Ideas for Eleagnus (Autumn Olive) control

[FarmerCharlie]

I am in a constant battle with privet, eleagnus, and popcorn trees in my hardwood areas and fields. The privet I can keep under control using glyphosate on the cut stumps and then spraying any sprouts in December. I have tried that with mixed success on the eleagnus, and it works somewhat for the larger bushes. I'm looking for a better way, especially to try to kill the small eleagnus sprouts. When I cleared land for one of my NWSG fields, I sprayed with imazapyr and waited about a year to seed the grass. That seemed to work pretty well, although it did get some of the small trees--presumably because I sprayed it in their drip zone. That makes me wonder if I could use that side effect to my advantage on the small eleagnus sprouts and see if it gets into the root zone enough to kill it. I'm thinking that if I localize it to just a square foot or so, then maybe it would cause minimal damage to the large hardwoods. Is that a reasonable plan? I have not been able to find any details on the use of eleagnus in the Imazapyr labels.

Thanks,
Charlie

 

[Bowsnbucks]

The forester we used at camp suggested triclopyr (the generic for Garlon and several other herbicides.) for use on Tree of Heaven and other unwanted trees & shrubs. It can be applied by basal bark spraying, hack & squirt, or treating the FRESHLY -CUT stumps / stubs of cut off vegetation. It doesn't have residual soil action like Tordon does. Generic triclopyr is a good amount cheaper than one of the name brand products. You might try that.