Box elder problem

[dabowhunter]

I have several acres of crp with eight year old white pine in it. The box elders are 1/2 to two inches thick. Any thoughts on best way of killing them. I was thinking of cutting them down with a chain saw and than treating the stump with chemicals. Hate to do all the work and have them come back. What chemicals will work?

[answerguy]

I'm not sure what the rules are for CRP land, can you brush hog the box elders?

[Dan O.]

It looks like Roundup will work:

http://www.ipm.uiuc.edu/pubs/iapmh/10chapter.pdf

Dan O.

[Criggster]

Those things are thick around here. I wouldn't waste my time on cutting trees that size. A good dose of round-up should work. The conservation planI am in will allow for brush control by either spraying or mechanical means.Be sure to get the PARENT tree or else it will be an ongoing problem. The keys (seeds) that are produced by the boxelder will fly with the wind for quite a distance.

[Iron Archer]

If you want to save time and a whole lot of work, you do what is called frilling the trees, You just take a hatchet and hit the tree at a downward angle, spray your round up or in my case I used 24D full strength in a hand held spray bottle and spray the cut area. Those trees will be dead in no time.
I saw it on a land managment program and did some research. For large trees you can do the same thing but it is recommended you cut all the way around the tree.

Or you could also drill a small hole in the trees and inject the round up into the holes. I prefer the cutting method, its quick and the herbicide of you choice last alot longer. Just remember to use a full concentrate to kill them for good.

[dabowhunter]

Thanks for the replies. I don't want to spray the foilage if it will effect the pines so either cutting them off and applying to the stump or as Ironarcher recommends. The county forrester reccomended garlon and I saw on the link that Dano provided that it is poor in sensitivity. Will the round up work if I just mow them over with a chain saw and apply it full strength to the stump?

[Iron Archer]

It should do it.

[Criggster]

If you are going to apply to the stump and are using round-up or glyphosate mix it 50/50 with water. I used that mixture for a conservation practice and it worked on stumps that were one foot and larger in diameter. Also, it works best if the stump is sprayed within 30 minutes of cutting it. As the stump starts to dry it will be less effective. Don't forget that parent tree!

[dabowhunter]

Could you fill me in about the "parent tree". There are hundreds of theese suckers that need killing, Is there a way of IDing it? Will there be more than one parent?............thanks, dabow

[Criggster]

The parent tree is the tree that is responsible for the seeds that produced the seedlings. You will have to kill ALL of the boxelders or you will definitely have future problems. These trees are a pain in the arse. Good Luck!