Buckthorn

[colincb183]

I'm starting to find buckthorn on our property and im going to start removal in spring and summer.  Just looking for tips on the most effective ways to cut, pull, apply herbicide or anything else that works to get rid of these horrible things.  Any feedback is appreciated!

[DaveP]

We bought some land that had buckthorn trees up to six inches.  I cut everything, bought a DR chipper and chipped the brush.  The stumps I sprayed with CrossBow mixed with diesel fuel.  The smaller stuff I cut with a brush saw.  Took a couple of years but, I am finally getting ahead of it.
CrossBow can be sprayed on the trunks of trees and will kill them.  Will probably be cutting with the brush saw for the rest of my life.

[thecfarm]

colincb183,how much of it you got? Is it here and there or in just one area?

[g_man]

I have a wet open area with Glossy Buckthorn. I can just stay even with it. The best thing I have tried so far is cutting them and painting the stump with 25% or better round up. At first I was trying to pull them. Made things worse. I try cut them before the berries come out.
You probably have common Buck Thorn. I didn't have many of those but the ones I treated the same as the Glossy Buck Thorn never sprouted and seem to be gone now.

[mesquite buckeye]

FYI buckthorn wood has spectacular figure and chatoyance. ;D

Cut 'em if ya got 'em. ;D ;D ;D

[Holmes]

chatoyance. ;D


I think it's a sparkling idea to add that word to the FF dictionary.

[Holmes]

  I have been fighting the glossy buckthorn on my land.  2 methods seem to work for me, cut it down then spray the stumps with roundup,  spray the leafed trees with roundup. 2nd method takes awhile to kill the buckthorn but it does not seem to be coming back the next year.

[colincb183]

Thanks for the replies, we don't have alot of it yet but it is definately spreading so Im going to do my best to at least slow it down.  Where it is there isn't a ton of it but it is spread out in 4 or 5 small areas across 150 acres.  I have found glossy and common, but I haven't seen any of the common that had berries this year so I don't know where the others are coming from.  So cutting and spraying with roundup is what I was going to do, just wanted confirmation that it works.  g_man, did pulling bigger ones make it worse, or pulling all of them?  I have been pulling anything that I can pull by hand, thats ok right?  Thanks again everybody!

[thecfarm]

I'm don't know nothing about that stuff. But with me,if it's something I want to get rid off and it's good for nothing,pulling it might leave a little root and back it comes. With me,if I wanted to get rid of it,I would be spraying it. I use to use Round Up until it got up to over $23 a quart. I use Big N Tuff from Tractor supply. I buy 2½ gallon jug on sale for $35. I mix it on the heavy side and it seem to work for what I use it on. Keep right on top of it. Don't think that you can let up on it.
There is also something that a local blueberry grower uses. It's a wick,for no better word. It's a tube about 3 feet long that you put the killer juice into.There is a round pad that is about 6 inches long and about  2 inches across,on the bottom of it,kinda shaped like an "L" You brush the round pad against any thing you want to kill. Much better than spraying. You only kill what you touch the pad with.

[g_man]

The area where I have the glossy buckthorn was a big beaver pond, probably 8 acres, until 2006 when the dam broke. It is kind of dark peaty soil. The roots are yellowish so you can see them really well. After you pull some bushes out it looks like you just rototilled and there is a fine netting of yellow roots every where you just can't get. The next year it would be covered with new growth. It seemed like anywhere I tore up the ground pulling them out made more grow back.

[Holmes]

  There are a couple other threads on glossy buckthorn.  At first I just mowed it , it came back ten fold. It has to be sprayed.

[Ianab]

It's probably the soil disturbance that happens when you pull them out that's the problem. Pull out a big bush, and you get 10 seedlings in it's place. Spray, or cut and paint the stumps, and you don't get all those new sprouts.

[WDH]

This link describes several methods to control glossy buckthorn.  Garlon is likey a more effective herbicide for glossy buckthorn than round-up. 

http://mnfi.anr.msu.edu/invasive-species/GlossyBuckthornBCP.pdf