The Forestry Forum

I have about 10 acres of lowland that is quite populated with cottonwoods. These trees are averaging 15-20" dbh and are shading out some areas of oak timber and also the lowland that I want to grow up into cover for wildlife. My question is, will the "double girdle" method of ringing these trees actually kill them? These are growing fast and I don't want them to get huge. I did pick up some tordon but hate dealing with that stuff. Any advice would be great... Thanks!

Tordon works, but try to spill as little as possible as it is soil active...

Okay, thanks! I'm hoping that by girdling the tree twice, I won't need to apply any chemicals. I've read that this works, any thoughts? Hopefully this applies to large cottonwoods too!

They will die. :o :snowball:

Double girdling will kill cottonwood. It might not be 100% effective and it might take your trees 2-3 years to die completely. Girdling without herbicide is most effective in the growing season. Cottonwood might re-sprout from the stumps too, but since this is crop tree release and you have a number of years before harvesting don't worry about sprouting. The shade from the other trees should shade out the sprouts. If you're going to be doing this in the winter then you might want to use some herbicide. Tordon is very effective, but with some potential for off target damage or mortality. Glyphosate (active ingredient in Roundup) is also effective without potential off target effect.

I would use the tordon.