Any advice on getting rid of small growth trees? My cabin has some growing along the edge of the woods, and constantly pulling it doesn't seem to slow it down that much. I get that killing the main tree with roundup helps, but what should be done about the succors?

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteer/julaug98/buckthorn.html

We have these in our backyard. They are officially the worst. My advice? Dig 'em out. If you can't dig them out, coat them in herbicide. I couldn't remove one tree so I drilled several holes into the trunk and filled the holes with Round Up. It feels irresponsible to say it but seems to have worked.

Here is a good article from MinnPost:

http://www.minnpost.com/earth-journal/2 ... er-warfare

I do a lot of work with Parks & Rec and the NPS, and the general attack method is cut down the old growth and the saplings and then come through with Round-Up.

Some notes:
1) The seeds can stay dormant for 5 years, so repeated treatments are necessary.
2) Buckthorn loves disturbed soil. Digging one out actually makes the seeds in the soil happy as hell
3) carry a set of clippers with you always
4) their berries stain cement

I will post events I am a part of to see if some of you want to join in.

Weed Wrenches are great, but they are a little expensive to buy. In my previous life, I was always looking for opportunities to donate these to natural areas when I could.

Sometimes you can borrow these from The Nature Conservancy, the DNR, nature centers, etc. if you check around. There is a link on the Weed Wrench page for a Weed Wrench exchange that might work out for you.

My saw attack didn't work as well as I thought. Any tips on how to kill my neighbor's 25' tree without him knowing? I might be able to get some round up in the cut but I don't think I could get enough in.

And thanks for the weed wrench link. Emailed my dad to see if he wants to go in on one. Why would their website advertise it working on Hackberry trees? Hackberries are awesome, cocks.

FRZ does NPS stand for Native Plant Society?

National Park Service

http://www.nps.gov/miss/index.htm

not only that, they make birds sick too

well, i dont know about sick. but i know that birds eat them and almost immediately excrete them. if they keep eating them they can get dehydrated and die.

Caterpillars, on the other hand...

Just look at that happy little face!

The Surly (beer) Gives a Damn crew has cleared buckthorn from a couple stretches of the Greenway, and we use weed wrenches. I highly recommend a wrench, since it was basically the only thing that could get out some of those nasty-ass root systems short of taking off and nuking the entire site from orbit.

My dad saw the website then called me to tell me he ordered the biggest one they had.

I removed a giant, 2 story tall buckthorn in front of my house when I lived on France Ave. 6 or 7 years ago. In July. I nearly passed out from the heat and exertion. I dug out the root ball, filled in the hole, laid out plastic and put river rock over it. I hope I never have to do that again.

I have toyed with the idea of donating a Weed Wrench to the MN Valley National Wildlife Refuge or Wood Lake Nature Center or some such group with the stipulation that I could "borrow it back" at some point if I ever needed it. I don't know if that would work for tax-deduction purposes, though.

That might be something worth considering for you anti-invasive types. It seems like it should be a "win-win".

the city of Shorewood has a weed wrench that they will lend out to people who live there. Other metro area cities might have the same thing going on. cant hurt to check.

I just noticed Reddy rents on Hiawatha rents Weed Wrenches.

http://www.reddyrents.com/weed_wrench

$18 for the day.