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Post by the light works on Mar 20, 2014 15:14:19 GMT
well, that's the difference between a brutal hot dry summer, and wanting to get the yard cleaned up because I need to start mowing, before the lawn gets out of control. (which involves getting some yard debris burned, other yard debris chipped and put in the garden, the irrigation system fixed, the catchbasin for the irrigation system cleaned out, the outside few layers in the garage reorganized so the mower isn't buried, and if I'm really on top of it, another few feet of my current batch of fallen trees cut up for firewood. and my epidemic of laurel cut back and burned. Waiting for the rest of the snow to melt to expose the entire lawn. Have a large area of sassafras to eradicate in the backyard before it completely takes over (any suggestions? that don't include napalm...). Need to empty out the shed so I can take it down and build a new one (second winter in a row that the roof collapsed). Spring: Time to fix all the things that winter broke. have you tried Roundup? failing that, the nuclear option is Monobor chlorate - but that will leave a dead zone for about a year, before it leaches out enough to let something grow there. |
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Post by The Urban Mythbuster on Mar 20, 2014 15:15:15 GMT
I was told in my high school science class that the reason it rains more on weekends is. Because people drive their cars during the week & the emissions help create a weather cycle that create more weekend rain patterns. Total BS if you ask me, personally I think someone's having a big cosmic joke @ our expense, by making it rain when we have the days off & sunny when we have to work. That is why you want to pay your weatherman well. it is more likely to be confirmation bias. I always thought that it only rains on days that you wash your car.  |
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Post by The Urban Mythbuster on Mar 20, 2014 15:16:54 GMT
Waiting for the rest of the snow to melt to expose the entire lawn. Have a large area of sassafras to eradicate in the backyard before it completely takes over (any suggestions? that don't include napalm...). Need to empty out the shed so I can take it down and build a new one (second winter in a row that the roof collapsed). Spring: Time to fix all the things that winter broke. have you tried Roundup? failing that, the nuclear option is Monobor chlorate - but that will leave a dead zone for about a year, before it leaches out enough to let something grow there. Does the Monobor chlorate effect plants not directly in the kill zone? Bordering two sides of the sassafras are oak & maple trees. |
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Post by Lex Of Sydney Australia on Mar 20, 2014 15:17:01 GMT
I was told in my high school science class that the reason it rains more on weekends is. Because people drive their cars during the week & the emissions help create a weather cycle that create more weekend rain patterns. Total BS if you ask me, personally I think someone's having a big cosmic joke @ our expense, by making it rain when we have the days off & sunny when we have to work. That is why you want to pay your weatherman well. |
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Post by The Urban Mythbuster on Mar 20, 2014 15:18:55 GMT
That is why you want to pay your weatherman well. I believe weatherman was on our previous list of jobs in which you can be wrong more than 50% of the time & still get a raise every year. |
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Post by the light works on Mar 20, 2014 15:19:32 GMT
That is why you want to pay your weatherman well. but if you stiff him, he will definitely schedule bad weather for your picnic. |
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Post by the light works on Mar 20, 2014 15:24:40 GMT
have you tried Roundup? failing that, the nuclear option is Monobor chlorate - but that will leave a dead zone for about a year, before it leaches out enough to let something grow there. Does the Monobor chlorate effect plants not directly in the kill zone? Bordering two sides of the sassafras are oak & maple trees. I wouldn't take the chance on that - like I said, it is the nuclear option. I see from wiki that sassafrass is related to laurel: what works best for me is to cut it down, pile the wood on the stump, and burn it. however, if you get them while they are small, you can usually uproot them. if you can get to them with power equipment, you can cut them at around 6 feet to give extra leverage for pulling. if they are seedlings and there are lots, you can just mow them regularly until they give up and die. |
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Post by Lex Of Sydney Australia on Mar 20, 2014 15:25:58 GMT
That is why you want to pay your weatherman well. it is more likely to be confirmation bias. I always thought that it only rains on days that you wash your car. LOL - For us it's every time my Dad fires up the BBQ in the backyard. It's better than a North American Indian rain dance for brining on the rain.  |
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Post by kharnynb on Mar 20, 2014 15:27:45 GMT
have you tried this, it worked really well on our goutweed mess. I really hope the weather changes again, hard to start the new vegetable patch when it's covered in 30 cm of fresh snow. |
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Post by the light works on Mar 20, 2014 15:28:12 GMT
here, it only rains on days that end in "y"
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Post by the light works on Mar 20, 2014 15:30:36 GMT
are we talking large plants or small plants? my folks' big laurel hedge was a good 30 feet tall the first time we trimmed it. they regained about 20 feet (width) of lawn.
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Post by the light works on Mar 20, 2014 15:31:27 GMT
if your sassafrass is that big, you may want to cut it to the ground and paint it with stump killer of some sort.
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Post by The Urban Mythbuster on Mar 20, 2014 15:32:29 GMT
Does the Monobor chlorate effect plants not directly in the kill zone? Bordering two sides of the sassafras are oak & maple trees. I wouldn't take the chance on that - like I said, it is the nuclear option. I see from wiki that sassafrass is related to laurel: what works best for me is to cut it down, pile the wood on the stump, and burn it. however, if you get them while they are small, you can usually uproot them. if you can get to them with power equipment, you can cut them at around 6 feet to give extra leverage for pulling. if they are seedlings and there are lots, you can just mow them regularly until they give up and die. The burning option is not possible in my area. Strict laws against burning yard waste. The cut/pull/mow option sounds good if the Roundup doesn't work. |
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Post by The Urban Mythbuster on Mar 20, 2014 15:34:07 GMT
have you tried this, it worked really well on our goutweed mess. I really hope the weather changes again, hard to start the new vegetable patch when it's covered in 30 cm of fresh snow. Never seen this before, I'll have to look around for it (or use Amazon). |
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Post by the light works on Mar 20, 2014 15:36:12 GMT
I wouldn't take the chance on that - like I said, it is the nuclear option. I see from wiki that sassafrass is related to laurel: what works best for me is to cut it down, pile the wood on the stump, and burn it. however, if you get them while they are small, you can usually uproot them. if you can get to them with power equipment, you can cut them at around 6 feet to give extra leverage for pulling. if they are seedlings and there are lots, you can just mow them regularly until they give up and die. The burning option is not possible in my area. Strict laws against burning yard waste. The cut/pull/mow option sounds good if the Roundup doesn't work. my current burn pile location is where the first laurel I got rid of used to be. it hasn't grown back, yet. however, I have three I am not going to be able to burn, and I can only get to one of them with the truck to pull it. one is small enough I might be able to pull it with a come-along, but the other I am just going to have to keep cutting off. |
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Post by The Urban Mythbuster on Mar 20, 2014 15:36:33 GMT
are we talking large plants or small plants? my folks' big laurel hedge was a good 30 feet tall the first time we trimmed it. they regained about 20 feet (width) of lawn. I neglected cleaning them up last spring, so I have a lot that are 5-6'+ tall and about 1/4-1/2" diameter. |
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Post by Lex Of Sydney Australia on Mar 20, 2014 15:37:19 GMT
have you tried this, it worked really well on our goutweed mess. I really hope the weather changes again, hard to start the new vegetable patch when it's covered in 30 cm of fresh snow. For all of you lot up north:  |
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Post by the light works on Mar 20, 2014 15:39:06 GMT
are we talking large plants or small plants? my folks' big laurel hedge was a good 30 feet tall the first time we trimmed it. they regained about 20 feet (width) of lawn. I neglected cleaning them up last spring, so I have a lot that are 5-6'+ tall and about 1/4-1/2" diameter. well, my mower could cut those - but your results may vary. you might make a rig with about a 10 foot lever and some form of noose to make pulling them easier - assuming you don't have a machine to pull them. |
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Post by User Unavailable on Mar 20, 2014 16:15:01 GMT
Waiting for the rest of the snow to melt to expose the entire lawn. Have a large area of sassafras to eradicate in the backyard before it completely takes over (any suggestions? that don't include napalm...). Need to empty out the shed so I can take it down and build a new one (second winter in a row that the roof collapsed). Spring: Time to fix all the things that winter broke. Sassafras is hard to kill out because it grows "suckers" off of the root system of old trees, especially if the old stump is still intact. (Even if buried) If you know where the stump is, even if you have to dig it up, you can put full strength Round Up or Stump Killer on it and kill the stump to kill the root system. Severing the tap root helps as well. Removing the stump is an option as it severs all the roots at their origin. If you're not sure where the stump is, cut a whole bunch of the saplings off and paint or spray round up directly onto the cut, so you bypass the leaves and go straight to meat of the tree and hopefully into the root system. Failing any of that, regular mowing will keep the saplings in check and prevent them from getting big. The only other option is to dig and dig and dig and hope you are only digging up the sassafras roots and not getting into your maple roots as well. Note that herbicide may take several treatments to kill off the roots and there is always risk of killing trees you want to keep. Edit: as far as your shed roof, how steep is the pitch? You may solve your problem with a steeper pitch. |
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Post by GTCGreg on Mar 20, 2014 17:23:28 GMT
We have the same problem with an ornamental pear tree we planted in the front yard about 10 years ago. The suckers grow all over within about a 20 foot radius of the tree. I've tried all kinds of "sucker stopper" but the only way to keep them under control is to just mowing. The problem with that is they always seem to grow about twice as fast as the grass so they're always sticking up. I think I've even heard them laughing at me. If I would have known what I was getting into, I never would have planted an ornamental pear.
But after this winter, I'm looking forward to seeing them again.
Good news is, today is the first day of spring!
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