Foliar spray for buckthorn

[ross0201]

I want to clean up some of the smaller buckthorn on my place while it's the only green thing out there. I haven't had much success with foliar spraying, I think I wait too long and the leaves on their way out.

Does anyone have any recipes they have had luck with? This site (https://grasslandrestorationnetwork...n-foliar-treatments-with-triclopyr-herbicide/) describes what I see, zombie trees, and recommends a pretty hot mix of triclopyr, 10%. Penn State Extension (https://extension.psu.edu/one-herbicide-mix-to-do-it-all-almost) recommends a glyphosate/triclopyr but their recipe is lb/acre and I get confused on turning that into spot spraying.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Telemark]

Maybe try basal bark treatment if foliar doesn't work well.

 

[Brian662]

My recipe for foliar is:
8 oz/gallon triclopyr 4
1 oz/gallon MSO
a splash of blue dye

If you go up to the plant and you tug on a leaf and the leaf falls off relatively easily, the spray won't work, in my experience. Lots of variables but here in SE MN I am done with foliar no later than Nov 1. I'll be doing some this afternoon and maybe tomorrow at my place and that's it for the year.

Be sure to coat every leaf during application and you will get some resprouts the following year but they are minimal and normally at the base of the plant making it easy for the touch up work.

 

[ross0201]

Maybe try basal bark treatment if foliar doesn't work well.

Thanks, I do lots of basal and cut stump,I just want something to go after the carpet of seedlings I have coming up.

 

[ross0201]

My recipe for foliar is:
8 oz/gallon triclopyr 4
1 oz/gallon MSO
a splash of blue dye

If you go up to the plant and you tug on a leaf and the leaf falls off relatively easily, the spray won't work, in my experience. Lots of variables but here in SE MN I am done with foliar no later than Nov 1. I'll be doing some this afternoon and maybe tomorrow at my place and that's it for the year.

Be sure to coat every leaf during application and you will get some resprouts the following year but they are minimal and normally at the base of the plant making it easy for the touch up work.

Around 8%, I'll give this a shot of the leaves feel good, thanks!

 

[Telemark]

Thanks, I do lots of basal and cut stump,I just want something to go after the carpet of seedlings I have coming up.

Sheesh. You have a bigger problem than I do. I killed a few buckthorn with loppers and a cut-stump treatment, but I've never had them come back in force. You might have to spray several times in order to exhaust them. That's how I treat dock. I can kill the leaves back, but the roots seem to hold enough energy to push new growth a few times. A plant can't live without leaves to make new energy, so persistence can be the difference.

 

[ross0201]

Yeah, we bought this place about 5 years ago, the previous owners weren't keeping up on it. This will be my 3rd winter bring serious about it. I can make make a lot of progress just targeting trees with berries with basal spraying. I'm just not sure how to go after the next generation.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

There is some really interesting work from the University of Minnesota on managing buckthorn. They are proposing crowding out seedlings via revegetation and have been doing research on this for several years. There is a pdf in the following link that breaks down recommended plantings based on habitat.

Using plants to control buckthorn | The Cover It Up Project

coveritup.umn.edu

 

[ross0201]

I saw that but I haven't acted on it. I did see a few seeds suppliers selling a mix tailored for this.

There's also a small team looking at fungus that is lethal to buckthorn. They're looking for test sites and came out to check out my place but the size of trees he was looking for were in a flood plain and that wasn't what he was shooting for.

 

[c2ranch]

Speaking of how to calculate #s per acre, I have to do similar when I'm spraying large areas. That is to say, the label shows Qts or gallons per acre. How I've worked with that is to assume the total coverage I'm intending (not necessarily every tree that I'm going to spray, but the area I'll get per one tank full of spray) to get -- so, I normally cover 1/4 acre with my 25 gallon tank, so I take the acre rate and divide by 4 to make one tank.

The triclopyr will be given in #s acid equivalent (AE) - Triclopyr 4 is 4 pounds of acid equivalent per gallon. So, if it says 2lbs/acre, that's 1/2 gallon per acre. If you mix a 25 gallon tank and do 1/4 acre per tank like me, that's 16oz per tank. (64 oz / 4 = 16 oz). I believe 41% gly is 3 #s acid equialent, but double-check.

FWIW, I do like the gly / triclopyr mix when I'm not worried about grasses (they grow back!). I find that using Triclopyr 4 isn't fully effective for foliar spray with some of our invasives, so the gly really helps to fully kill those. Triclopyr 3 is usually great all around and works better foliar, but it takes more and it's more dangerous to use in bulk spraying due to the potential for eye damage. I only use it for spot treatments around the pond, where triclopyr 4 is not allowed.

 

[ross0201]

Speaking of how to calculate #s per acre, I have to do similar when I'm spraying large areas. That is to say, the label shows Qts or gallons per acre. How I've worked with that is to assume the total coverage I'm intending (not necessarily every tree that I'm going to spray, but the area I'll get per one tank full of spray) to get -- so, I normally cover 1/4 acre with my 25 gallon tank, so I take the acre rate and divide by 4 to make one tank.

The triclopyr will be given in #s acid equivalent (AE) - Triclopyr 4 is 4 pounds of acid equivalent per gallon. So, if it says 2lbs/acre, that's 1/2 gallon per acre. If you mix a 25 gallon tank and do 1/4 acre per tank like me, that's 16oz per tank. (64 oz / 4 = 16 oz). I believe 41% gly is 3 #s acid equialent, but double-check.

FWIW, I do like the gly / triclopyr mix when I'm not worried about grasses (they grow back!). I find that using Triclopyr 4 isn't fully effective for foliar spray with some of our invasives, so the gly really helps to fully kill those. Triclopyr 3 is usually great all around and works better foliar, but it takes more and it's more dangerous to use in bulk spraying due to the potential for eye damage. I only use it for spot treatments around the pond, where triclopyr 4 is not allowed.

Thanks. I've done the numbers spraying with a boom with even coverage, but you make a good point. I went with Brian662's recipe plus gly as a kicker. Only other thing still leafed out are some annuals so I don't think the gly is doing any real damage. I had some Triclopyr 3 to use up so I went with that. Good point on it having an aquatic label, as I work towards the river that will be important.

 

[Feelslikefar.]

This weekend I looked at what I was able to spray last month (brush honeysuckle) with the Triclopyr 4 / Gly mix. Basically a hot mix of both. I don't care about collateral damage, I hope it kills everything around it too. It seemed to work great... mostly.
Crazy stuff where everything is dead dead. But every once in a while there's one plant that's all dead except for one branch, which is happy and green.

 

[ross0201]

This weekend I looked at what I was able to spray last month (brush honeysuckle) with the Triclopyr 4 / Gly mix. Basically a hot mix of both. I don't care about collateral damage, I hope it kills everything around it too. It seemed to work great... mostly.
Crazy stuff where everything is dead dead. But every once in a while there's one plant that's all dead except for one branch, which is happy and green.

I get that one love branch when I do basal bark spraying on big buckthorn. Not often and it usually does by the end of summer, but I do see the occasional branch trying to make me question everything