Chinese Privet... Would like it to be Chinese Privet... NOT!

[nmurph]

Garlon or Arsenal will kill privet. Either can be sprayed over the top. Garlon is less soil active and is cheaper. Arsenal will kill it deader but will also kill hardwoods that pick it up through the soil. It can also kill SYP occasionally. Garlon is less soil active and what I would suggest.

2-4-d, especially the ester formulations, will kill some HW but are far from optimum.

[grweldon]

Thanks all...

I will be using a basal application of Triclopyr (Remedy, Garlon 4) as WDH and others have recommended.  Just way too much for foliar application.  I may also be cutting some just above ground level and treating the cuts with the Triclopyr immediately.  I believe this thread mentions that as well.

It's hard to believe the extent of the infestation on my property.  I have not found one place on 60 acres where I can stand and not see any.  Many places are overgrown with it so bad that it's all you can see for yards and yards...

[WDH]

Fire will help control it.  It is very susceptible to regular burns. 

[curdog]

It is susceptible to fire especially if it is individual shrubs or small clumps. I've try to burn through dense stands of privet and the fuel loading underneath the privet was to thin and it provided too much shade on the forest floor to get fire to carry well. That stuff is horrible, it seems like every bottom is covered with stuff.

[WDH]

It is awful, for sure.

[Claybraker]

I've used bas-oil red dye from Forestry Suppliers. Although, to be honest, the oil will darken most stems.

Did you check to see if there is any cost-share money available?

[grweldon]

I'm not familiar with "cost-share" money.  I assume it's a government subsidy?  I'll google "cost sharing chinese privet" and see what I come up with.  The cost will be borne over time.  I'm picking up a gallon of remedy today, about $85.  I already have deisel at home.  Mixing it up a gallon and a half at a time in a sprayer and teaching the wife how to do a basal spray.  I'm hoping I can get several acres treated per 1.5 gallon mix.  I'm going to start on the paths and near the home and use up the gallon of Remedy and see what results that brings.

I'm a bit hesitant about fire.  The ground cover is thick and I have no idea how fast it will spread if set on fire.  I have no water in a portable state to help with control.  I'll keep it in mind but the thought of setting my forrest on fire frightens me a bit.

[Claybraker]

I don't have a good ag chem supply house nearby, so I have to use mail order. You can get a generic triclopyr ester for around $55/gallon, even with shipping you'll save a few bucks.

[grweldon]

To those who have experience with herbicides, please give me a sanity check...

Please verify that I am doing this right.  I'm using a 1.5 gallon hand sprayer.  The recommendations for mixture are 20-30% in an oil carrier.  I'm using 48 oz. of Remedy and filling the rest with diesel and adding an emulsifier/wetting agent.  Considering the price of the Remedy this seems like it's going to be an expensive process.  Using this process I'll only get 2+ sprayers full.  This WILL treat a bunch of privet but not nearly as much as I had figured...

Thanks...
Glen

[WDH]

1 to 4 is to X to 1.5.  Where 1 to 4 is 25% solution and 1.5 gallons is the capacity of the sprayer.  X = .375, which is .375 gallon which is .375 x 128 ounces which is 48 ounces.  You are bang on. 

[RCBS]

I have an area that is fairly infested.  Have not begun using herbicide on it yet, but the bushog has already taken a bite out of it.  Mowing it for 3-4 consecutive years seems to do the trick so far.  Last time I inquired about treatment at the Extension office, I was advised to use Roundup and do a foliar treatment.  Only current treatments I'm doing are basal ailanthis and barberry.  I spray them both out of the same jug.

The privet "stand" has been prettywell contained to the one area with a few patches here and there.  Still chopping grapevines and trying to get all the heavenly trees killed off, then I will turn my focus to the privet and spicebush.  Very happy to not have to deal with olive or bush honeysuckle.  Keeping an eye out for them though.

[grweldon]

Thanks WDH for the verification.

Thanks for the info RCBS.  I've also read and have been told that foliar treatment using glyphosphate is effective on privet.  I WILL use that on the small shoots I have coming up due to it's cheaper cost.  Using the bushhog on much of my privet it a no go.  I just cut down a clump last weekend that contained 8 trunks ranging from 2-3" in diameter all growing from the same spot.  Privet is a very dense wood and although I've cut much of it with my rotary cutter, it's hard on the cutter if they get much over an inch in diameter or so.  It's also hard to get to them.  Most of my clumps are over 10' tall and the crown could be 3 times that.

[WDH]

I push the big clumps over with the bucket on the front end loader. 

[RCBS]

Thanks WDH for the verification.

Thanks for the info RCBS.  I've also read and have been told that foliar treatment using glyphosphate is effective on privet.  I WILL use that on the small shoots I have coming up due to it's cheaper cost.  Using the bushhog on much of my privet it a no go.  I just cut down a clump last weekend that contained 8 trunks ranging from 2-3" in diameter all growing from the same spot.  Privet is a very dense wood and although I've cut much of it with my rotary cutter, it's hard on the cutter if they get much over an inch in diameter or so.  It's also hard to get to them.  Most of my clumps are over 10' tall and the crown could be 3 times that.

Wow.  I have a few larger bushes but most are under an inch near the ground.  I have a 3pt bushog that I can adjust and raise fairly high.  I do that, then back into the offending plants and lower the bushog.  A little violent yes, but oh so satisfying!  Sounds like you would need a Fecon Bullhead for your infestation.

[grweldon]

I push the big clumps over with the bucket on the front end loader.

When I first bought the property and was putting in my underground power from the pole to the house I rented a Terra-mite T5, the little diesel backhoe, to do the trench for my power.  I also dug up the stump of a clump of privet that was right in the way of where I wanted to drive.  Granted, the T5 isn't a powerhouse, but it took over 20 minutes to dig enough of the ground away to pull up the trivet stump.  It went into the ground 3+ feet straight down and had stabilizing roots radiating out from the center.  The Terra-mite wouldn't even budge it directly.

RCBS, I'll try to remember to take a picture of some of the average clumps around my place and post one.

[LaneC]

Hello.just my 2 cents here. We cut the big bush/clumps down, drill 1/4" holes in the stump 2 to 3 inches deep and fill the hole with KILZ-ALL. You have to have a license to get it in Mississippi but it will sure kill the root system.