# HELP! This tree is driving me nuts!



## DeerManager (Oct 4, 2006)

I cut this tree down a year and a half ago and this year the shoots are driving me NUTS, it makes my yard look like hell. I was going to drill some deep holes in it and put some copper sulfate in the holes, but my garden is literally 5 feet away and i have some organic heirloom tomatoes growing there.

I talked with a tree service and they said grinding the stump won't do anything to resolve the situation. I counted the rings and the tree was over 60 years old, and now i know how far the root system extends as i am getting shoots 40 feet away on the other side of my house.

PLEASE help me fellas! I'm sick of having a nice yard (grass is dead now...) and these shoots all over the place. If anyone on the forum deals with anything that can remedy my issue i'll gladly pay a member over a local guy. I'm between lansing and flint.

Thanks in advance ya'll. I just weed whacked all of them down and it still looks crummy......


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## DeerManager (Oct 4, 2006)

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/tree-root-killer.html
anyone try any of these?


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## dmavdmav (Jan 17, 2005)

was that a black walnut?


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## DeerManager (Oct 4, 2006)

if it was black walnut i'd be sitting on a little pile of cash! I wish it was!
No, from what i can find it was some sort of Locust tree, with the tiny leaves that clogged my gutters a few time s a year


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## dmavdmav (Jan 17, 2005)

OK...what I would do is spray suckers with roundup/surfactant reseed grass later this fall or spring


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## RDS-1025 (Dec 1, 2008)

The roundup on the suckers is the way to go for sure.
I have had a bunch of experience with the Black Locust trees as well as the Sumac's and cutting them down and then treating the new shoots is very effective.
It may take a couple of treatments but it will get rid of them.
Just mix it at the strongest rate and spray all of the leaves after a couple of dry days.


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## bigcountrysg (Oct 9, 2006)

sounds to me the tree was not dead when you cut it down. There for the root system is still living. At this point I would get a shovel and start digging up the shallow roots that are growing the shoots.


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## Greenbush future (Sep 8, 2005)

Yep I have 3-4 stumps/root systems that are doing the same thing with the same kind of tree. I use round up all around the stumps and just mow the little feeder sprouts with the mower. That tree is a nasty type with the thorns it has.


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## DeerManager (Oct 4, 2006)

the tree was NOT dead. It was just too close to my house and over hung our master bedroom, after one large branch came off and landed within inches of the roof and stuck in the ground like a spear it was time to GO!

So what ya'll are telling me is to just spray the suckers and the root system will eventually die off? I heard the stump removal will do little to nothing for this type of tree/sucker problem.

As for the shovel and removing roots, PFFFFT! NO way! The tree was over 60 years old and the roots have got to be massive, i might just have the stump ground and then try to chop at the roots that i can get to just below the surface, but it'll have to wait until next year.

Keep the info coming guys, i really appreciate the different perspectives on how to's.


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## jmessenger (Apr 3, 2009)

pound some brass bolts in it! or brass nails if you can find them


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## RDS-1025 (Dec 1, 2008)

As far as the root system goes, these trees have a VERY shallow root system.
So shallow in fact that I have had 3 quite large ones just fall over, however digging them out would still SUCK.


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## FIJI (May 15, 2003)

put down some black plastic and let the sun and Mother Nature take care of the roots


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## tmanmi (Sep 20, 2005)

Looks like it was a "Tree of Heaven", had the misfortune of having one. They have large seed pods that produce millions of seeds that will grow anywhere. I think they are native to China and are considered a noxious species. I had a living one cut down about 18 months ago. After the first year the thing quit sending out shoots. Spray the shoots that are growing in your yard with 2-4-d and maybe drill some holes in the stump and soak it with 2-4-d also or other brush killer. I still have a few that are growing in the fence rows that I missed on round up patrol last year.


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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

It's a locust tree. 
Spray the foilage with round-up. It'll eventually die, but don't mow them for 2 weeks after you spray as it may reduce effectiveness. Round-up only gets to the roots via the green foilage.

Copper nails in the roots would work too. You can block root spread with pieces of copper tubing.

Personally, I'd just mow. Gotta do that anyway.


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## DeerManager (Oct 4, 2006)

never heard of using copper or brass, how would i use the copper pipe? Drill holes and use pieces of tubing in the stump.?


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## Big Reds (Oct 14, 2007)

Is your push mower busted? lol

Yep, round up.


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## DeerManager (Oct 4, 2006)

i was at my property up north building a 12 foot tall deer blind, and came home to that, my rider works, but i hate seeing them day after day, they pop up all over the damn place between cuttings.


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## stickem (Oct 31, 2007)

rent a back hoe and dig it out..


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