Tuesday, June 19, 2012

tree killer 101

Hot weather & summer equal lots of house work, including wrangling those runaway trees in your fence line! If you are like me & avoid toxic chemicals at all costs I offer you some earth-friendly solutions :-)
1.Destroying the Bark:
"If the food-transporting phloem is severed all the way around the tree (a process called "girdling"), food cannot be carried to the roots and they will eventually die. As the roots die, so does the tree. Periods of rapid growth, usually from March until June in North America, are the best times to girdle a tree. These spring growth spurts are when tree bark "slips". The phloem and cork layer easily peels free, leaving the cambium and xylem exposed.
Remove as wide a section of bark as you have time for to make an adequate girdle ring. Then scrape (or chop) into the surface of the xylem to remove the cambium. If any cambial material remains, the tree will heal by overgrowing the girdle. The best time to girdle is before the trees leaf out. The process of leafing out will deplete energy stores from the roots, which stores cannot be renewed if the phloem conduit has been interrupted."
-I've used this on small & medium size trees with great results!
2. If you cannot girdle you can chop down your tree & drill holes vertically into the stump, once drilling is complete pack drill holes with salt.

Happy tree hunting!

No comments:

Post a Comment