How to stop tree sprouting.

[BigKev]

Hi - I have a small maple in the middle of my lawn that has failed to do anything much and it must go.

If I cut the trunk (which is only a couple of inches thick) to the base, how do I stop it re-shooting?

[Phisherman]

You can pull out the stump (obviously). I prefer to cut the tree low enough such that the mower can safely move over the stump. Most plants, including trees, can not live long without leaves. I have the remains of a sourwood tree I cut down last summer and it is sprouting up all over within 20 feet of the stump. It's not too difficult to trim these once a month.

[D. Staples]

Treat the stump when cut with any approved herbicide.

[Bill R]

Not a perfect solution: Just keep cutting off the shoots that come up. This may go on for several months (or more) but eventually it will stop.

[Phisherman]

I think this is the best solution--keep mowing over it. The other (chem-free) method is trunk removal--hard work, but you can hire a stump-removal specialist.

[Buderschnookie]

When I moved into my current home last year there were two gigantic Paulownias in the front yard. I had them taken out and the stumps ground out thoroughly before we even unloaded the moving van. Now, 15 months later we are still seeing "root shoots".

I am very impressed with these trees will to live- it is amazing to see sprouts on the other side of the driveway still popping up. 15 months later and I am still cutting sprouts three times a week. They have slowed down somewhat, but are still coming on strong and I suspect I'll still be battling them next year.

Nature is amazing.

FWIW I had a silver maple taken the same time and the stump left intact and have seen nothing.

[paghat]

doanything much and it must go.

how do I stop it re-shooting?-- BigKev

Physical removal of the sprouts is the only thing guaranteed to work in the very long run (about three years). The various chemical methods are not worth the risks for the slight effect, as shoots will almost certainly still appear perhaps fewer in number and still require manual removal for three years. But if you insist on chemicalizing the yard, a sprouting tree requires "translocation" herbicides that do more than blacken the leaves and get some of the living root as well -- maples, cherries, elms can even start sprouting ten or fifteen feet away along the surface roots if the parent trunk is gone.

Grinding the stump flat to the ground so shoots can be mowed is in some environments useful. Occasionally a well-sprouted maple stump makes an attractive multi-stemmed shrub, pruned for looks, always removing any upright branch that is trying to become a leader, since if a new tree arises from a stump it tends to be susceptible to disease and blow-down. If your maple was a grafted cultivar, the rootstock won't be the same tree (many Japanese maple cultivars are grafted onto "wild" or old-cultivar greenleaf Japanese maple rootstock) so the sprouts trained as a shrub will be more vigorous than the failed cultivar. If it's a wild silver maple or the like it'll be the same tree except shrubby without a central trunk.

-paghat the ratgirl

[zxcvbob]

I paint the freshly-cut surface of the stump (on saplings, up to 2" diameter) with full-strength "Brush-B-Gon" herbicide -- the one that has "triclopyr" as the active ingredient.

If you have 41% or stronger glyphosate herbicide (like RoundUp®) that works pretty well too.

Both of these chemicals are relatively nontoxic and are broken down in the soil fairly rapidly.

Or you can just keep mowing down the suckers as they pop up for the next year or two until the tree eventually gives up.

Bob

[BigKev]

OK - I'll just keep mowing over it - thanks.

[z]

even if you dig out the stump, shoots can come up from what's left of the roots. you have to make sure to murder it with a herbicide to the stump before you remove the stump. i speak from experience.

[Sheldon]

It's a TWO inch caliper maple tree... can hardly call that a stump, how do you grind a two inch stump, with a Dremel... shouldn't take more than 10 minutes with a garden spade for a 90 pound weakling to dig it out. *BIG*Kev.. you gotta be kidding.

This is two inches: |..............2".............|

I got some zuchinni in my garden with bigger stumps!

[Kay Lancaster]

Can you stand to leave the tree another year or two? If so, just ring the bark low on the tree and be sure to destroy a complete ring of cambium (the thin cells under the bark). (I'd cut this a couple of inches wide). In a year or two, you'll find the tree no longer leafs out, and you can simply cut the trunk at ground level.