RM43 will kill anything and everything but be careful not to get it near anything you don’t want to kill. I use it on my class five driveway up at the lake and never get anything growing on it. I spray it around the pole barn and under the campers and it does the job on everything. It’s a little spendy around $80 a gallon but you get a lot of spray from a gallon of concentrate. You can buy it in smaller quantities as well.
Get some goats.
Know any goat farmers nearby? I know goats will eat buckthorn down to the nub, which is a good first step.
The landowner where I deer hunt has been removing it for a couple years now. I go down and help with it. We cut it tight to the ground and brush the stump with straight round-up using a small paintbrush.
Buckthorn spreads not only by seed but rysomes [runners] that come of the main root clump. Taking the parent plant down and using the round-up will kill it, but anything having spread out underground from that plant will grow and is best handled by spraying as soon as the stuff begins to show in the late spring. Buckthorn treatment is not a one and done thing and will require spraying every year or every other.
When you’re dealing with the types of sprays and topical treatments be darned sure to wear rubber gloves that come well up on your forearm and definitely a respirator.
I heard Napalm is effective.
I will be starting my quest to take my property back this year. We have notoriously just cut every year and tried to keep up with it. I found a guy out in my area who does brush clearing with a tracked skidder and mulcher. Once he takes it down and mulches it, it gets back drug. This mulcher goes slightly into the dirt to pull the roots. He also things any popple and ironwood.
The cost… well, spring deal of $150 an hour, 8 hours min. 1-2 acres per day. I have him scheduled for May 5, 6, and 7.
JJ is spot on. I deal with this A LOT! Cut at the ground, treat with Glyphosate .41 full strength. Get all the top of the cut and around the side a bit. Treat immediately (or soon as possible). Remove all the old stuff too as it will be ongoing and working around all the old crap sux. I burn mine. While you’re at it, if you have river grapevine, do the sane process with that.
I have lots of experience.
IMO it will be a multi-year project. Yes you can get instant results with the methods above. But there will be seeds in the ground for years so be prepared to go back through with a brush killer spray when the seeds sprout the next couple years. Otherwise your efforts will be very short lived.
You can also kill mature standing buckthorn with a basil bark treatment. Mix 1 part Triclopyr 4 with 3 parts diesel gas and a blue dye. You can then spray the bottom 24 inches of live standing buckthorn and it will kill it dead.
Buckthorn spreads not only by seed but rysomes [runners] that come of the main root clump.
Untrue that Buckthorn spreads via rhizomes (you may be thinking black locust). They spread by seed and they happen to create a TON of seed so if a stand of Buckthorn is established, expect the seeds to take off once you cut down the canopy and let sunlight in.
Stumps will resprout but Buckthorn is easy to kill because it doesn’t spread by rhizomes.
Crossbow is a chemical (triclopyr) that when mixed with bark oil or diesel fuel is great for Late fall or even winter stump applications. This is how we typically eradicate Buckthorn and we did over 100 acres last year.
If you want to treat Buckthorn when it has leaves/foliage, Crossbow mixed with water is a great way to kill it. We will foliage apply it typically the year after we cut and stump treat it when the seeds sprout and there are tons of little sprouts with leaves.
For Black Locust (spreads by rhizomes) a chemical called Milestone is stump applied as it will kill the rhizome. It is pricy so you dont need to use it on Buckthorn
^^^ Watched MN Bound yesterday with a spot on buckthorn control. According to the person interviewed, they can spread by seed too. Some birds like to eat the berries and spread the seeds that way. Apparently some sort of chemical in the berries that gives whatever eats them the trots so they propagate easier.
Disregard…didn’t read riverbassman’s entry close enough. What he said…
Pretty much agree with riverbassman. From my experience I would differ a bit in first step would be to remove or cut the mature plants. This prevents further seed production for at least one year. It also allows sunlight to germinate much of the seed bank. Treat the regrowth and seedlings with Garlon 4 or Garlon 3A per label directions. They are Triclopyr active ingredients. Crossbow works well also, but it’s a mixture of 2,4-D and Triclopyr. Some are sensitive to the 2,4-D odor. Might take a few years of retreatment to burn the seed bank, but as long as the adjoining property is not infested too bad it should work. Other methods mentioned will also work.
Good info from everyone. Lindyrig mentioned blue dye. It really helps to add that to your mix, I assume you’ll have a pump sprayer. You’ll see exactly where you sprayed and what you missed. It’s especially helpful if you paint the herbicide on. One word of caution, especially if you use triclopyr, be careful around any trees you want to keep. You can damage them if you get a bit over zealous with the spray, especially in the spring.
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