Please help me identify and kill this plant

Matt Meiser

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Monroe, MI
This is some kind of bushy plant that seems pretty common around here. The grow fast--this one is maybe a year old and is about 3-4' high. Left alone they'll grow 10'+ high in a few years. First, I'd like to identify what they are. Second, I want to try to find a way to control them.

Brush hogging them doesn't seem to kill them--maybe even makes the spread. Plus brush hogging knocks down the grasses and and trees I want to encourage. So I'd like to find something I can spot spray to try to kill them (knowing that the overspray is going to do some damage, but I can live with that.) Preferably something that's not too expensive since I have about 7 acres to spot spray.
 

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Looks like persimmon, the bane of pastures. Critters spread the seeds which germinate like crazy. You will never stop it. But the plants you have now can be killed easily with Roundup.
 
In order to do battle with anything you are far better off to know your adversary and then take counter-measures. In this case, I would find out what the plant is, and then find out what it thrives in. Weeds are natures way of letting you know a nutrient imbalance is taking place. Once you know what your soil is lacking, or what you have an abundance of, you can figure out a way to change it.

For instance here we have lots of problems with golden rod taking over pastures or hay fields.The best way to deal with it is to actually spread urea on the pasture. This ups the nitrogen and makes the grass compete with the golden rod...so much that in a years time the golden rod is on the retreat. In the meantime we get better grass that keeps the milk production up.

Lime also may help depending on the weed in question is nitrogen loving or alkali loving. Lime and Urea are both easy broadcast spread over a pasture so its a no invasive way of dealing with the problem (no tilling or spraying herbicide).
 
This is some kind of bushy plant that seems pretty common around here. The grow fast--this one is maybe a year old and is about 3-4' high. Left alone they'll grow 10'+ high in a few years. First, I'd like to identify what they are. Second, I want to try to find a way to control them.

Brush hogging them doesn't seem to kill them--maybe even makes the spread. Plus brush hogging knocks down the grasses and and trees I want to encourage. So I'd like to find something I can spot spray to try to kill them (knowing that the overspray is going to do some damage, but I can live with that.) Preferably something that's not too expensive since I have about 7 acres to spot spray.

you may want to try your county extension office for some help
Stacey
 
Good grief Travis, you sound almost like an organic farmer :thumb: :thumb:

Matt, Travis is right weeds do thrive on unbalanced soils,
Soil samples sent to a soil lab will tell you exactly what your missing

Of course Roundup will kill it, along with everything else it gets on. If you don't want that poison around try
4 cups white vinegar
1/4 cup salt
2 teaspoons dish detergent

you may have to spray a couple times but it does work
 
Good grief Travis, you sound almost like an organic farmer :thumb: :thumb:

Matt, Travis is right weeds do thrive on unbalanced soils,
Soil samples sent to a soil lab will tell you exactly what your missing

Of course Roundup will kill it, along with everything else it gets on. If you don't want that poison around try
4 cups white vinegar
1/4 cup salt
2 teaspoons dish detergent

you may have to spray a couple times but it does work



Of course, that is correct. However, Roundup does not have any residual effect and the grasses will grow back quickly.
 
Good grief Travis, you sound almost like an organic farmer :thumb: :thumb:

Matt, Travis is right weeds do thrive on unbalanced soils,
Soil samples sent to a soil lab will tell you exactly what your missing

Of course Roundup will kill it, along with everything else it gets on. If you don't want that poison around try
4 cups white vinegar
1/4 cup salt
2 teaspoons dish detergent

you may have to spray a couple times but it does work

Will this mixture kill poison ivy too?
 
Try using Brush Buster, Pramitol, or BrushMaster.

BrushMaster's label reads as follows Weeds Controlled, 45+ multiflora roses, brammbles, cedar, honeysuckle, poison ivy, kudzu, trees, vines, etc.

BrushBuster's label is similar, it reads some of the above plus sumac.

Pramitol is also good.

joe
 
I'd agree with Travis on knowing what your dealing with and also call the county extension to see what their advice is. If you can control the current year's plants from going to seed then you can eliminate it by keeping it from procreating anymore. Much like my wife did to me. :D
 
It will probably be a constant battle as this is prolific around the area. We have an easement at the back of our property for some power lines (almost 1/4 mile from the house) and the company that owns them is coming through this year to clear under them. The neighbors on either side of me have ones large enough that they are coming in with chainsaws, then some machine that will grind up all the smaller stuff, and finally they are going to spot spray. So that might help, but there will still be plenty on other parts of both neighbors' properties.
 
Of course, that is correct. However, Roundup does not have any residual effect and the grasses will grow back quickly.

I'll bet you a dollar that it does. That garbage just doesn't go away over night. You spray it now and Pull a soil sample in 16 months there will be trace amounts of it there.

Thats why it takes us 3 years to certify ground organic. ;)
 
I'll bet you a dollar that it does. That garbage just doesn't go away over night. You spray it now and Pull a soil sample in 16 months there will be trace amounts of it there.

Thats why it takes us 3 years to certify ground organic. ;)

Possibly, but it must be applied to leaves to be effective and the grasses will grow back quickly. And good grass will (usually) shade out most weeds and be dominant.
 
I've been forced to use Round Up on occasion and its good stuff as any farmer can tell you. It does kill a lot of weeds, but Robert is right, it does stay in the soil for a long, long time.

We had to use Round Up to kill the grass when we planted our Tree Plantation. They put an additive in it that kept the grass from germinating for up to two years. This gave the trees a head start so they did not have to compete with the grass.

Years ago weeds in our corn crop was a problem so we used to cultivate, which was like harrowing when the corn got knee high or so. The problem with that method was, the cultivator broke up the soil and the weeds, but it also dried the ground out. This was always in July when you really did not want dry ground. So we started spraying instead to kill the weeds. It was like Round Up, but did not kill the corn. Now even that is old school. We buy seed with herbicide in the seed so that as the corn grows it kills the weeds. This has saved us untold money in fuel costs, herbicidal costs and is probably the most beneficial thing to the farming operation in the last 30 years.

Now if only they would let us pump our milk directly into trucks. I just found out today that Maine is the only state in the union that mandates all milk has to be pumped into an on-site milk tanks before it is picked up for shipment. I think its time we got into the 21st century.
 
Someone PM'd me that the name is Autumn Olive. When I Googled that name I found numerous pictures of attributes I'd forgotten about since I removed all the big ones a couple years ago--big thorns during part of the season and a red fruit.

According to a couple pages (like this), cutting plus Roundup is the answer, but apparently an 18% solution, which I believe is what the premixed stuff is, or what the concentrate mixes to when you follow the directions is supposed to be effective which means a considerably lower cost, and I can spray any remainder along the edges of the driveway.

I like the recipe for the non-toxic spray though and will give that a try on the weeds that come up on my daughter's playground. Heck, I could have HER spray that stuff without concern.
 
I was mistaken--the Roundup Concentrate straight from the bottle is 18%. RTU is 2%.

But Monsanto's patent on Glyphosate has expired and generics are commonly available at a lower price than Roundup.

For example, this product from Tractor Supply would make about 2 gallons of the equivalent to the Roundup Concentrate fro $20 as opposed to $23.99 for Roundup.
 
...But Monsanto's patent on Glyphosate has expired and generics are commonly available at a lower price than Roundup.

For example, this product from Tractor Supply would make about 2 gallons of the equivalent to the Roundup Concentrate fro $20 as opposed to $23.99 for Roundup.
One thing to watch for when using other brands of glyphosate is some are not as concentrated (in the "concentrated" packaging) as Roundup is. I bought some Ortho stuff today...40 ounce bottle for about $20, instead of $25 for 36 ounces of Roundup concentrate. But, I didn't learn until I got it home and opened the little booklet on the back of the bottle that it takes 8 ounces per gallon instead of 3 or 4 (as I recall) for Roundup. So the 4 extra ounces and $5 lower price ended up not being as economical as I thought. :doh:
 
Good grief Travis, you sound almost like an organic farmer :thumb: :thumb:

Matt, Travis is right weeds do thrive on unbalanced soils,
Soil samples sent to a soil lab will tell you exactly what your missing

I've come a long ways. For years we used to use one of those pump up sprayers filled with whatever the lowest octane gasoline we could get at the local gas station. That killed weeds pretty good, but I think people like us was the reason they made up that 3 year waiting period for organic ground.

For what its worth I have started the paper work for Organic Conversion at my place, but my wife is against it. Considering she's an Environmentalist by her own accord you would think she would be for it, but like everything we do, she wants to do the exact opposite of what I want.

As for those powerlines Matt, be careful with the kids around that huh? I don't want to sound like Chicken Little where the sky is falling, but High Tension Powerlines have always scared me. Well not putting trees onto them or anything like that...that's no big deal :), but growing up I noticed the cows never ate the grass under the electric fence. It was not because they could not reach it without getting shocked, it was just that they did not want to eat it because of the taste or something. I always thought that was strange. I figure if an electric fence had enough umph to change the nutrient/taste of grass then those big high tension lines must be doing something bad under them as well. :dunno::dunno::dunno:

Growing up, we always had cows and thus our lives always revolved around their health. Observing cow behavior, despite them being kind of numb, was a part of every day life. We have had neighbors in the past that liked to grow grass on us and not the kind you find in most pastures either. On occasion the cows would get out and yet I noticed they would not eat that either. I always figured there was a reason for that and so I never touched the stuff to be honest with you. I do have to admit though,that when the Timothy gets up there, I break off a length of it and chew on the end of it. I look like a true redneck walking around gnawing on a piece of timothy grass, but the cows eat Timothy so that's okay I guess. :)
 
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