I had a locust tree cut down and the stump ground after the derecho. Now I have dozens, if not hundreds, of volunteer locust trees sprouting up all over that vicinity. Even when the tree was living I would get a few random trees here and there, but not much worth worrying about. But this is a problem. I tried to pull them and dig them out yesterday, but quickly realized that is a losing proposition. One of the midsized trees about 10" tall (they grow fast) I pulled and got about 5 foot of root about an inch or more in diameter before I couldn't pull it any further. It made a nice trench. I got out the shovel and worked the ground and got another 5 foot of root. It had split into to two roots which is why I couldn't pull it all.
Once I saw what I with dealing with I decided I needed a new approach. I took a small tree to the Cedar River Nature Center for advise and they said pull or dig them out. Or I could use Roundup but he said that I would still be fighting them next year and maybe longer. Someone told me there is something you can put on them that works, but they didn't remember what it was. So that's why I turn to experts on this board.
What can I do to deal with this problem?
I let one of these volunteer trees grow up to be a good sized tree many years ago. My nursery guy at the time who was over planting many other trees told me I needed to get rid of that volunteer locust tree because the volunteer had thorns. So I got rid of it. I noticed a thorn on at least one that I pulled yesterday. Not sure why the one I lost in the derecho didn't have thorns, but some of these volunteers do. I would assume these volunteers sprouted from the derecho tree's roots, but maybe that's a bad assumption.
Once I saw what I with dealing with I decided I needed a new approach. I took a small tree to the Cedar River Nature Center for advise and they said pull or dig them out. Or I could use Roundup but he said that I would still be fighting them next year and maybe longer. Someone told me there is something you can put on them that works, but they didn't remember what it was. So that's why I turn to experts on this board.
What can I do to deal with this problem?
I let one of these volunteer trees grow up to be a good sized tree many years ago. My nursery guy at the time who was over planting many other trees told me I needed to get rid of that volunteer locust tree because the volunteer had thorns. So I got rid of it. I noticed a thorn on at least one that I pulled yesterday. Not sure why the one I lost in the derecho didn't have thorns, but some of these volunteers do. I would assume these volunteers sprouted from the derecho tree's roots, but maybe that's a bad assumption.
