I have a project ahead of me. My mother in law (85 years old and in a nursing home) has been ordered by her DNR forester to get rid of a two acre infestation of Black Locust that is taking over a 20 acre Oak parcel in the Wisconsin Managed Forest Law Program. I volunteered because I am retired and like cutting wood. Her son this morning gave me 2.5 gals of 41% Round Up herbicide to "paint" the cut stumps. He said it will work and has worked for him in the past. He mixed it 50/50 with diesel fuel. My research so far has indicated Capstone works better than Round Up on cut stumps. Anyone here used either of these two products to keep Black Locust from coming back? Did it work? I don't want to waste his money and I sure don't want the Freaking Black Locust to come back. If this is the wrong section to ask this will a mod kindly move it to where it should go?
I would investigate Milestone herbicide. I think Round up will be hit and miss and with Round up you will have to treat the stump within one hour. Have not heard of anyone mixing diesel with Round up. Don't think it is necessary, round up will not go through the bark and must be applied around the edge of the cut. Triclopyr esther with diesel is also effective. Good luck. You might need it with Black Locust. Excellent firewood though.
A Triclopyr mixture is definitely better than roundup. If you're comfortable mixing chemicals, mix it yourself. If not, buy it premixed like this. Put it in a pump up sprayer for faster application. PathFinder II Herbicide RTU
I'm pretty confused with being ordered! Why doesn't the DNR remove the trees if that's what they want? Sorry, I know that's off topic...
Kinda raised the hair on my back, too. Maybe there is a bit of control that is relinquished with some sort of forestry property classification?
That is a good question. I just read her contract she signed in 2012 with the DNR. The goal of her wood lot is Oak saw logs. The Black Locust is taking over. She agreed in the contract to do what the DNR recommends. The DNR guy wants the locust killed in 2018. If she doesn't do this, they could kick her out of the Managed Forest Program and she might have to pay property taxes back to 2012. Right now she pays about $1.65 per acre. Not sure what her taxes would be if she got kicked out but they would considerable more than a buck sixty five per acre,,,,, I own a 40 acre Oak wood lot in the same program and my property taxes are $75 a year for the whole 40. If not for the program my land would be taxed recreational and I perish the though what my taxes would be.
I just read some more of her contract. The thing is 11 pages! In the back I found a paragraph from 2012 that said she should start killing the locust then! Why the heck does this get dumped on me 6 years later is another story. This is the first I heard about it. I could have done a lot of Locust killing in those 6 years! They are really getting thick in that 2 acre chunk.
I use Tordon RTU on cut stumps. It can be squirted on straight out of the bottle. There is a dye in there also so you know which stumps have been treated. roundup is not picky as to what it will kill. It will take out everything it touches. Tordon is mostly 2-4d, so it only kills broadleafs. If you can get concentrated Tordon, mixing that with diesel will make an excellent spot spray to kill locust. Mixing it with water, you can cut an area, then spray the entire area and the grass will survive
Have you checked with the Ag people who also give out the federal farm subsidies? They also have woodlot mgmt programs. In VT where we have land it’s the county forester that we work with. In the past we have received $850/acre for doing patch cuts. The USDA programs were called WHIP, EQIP and FLEP as I recall.
Well, only 2 acres worth of BL to cut and kill is not as bad as it could be. How big are these trees? I know BL gross fast.
My lady just bought a high concentration of tryclyptor. We plan on mixing with diesel fuel and cutting more into two large trees. She has two stumps about 4 feet in diameter at an estimate. Will be trying this soon. The chemical Tryclyptor was to be above 60% and sprayed all around the stump. I will cut into stumps as I said before. Might help, but I’m in the same boat. I should follow this post on both progresses because of her ridiculous amounts of sprouts that have developed in her area, once it becomes more warm.
These kinda sprouts are hard to stop. Its like pulling up the dandilions and seeing them 2 days later.
Why couldn't you go in with an excavator and clear and grub the locust, just get rid of the stumps and all? Or is that not an option?
