Robinia suckers

yibida · May 30, 2009

Wondering if anyone has any ideas on poisoning Robinia suckers? I need to use a contact herbicide but roundup just isn't doing the job after several attempts to kill those spiky little @#%!@#.

After the tree was removed and stump grubbed a small forrest of growth emerged in Spring, not only are the suckers coming up in this guys front yard but they are making a mess of a paved area in his side entrance.

I plan to plant a replacement tree in the same position so if I used a residual herbicide it would end up as a slow form of plant torture for the replacement tree.

chewbacca · May 30, 2009

Bummer. Shoulda used Garlon on the stump before grinding I guess. Hindsights 20/20. You could snip each little sucker off at the ground and dab the fresh wound with garlon. It'll be very tedious and continuous for a while but it would be very controlled and localized that way.

outofmytree · May 30, 2009

You are going to need that Mexican guy Manual Labour.

Seriously, when I remove Robinia I do it in stages. 1st remove the tree, then plunge and poison the stump and last of all grind it about 2 weeks later.

One of the most common mistakes I see repeated in forums is the use of undiluted Glyphosate for stump control. Glypho is a TRANSLOCATED SYSTEMIC herbicide. By applying it undiluted it becomes a contact poison and destroys cells before it can pass through, much like a bushfire burning all its fuel before advancing. The PROVEN solution for stump control I use is 50 grammes per litre applied after "plunging" the tip of a chainsaw bar at least 100mm into the stump. Make sure you make several cuts and that they are close to the cambium without passing through the bark. These "wells" will allow the herbicide to leech into the vascular system overnight without damaging surrounding plants.

The best way I know of to deal with sucker growth is to remove them with a mattock and lots of sweat. Good luck!

pdqdl · May 31, 2009

What other plants are in the area? I can give recommendations, but they all depend on what else is near the suckers you seek to eliminate.

yibida · Jun 1, 2009

Unfortunately the suckers are near and next to an established front garden several feet away so I'm reluctant to go nuclear on them.

So it looks like Ive got some digging to do to get the bulk of the growth out and where I can, cut and paste poison.

As the stump has previously been grubbed last season I don't have the option of plunging a saw in as gratifying as that would be.

Thanks all for the suggestions, Im off to sharpen my shovel :cheers: