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I have a small patch of ground (15x30) I've cleared for use as a firewood cutting & storage area. I'd like to keep the vines, saplings, etc. from coming back. I don't have the money to pave it, or even gravel it yet. It's surrounded by trees I want to keep.
Anyone know of an herbicide that will kill the small stuff, and keep new from growing back, while not harming the trees?
There are some really tree smart folks on the site. I have less experience than they. I know enough to advise caution, extreme caution. All tree species can be damaged by herbicides. By the very nature of the intended purpose, ground sterilizing herbicides are broad spectrum, non-selective, and potent. They are intentionally formulated to kill EVERTHING.
In some cases an undesired tree or brush can be "poisoned" with an herbicide and subsequently release that chemical cocktail and have it harm desired trees. I would be concerned this might happen in your instance. There are just so many many ways for this to go wrong and have you lose your nice trees.
Roundup or a generic clone (look for glyphosate the active ingredient in Roundup and the clones) is likely a better bet than a STERILIZER. In low or preferably no wind conditions, spray new growth as it emerges in your plot. Spraying after a rain during rapid growth helps ensure the plants take in the chemical. Roundup and its clones (original recipe) are not likely to cause colateral damage unless you actualy get spray on the "keepers."
Glyphosate does not persist in the soil forever but can have a long halflife. The halflife might be 3 days in Texas but 141 days in Iowa. I think yo might want to consider trying to keep Roundup/Glyphosate off of the soil and restrict it to the foilage and youg stems of the pest species. You are working a small area so you could try any number of approaches. A simple one would be to lightly mulch with straw, cover with newspaper, or ??? and then spray the "bad guys" and then remove the mulch. I think you might want to mulch again to retard new growth. Then if enough "bad guys" show themselves you are ready to spray again, remove the mulch again, lather rinse repeat...lather rinse repeat...
If you try for a magic low labor bullet you may find that you will shoot your trees. Nice big trees are a treasure and when gone are hard to replace in your lifetime. I would avoid risk to them as much as is feasible.
Now we can kick back and see what the REAL expertrs say.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
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Nice big trees are a treasure and when gone are hard to replace in your lifetime. I would avoid risk to them as much as is feasible.
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Yep. I'd rather fight the new growth than damage the big trees. I'm probably going to Roundup what's left and just fight it as it comes up. If I had the time, I'd cover the whole area with black plastic and let it sit over the winter. Should get enough heat build up to kill everything down 2 inches or so, but not hurt the trees.
But! I need to move my firewood there in the next few weeks, so that's out.
Maybe you could get a deep layer of compost on the area or black plastic it before stacking the wood, at least under or near the wood stack location(s). I put some extra geotextile I had left over (from building French drains) over a flower bed we used for a small garden. Thought this would stop weeds and grass. NOT HARDLY!!! Volunteer bermuda and various weeds came up through it. I will be Rounding it Up after the picking season. Still getting loads of jalepenos and banana peppers, a few bell peppers, and plenty of tomatos if I beat the ctritters to them.
Be careful with the Roundup. If there is a hint of wind you can get it on the trees. It is good to avoid getting it on the bark as well as the leaves.
If you spot treat brush as it comes up you can use a brush and woody plant killer to good effect. Cut into the cambium layer and apply some there. This is about as safe as you can get with chemicals as regards collateral damage to desired plants.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Pat is right - I've killed more than one tree spraying Roundup around the base. Part of the problem I have is that many of my trees put up shoots (sometimes a ways from the trunk) that absorb the spray. The other is that the stuff I want to kill is real close to the trees, and in a couple of cases I decided to get rid of the poison oak and not worry about the trees.
The trees are dead now, I'm afraid. The poison oak seems to be, finally, but it lived for a couple of years after the trees died.
Use a brush where you really care about the surrounding plants. Low pressure spraying is better about not killing stuff.
I've had limited success with covering areas with tarps, etc. I also wind up doing the Round Up thing...