Is there a product on the market that would allow me to spray a large field of fresh cut stumps/nubs that would hold the trees back but not kill grasses? I have a overgrown pasture that I am going to cut with a disk mulching head and need to keep the cut boxelder/ sumac from regrowing but do not know how I can tackle a job such as dabbing each stump with a stump killer. I feel it would take me the rest of my lifetime to accomplish such a task. I also do not want to turn the area into a barren wasteland for 5 years or worse, contaminate my soil or poison the water. Just hoping for some ideas from the people who know what's what. If there is no other option than to spot treat each stump individually do you have any tips or tricks to do it efficiently? Thank you all for the help
If it has been mulched why not follow up with a rotary / bush hog a couple times a year when the particular grass is not at a critical point? Right now I am letting my crab grass go to seed, in June it's the rye grass, etc. As soon as the seed is set then I will do any necessary clean up of brush/black berries, etc.
I apologize as I was not completely straightforward with my original post. I have the field to do as I mentioned but my ultimate goal is to land a contract where I would be doing a similar job for a local government office. This potential job would require me to do exactly the same thing but they want the stumps dead and I would not have the option to maintain it yearly. Your reply is spot on Southside. I just failed to be clear with my original question. I have done what research I could online to find a solution with no luck. Maybe there is no clear cut solution.....
I think the bigger problem will be the seed bed in the soil in that case. I drove by a lot this week that was mulched a couple of years back leaving a nice pine savanah, no maintenance was done beyond that and now it has 6' tall gum trees throughout the lot.
I saw an article n a farm publication showing an atv type sprayer plumbed through the deck of a bush hog mower, the sprayer pump ran while it was cutting hit ing the cut edges of the stems, they were mainting pastures that had plumb brush, multi flora rose and sumac mostly. Dont know if a similar set up would be effective in your part of the world. It did appear to be useful in mine. Didn't know if herbicide application could be added to the process somehow,
Nebraska, that is exactly what I had in mind. Do you recall what they were putting down with the sprayer. (sorry my question mark key does not function. I usually make a second pass in reverse to finish the area nicely. I envisioned having a tank mounted on the mulcher deck with one of those wide broadcast spray tips centered that I could activate when making that final pass. It would defiantly work great if there was a product that I could put down to fit that method of application.
Garlon will help control brush and annual / perennial weeds while not impacting your grass. I haven't seen it applied directly behind a mulching mower, but I would think it would give some control. Give me a little while and I will give it a try. I have some mulching to do here on the farm. I'll try some test plots. 2-4-D will do the same thing, but it needs some leaf area to be effective.
Wudman
Garlon is a very effective stump treatment. Even kills Buckthorn. DNR specifies it in contracts here. Just have to make sure you get the bark ring cambium layers of the stumps with it.