Pro mixed at a 10% strength will kill a lot of brushy species and even some trees. I had a very prolific vine (Gold Coast Jasmine) that I cut down to about 2′ high with a commercial hedge trimmer and then waited until there was a flush of new growth. Then, I sprayed the 10% RoundUp Pro solution on the new growth and that was the end of those plants! I imagine such a strategy would work on multiflora rose also, but I haven’t had the opportunity to try it out yet. I wouldn’t use a hedge trimmer on multiflora rose, though – I’d let John come in and knock it down with his Bull Hog first. Cutting the plant down and waiting for the flush of new growth avoids the problem of overspray which endangers other plants in the area.
I don’t like to use herbicides either, but in some cases, spraying really is the only practical solution available. All herbicides must be used carefully and wisely by an experienced applicator.
October 28, 2009 at 12:54 am
Crooked River
Thought I should give an update on the Ailanthus eradication program as there are people who hit this page daily searching for information on Ailanthus eradication.
This spring, many, if not most, of the larger (8″ or larger in diameter) Ailanthus were severely distressed (but not completely killed) by the hack-and-squirt treatment in the fall. So I went with the basal bark treatment on them. I bought Garlon, and diluted it 5:1 with diesel fuel. I sprayed it liberally around the bottom 18″ or so of those trees, and within a month there wasn’t a leaf hanging on any of them. I’m still going to wait until next spring to cut them down, though, to make *sure* they’re dead!
This spring there were a few patches where the Ailanthus sprung up as thick as a carpet. This was where others had cut down trees the previous spring not knowing what they were. With these, I took a small squirt bottle with a 10% solution of triclopyr and spot sprayed each and every little one. They came up in about 3 cycles before giving up the ghost for good.
We’ve gone from about a thousand of these trees to now just two small patches of about 100 or so total, which I’ll get next year. Some, of course, will continue to sprout up from seeds, so I’ll have to keep an eye out, but the problem is just about licked, methinks.
April 28, 2010 at 12:20 pm
elency
A neighbor just cut down a massive alianthus and we have a carpet spreading through out organic (and child romped) fruit orchard and garden, not to mention the two and three year old volunteers that lace our small property. Everything i’ve read says herbicides are the only way to go, but I was curious if you know, of the products you’ve used if there are any that are more safe than others? it seems like there just has to be some better way to get rid of these horrible, growth stunting trees . . .
September 9, 2019 at 9:29 am
Terry Lilley
Elency, I know your post was all the way back in 2010, but I am just seeing it now. I live on a community owned farm and we are wanting to deal with ailanthus without herbicides. I wanted to follow up with you to see if you had any success with non chemical means?
September 9, 2019 at 11:05 am
CrookedRiver
If you read on, Terry, you’ll see that VA Tech is researching a disease that kills it. They have applied for permission to make it available to the general public.
April 28, 2010 at 10:27 pm
CrookedRiver
Elency –
Oh, man , I feel your pain. I can’t hardly imagine anything worse with ailanthus than it sprouting up in a vegetable garden or orchard, as as far as I can tell herbicides are the only way to effectively deal with this menace. And I wouldn’t want to spray this stuff where my children play or where I plan to eat, eat either. My ailanthus are all out in the woods where there is (I hope!) minimal impact of using the chemicals relative to the SERIOUS negative impact on the environment of these trees taking over.
I wish I could help ya, but we’ve been using very limited spot use of the herbicide triclopyr, and I don’t know how it moves in food production sites. But my experience with other invasive exotics is that if you mow them enough, they eventually give up and die. It might take 3 or 4 mowings per year, for only a year or two, but you might be able to get rid of them in just a year or two in mowing.
This page gets a lot of hits every day with folks looking to how to deal with this menace. Please post back with any findings and experiences you have….
Best Regards –
August 6, 2010 at 10:19 am
Dusten
Just wanted to say thanks for sharing your story and Ailanthus removal methods. The link to http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/aial1.htm was especially helpful. I live in North Denver and these plants are a real problem, there are many that are 50+ feet tall, including a cluster of 3 in my backyard. I picked up some Triclopyr last night and did the hack and squirt method on the big trees and several smaller (under 4″ diameter) plants. I’m happy to report that the smaller trees are weepy this morning, clearly the poison is working. I’m sure the larger trees will take considerably longer to uptake and show signs of poisoning. I will let you know how things turn out. One question: Did you need to hack and squirt all trees, or did you find that after the “mothers” started to die, the root suckers did too?
August 6, 2010 at 2:40 pm
CrookedRiver
Dusten – unfortunately, you have to hack and squirt *all* of the suckers. The small ones, I just do a foliar application. It’s a chore – I’m now on my third year of working them off the farm.
April 24, 2011 at 5:02 pm
the optimist
I have had a grove of these trees in the back pasture. My method has been to cut them down to the ground so that I can mow over them repeatedly (3 times a year or so). It does seem to control them to some degree. If you stopped mowing, I’m sure they’d come back, but this seems to be a low tech solution. The same works for bamboo, if you can get it while it’s young and tender.
July 31, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Ken
I tried your method with “Crossbow” which has the right ingredients. I used it in June and looked it over today (just got back from vacation). Some of the Ailunthus look like it killed them completely, some have some wiltiing but look to have survived and some of them look like they are perfectly healthy. I’m guessing maybe 10-15% were killed. I think I got complete kill on the mulberry trees I used it on. I would have thought that I would get better results. I think I got plenty of the stuff in the cut. Maybe I need to cut more or spray more on. I don’t know? Would it help to get to it a little earlier next year?
July 31, 2011 at 5:06 pm
CrookedRiver
Yes, Crossbow is the right product. I’ve not had 100% success at first “squirt”, either, Ken, but 10-15% is awfully low. June should be early enough, so that shouldn’t be the problem. You say you got plenty in the “cut” – you do mean “cuts”,don’t you? On any tree bigger than 1″ or so in diameter, you need to make multiple cuts. Otherwise,all I can suggest is that you hit them again. But do it soon, as my experience is that it is getting late for “treating” the ailanthus.
May 21, 2012 at 10:24 am
Terry
This tree sucks…I have a huge one in my front yard and a fairly large one in the back yard, however the one in the back yard is not taking control of my yard (probably because of the huge old oak trees) but the one in the front is taking over my yard and the neighbors. I would like more input on this subject
February 13, 2013 at 3:49 pm
February Bird Count | The White House Farm Foundation
[…] believe that even the ailanthus, an invasive “weed” tree (which had been treated by the “hack-and-squirt” method two years ago) is a valuable resource to our avian friends by providing perches in the […]
March 17, 2013 at 9:03 am
Stephanie
Hi I do not know what the Ailunthus is, however we have plants and trees that are equally as invasive where I live in the desert. They have adapted here and they not only grow well in this climate, they are invasive as all heck. I have trees that came from no where that you cannot cut, they grow back bigger, taller…. same with that evil broom plant. I hate these things.
So my question is where can I buy the strongest version of this TRICLOPYR? I sprayed several jugs of roundup and that was just fertilizer & food for these evil things. I also have to get rid of a bunch of ‘bunch’ grass as it is trying to become my lawn.
PLEASE HELP we are being invaded. I am in AZ in the Phoenix area.
March 18, 2013 at 7:00 pm
CrookedRiver
Hi Stephanie – I wouldn’t recommend applying any herbicide willy-nilly. Triclopyr is nasty stuff. It’s pretty much the only thing that works on Ailanthus, so that’s why I recommend it there. My recommendation to you is to learn to identify your invasives, and research what is the least “aggressive” way of successfully dealing with them.
If you need high-concentration Triclopyr, I got it from my local farm supply store. I had to buy it by the gallon – about $150.
Best of luck to you!
November 5, 2013 at 5:34 pm
Ernie
Stephanie, I got rid of my Desert Broom by cutting it off about 2″ to 4″ from the ground and immediately (within 5 minutes) painting the stumps with undiluted roundup (brush Formula). Works great in Cave Creek!
September 21, 2013 at 6:52 pm
Dave Mohile
Good day. I just bought a lot to build a retirement house on in West Virginia and noticed one day that there was someone cutting and burning trees on the adjoining occupied lot. Turns out it was some foresters that were trying to eradicate the ailanthus. Since we will be having considerable ground ‘contouring’ on the lot prior to building our retirement home we will have a bull dozer on site. Question: Would the dozer plowing the tree out of the ground be more effective than cut and burn? From your discussion above it would seem time consuming to cut and burn vs. doze and remove.
Thanks.
Dave
September 21, 2013 at 9:37 pm
CrookedRiver
Cutting will do nothing except cause thousands of little Ailanthus to sprout. If they are trained foresters, I expect they killed the trees somehow before cutting them down to burn. I have no experience with trying to bulldoze Ailanthus out, as I’m inherently opposed to bulldozing for land management. Bulldozing just destroys the soil and it can take many, many years to recover. Ailanthus is such a rude pest, I wouldn’t rule that out as a technique, however. I just don’t know, Dave.
September 21, 2013 at 9:43 pm
Dave Mohile
Thanks for the rapid reply. After reading the USDA document as well as the Penn State document on Google I wasn’t sure about the burning. The bulldozing is necessary because we need to build up the location of the house since I do not want any water problems. We will probably be bringing in a fair amount of fill dirt. The foresters wanted $2,415 to cut and Round Up and burn the stumps. They also recommended taking out all the Ash since it is subject to Ash borers.
It is only a 2.1 acre lot for a retirement home but we plan to do a lot of specimen bush planting and I don’t need the problem of an invasive tree root system.
Thanks again.
September 21, 2013 at 10:03 pm
CrookedRiver
Cutting the tree and spraying RoundUp on the stump is not likely to work. RoundUp just doesn’t work really well with Tree of Heaven. If you have to go that route, I would paint the stump with Triclopyr. But experience and published research says that it’s not likely to work with Ailanthus.
On your Ash, there is a good possibliity that they’ll succumb to Ash borers, and if there are any ash that are threatening your house, it may be wise to proactively cut them down. But the story isn’t entirely written that all ash will succumb…
October 19, 2013 at 9:07 am
Dave R
I’ve discovered a fairly huge infestation of Ailanthus (both young and mature) in sections of our 200+ acres forest. I’ve got some that are >18″ diameter! The younger saplings look a lot like walnut, so you have to learn to identify by leaf shape and smell, but once you get to know this bugger – it’s easy to spot. This last summer – my first campaign to attack this via Triclopyr Hack and Squirt technique (thanks to this site and others). Believe it or not, I purchased via Amazon.com, just search Triclopyr (Triclopyr 4E) – about $75 w/ free shipping. I use a simple lab squirt bottle (not spray bottle), small but sharp hatchet, thick rubber gloves, safety glasses…etc.. Not knowing what to mix it with or what proportions, I’ve just been using it straight up. Spent several 6 hour sessions on weekends in June and July. Within about a month or so, some of the trees clearly lost all leaves or turned dark brown….but seemingly at random, some of the trees have leaves in sections that are green despite revisit. I decided to quit in August, and I’ll assess effectiveness in Spring 2014.
October 19, 2013 at 5:07 pm
CrookedRiver
I love your lab squirt bottle idea – I’ve got one of those around here somewhere, and I’m switching to it! That would be the *ideal* applicator. As for your issue, I’ve had the same experience, if I understand you correctly, of some trees not being killed completely. I’ve found that they’re the same come spring. Whack ’em again is all I can say.
October 19, 2013 at 11:43 am
Rick Valley
I have worked often with Ailanthus in W. Oregon, where Black Locust is also considered a “dangerous exotic” worthy only to spray with industrial biocides. People here also hate Ailanthus. The only reason I can see why the common name of Ailanthus translates to “tree of heaven” is that friends in central British Columbia tell me it is excellent summer browse for their animals, gets them through the normal summer drought. The poor denuded fools in BC actually like the tree. But as to killing the demon, have you tried girdling? Seems to work for me. I have simply seen too much residual damage to wanted plants from herbicides, even many years after the herbicide was applied. it was 40 years ago that it was discovered that herbicides were causing an unusually high rate of miscarriages among residents in the Oregon Coast Ranges who did not live on treated acreage. Spraying herbicides on “timber” land is still allowed, due to millions of dollars spent by the companies that profit. (“timber” lands also support salmon runs and hunting of deer and elk, which we here love to eat. Do the elk suffer miscarriages too?)
I generally find that cutting down woody plants makes your self-appointed task even harder by causing more sprouts. I usually girdle a tree, cutting through the cambium layer all around, inspect it for signs of incomplete girdling about a month or two later, and then wait a year. They die.
If a tree has already been coppiced, I select a scattering of sprouts for girdling and cut the rest, keeping all new shoots cut very frequently. The cut shoots do make excellent compost feedstock.
Why, I even saw the arch-demon bamboo mentioned in the comments above! Is it not common knowledge that bamboo, except for a few small species, is edible and nutritious, and that any Asian from a rural background can quickly teach how to control a stand of bamboo with a narrow-bladed eye hoe, while simultaneously harvesting a very edible crop? I maintain that it is easier to maintain an area of land in well managed bamboo than in lawn, Although the initial work may be strenuous, bringing an unmanaged lawn back into management is strenuous too. Any of you in the Mississippi watershed should also learn to identify native bamboos which are crucial habitat for endangered warbler species, before reaching for the biocides.
I understand the changes that introduced species are causing everywhere. In recent years I have visited Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and other states where I lived or visited in my youth, and I can see the difference. But I am fighting the same battle in Oregon (if you wish to see it as a battle; that metaphor doesn’t particularly motivate me unless I am wielding a German brush hook (from Earth Tools in Kentucky) and it will help to pretend I’m an extra in “Brave Heart”) I think the chemicals are insufficiently studied. Timing, technique and cold sharp steel work for me
October 19, 2013 at 5:15 pm
CrookedRiver
I applaud you for keeping away from herbicide – the only place I use them is on ailanthus. In my experience, girdling an ailanthus will cause a thousand sprouts. It’s important with the “hack and squirt” method that you *not* gridle the tree, otherwise you will get the thousand sprouts. By only “half-girdling” it, the tree doesn’t know what hit it until it’s too late when the triclopyr kicks into it.
So interesting and funny the cultural differences. Farmers here have been known to feed ailanthus to their cows in droughts, but nobody likes it. But black locust is a fairly well-loved tree here in SWVA, as it is highly regarded for fenceposts, firewood, and honey. I love it, too, that it’s leguminous and the leaves just disappear into the pasture. It’s one of my favorite trees.
April 12, 2014 at 3:35 pm
Tina
Hi, We have three very big Ailanthus trees in our yard, one with lots of suckers coming up because we had to trim it, and some smaller trees down by the sheds. I was wondering if we do the hack and squirt method on these as the tree with all the shoots is next to our vegetable garden, if the poison would just effect the trees or would it go through the roots and effect our vegetables also. I was also wondering if you could tell me the exact name brand of the trichlopyr you are using. Thank you.
September 13, 2016 at 10:47 am
Dustie
I had 45 Ailanthus trees cut in my back yard this past summer. They were very mature and starting dropping limbs. The largest tree having a 38″ diameter. I was unaware of the dreaded repercussions of “just” cutting these evil trees down. Hundreds of suckers have been subsequently mowed, pulled and now spraying with triclopyr. The suckers have slowed down tremendously (3 spraying applications). I let the suckers grow in the lawn to reach about 5 inch height, then I spray them. I leave them to get limp for a couple of days then mow them down. I am hoping that within 3 years I can begin to landscape.
October 30, 2016 at 6:52 pm
Karen Wagner
That Is very helpful advice. thank You ! I hope we can save our riparian zones in eastern OR!
July 18, 2017 at 1:38 pm
Kristin
Good tips! I’ve got a pretty huge ailanthus to kill. How often do you re-treat? I know I’m getting late in the year for this, but I’m hoping to get in a few effective treatments!
July 20, 2017 at 6:25 am
CrookedRiver
This is actually a good time of year to do the hack and squirt. It should take just one treatment, but on large trees it can take a while to see the effects. On some of my larger trees, they weren’t completely dead for almost 2 years. I’ve always only done one treatment. But do a treatment now, and there’s nothing wrong with doing another next year if it hasn’t done the trick.
July 20, 2017 at 12:21 pm
Mark
I live in the central Shenandoah Valley and I have a lot of mature ailanthus trees that I started trying to get rid of a few years ago. I’ve been doing a basal bark spray with Pathfinder II (a pre-diluted triclopyr product) and it works great. I think the tree absorbs it pretty well because it seems to kill any suckers that are attached to it by root. I resprayed one tree because I couldn’t get all the way around it the first time, but otherwise it kills them in one application. I like to wait for a dry spell, then spray the bottom couple feet of the trunk, plus any exposed roots. After a few weeks, all the leaves are brown, and I cut it down the next year. I just thought I’d post another option since this page is a good landing spot for people looking to eradicate these things. “Tree of Hell” is right.
July 20, 2017 at 12:54 pm
CrookedRiver
Yes, technically this is called “basal bark” application. It supposedly works even better if you add a little diesel. I did this on my larger trees, and it worked for me. I just realized that there are two separate pages here for ailanthus education. Click on the “higher” link on the list on the left, and you’ll see articles about basal bark application, as well as some organic methods of eradication.
October 22, 2019 at 11:41 am
Jeff
Our property in the WV mountains has a good number of Ailanthus.
Is late October too late to use the hack and squirt method with full strength Garlon 3A? The leaves are still green on most of them.
October 22, 2019 at 12:08 pm
CrookedRiver
I would say so, but I couldn’t say for sure. But it couldn’t hurt. I’ve had less luck late in the season. People do the basal bark application method even in the dead of winter, so you might think of doing that.
July 31, 2020 at 7:48 am
Jeff
I’m starting a basal bark application this weekend and plan to continue for most of August. Can I stick with basal treatment for everything or should I incorporate some hack and squirt for the larger trees? Also, last year I used the Garlon 3A for hack and squirt on a handful of trees and it worked great. This year I’m starting earlier with Garlon 4 + diesel for the basal treatment. Anyone know if I can use that same mixture for hack and squirt or should I use the 3A for that? Thanks in advance and wish me luck!!
July 31, 2020 at 8:27 am
CrookedRiver
On my larger trees, I did both the basal bark and hack and squirt, and it did the trick. I don’t think you need to do both, but I did. The diesel is only needed with the basal bark application, but it won’t hurt with the hack and squirt. In fact it may help there as well. In the West Indies where I live in the winter, a common way of killing trees is to cut them down and wrap the stump in a rag soaked in diesel.
June 4, 2022 at 5:28 pm
Brendalini
I am concerned about the effects of the triclopyr on birds. I’m in Northern New Mexico, and have two huge cedar trees with lots of birds living in them. The ailanthus I need to get rid of is just a few feet from them. Thoughts?
June 4, 2022 at 5:32 pm
CrookedRiver
Doing basal bark or hack and squirt will not effect the birds in any way.
June 6, 2022 at 3:07 pm
Brendalini
Thank you. I’ll give one of them a try. Greatly appreciate all the good information on this site, and the quick response!