Best way to kill a tree

[hannontree1]

root prune upper roots then bring in some fill dirt to raise ground level a little this should take care of your problem with out killing tree:msp_biggrin:

 

[hannontree1]

oh and the best way to kill a tree is to cut it down im sure the neighbor will understand

 

[ggoodman]

wow I think I may have just waisted 10min. of my life.

 

[ropensaddle]

SPIKE nuff said

 

[KENN]

• TO UNDERSTAND the potential impact of embedding a poece of copper in a tree trunk on the long term health of the tree, some basic plant physiology and chemistry needs to be considered. In order to kill a tree, a toxin must interfere with cell division in the regions from which a tree grows - root and shoot tips and the cambium, a ring of dividing cells inthe stem and roots. In addition, inhibition of a vital process such as photosynthesis will have a similar deleterious effect. Implanting a piece of copper in a tree trunk will only affect such vital processes if the copper is transported from the implant to the roots and shoots. There are two routes that copper could take. The first is in the xylem, the woody tissue that forms the bulk of the tree trunk (wood) but also forms the main transport route for water from the soil, via the roots to the leaves. Movement here is controlled by the rate of water loss from the leaf and this process is regulated by stomata on the under surface of the leaf. Materials move passively with the flow of water, although those with a positive charge will fix to negative charged sites in the walls of the xylem tissues. The phloem tissue (bark) is highly specialised and is responsible for transport of products of photosynthesis from leaves to shoots and roots. It can rapidly seal off any injured tissues. Copper from an implant would need to dissolve before it could move to roots or shoots and affect plant vitality. The pH of the phloem and xylem sap is slightly acidic (pH 5 - 6) so some copper would slowly dissolve. Copper binds preferentially to the xylem tissue and shows limited mobility as a cation. It readily forms stable organic complexes with small molecules such as amino acids and appears to move through the xylem in this form. These complexes are very stable and may not dissociate at the end of the transport pathway. If so, these will not easily pass across biological membranes and inhibit metabolic activity. Copper movement from leaves, via the phloem is very slow so the redistribution via this tissue from an implant would also be slow. The slow rate of copper release from a metallic implant would be unlikely to cause significant problems for a healthy tree. As the main route to living tissue would be via the xylem, the patterns of water movement within a tree would also be important in the subsequent transport of copper. These vary with tree species - in some water ascends straight up whilst in others, water movement occurs in a spiral of verying pitch. Several implants would be required to make certain that all parts of the tree crown were reached by copper. In conclusion, I would consider it unlikely that a single copper implant would prove fatal to a healthy tree; an old or already debilitated tree may prove to be more susceptible.
  
  
  (Professor) Nicholas W Lepp, Professor of Plant Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool ([email protected])

 

[KENN]

The Best way to Kill a Tree is to Cut the Bark away 2in. all he way around the trunk of the tree. The Tree will Die.

 

[skindaddy]

dissolved rock salt pour around base= dead.
copper does work, why do you think its in septic treatment for roots, and they now put it in irrigation tubing to prevent roots from penetrating the tubing.

 

[ArtB]

I once drove somethng thru the roots of a hemlock and the hemlock died. The something was a JD440 dozer.

Is that the same a driving a Cu nail thru one root? Probably not, eh?

As for nails, when little, the kids built lots of treehouses in the back in hemlock, D.Fir, alder, and bigleaf maple. They used everything from regular vinyl sinkers to Cu and Al roofing nails and galvanized nails, whatever their little hands grabbed first out of the storage shed.

That was 30+ years ago, all the trees that had tree houses are still healthy.

A few 'non-tree house' hemlock have died however and many alder tops have died over the years.

 

[treesmith]

Thermo-nuclear device

 

[stltreedr]

I haven't been around here in awile. This was the first post I read upon my return. Glad to see we have a few new "experts" around...

 

[cus_deluxe]

Boron

 

[treesmith]

Used engine oil and a few burning tyres

 

[cus_deluxe]

Used engine oil and a few burning tyres

very inconspicuous.....

 

[TheShanks]

I've heard of the copper nail trick but I'd hate to be the guy who doesn't know or forgot about it when it comes time to chain saw the tree down. If I found a nail that way I'd be a bit pissed. Round up also works great injected into a big root or low on the trunk I'm told. You can also use vinegar as it does the same thing. Spray vinegar on anything growing out of the ground and it will turn brown quickly. I use it on bits of stray grass growing out of the patio. Just dont accidentally get it near anything in the garden.

The best way I've seen it done is on trees that can only be partially removed because they're growing through a chain link fence and for whatever reason the owner wants it dead for good is stripping the bark back or using your saw and cutting all the way around the base of the tree will kill it dead . Cut 10% or so depth.

A home owner a few houses down from me has been trying to kill his Pine tree for a while. Its already unhealthy from root damage from the construction going on years ago but every now and then you see him hammer a few nails into it. I'm pretty sure its had the top blown out of it by lightning before too. The municipality wont let him remove it because eagles have been known to nest at the top.

 

[Romavictor]

Just bought a pound of copper nails from Amazon. Planning on murdering a damn pepper tree on my propertayyyyyy......I chopped the bastard down to the ground about a year or two ago but it keeps coming back stronger and even wilder!!! we shall see if this so called "ole wive's tale" works or not.
I hope it does.

 

[dumbarky]

We had a stray sycamore here. Ammonia pipeline runs across my property for 3/8 of a mile. They cut it down only to return the next year to cut it down again. This went on for probably 5-6 years. Left alone it would be back the next year or so. I grew tired of them coming in and out of the property, especially in wet weather and tracking up my field. So drove the backhoe over to the stump and dug it up and laid the stump on a flat rock where i put the prickly pears. The damn thing made someone a pay check for the day for few years, but it caused me to have to drag truck tracks out of the field. Never understood why the didn't spray the damn stump after they cut it. Maybe they did and it didn't work, who knows.

 

[Rascal]

if you want to commit arborcide than shoot the tree with a copper coated bullet , oh wait if this is true then all trees shot with one would be dead .I call B.S.

I shot a 180gr Federal 357 copper jacketed round into a large oak tree at a friends house. Two years later, dead, had to be cut down.

 

[Mustang71]

I shot a 180gr Federal 357 copper jacketed round into a large oak tree at a friends house. Two years later, dead, had to be cut down.

Because you shot it obviously.

Figured I'd chime in.

 

[jomoco]

I've had good results killin off Ailanthus by girdling them, wrapping the wound with Roundup poison ivy plus drenched cotton balls.

The hardest to kill's poplars, hands down, even Garlon drenched cotton balls just chased them around the complex for five fuggin years! Sprouts comin up in the middle of ponds!

Jomoco

 

[Mustang71]

Seems like I look at ash trees and they die.