Getting rid of a hedge

[Ron]

I just had someone cut a deciduous hedge down to ground level thinking that if I cut it down before it started growing again this spring, it might not come back. However, the guy that cut it said it would just grow back unless I put "something" on it to kill it. Can someone please tell me what I can do to make sure it doesn't come back? Don't know what kind it is but I see them everywhere. It's about 60 feet long and quite old and thick, so whatever the solution is, it can't be very labor intensive. Thanks

[Phisherman]

[McQualude]

Paint the freshly cut stump with Roundup.

[Sunflower]

You're going to be fighting regrowth for several years. The better and more permanant solution is to dig out the roots. If you hadn't cut everything down you could have fastened a chain around the bottom and yanked it out with a truck or tractor after digging around to loosen it up. Even spraying the resulting regrowth now with a brush killer will take at least a year and maybe two. A hedge that old has an extensive underground root system.

Sunflower MS 7b

[Judy]

Paint it with Silvex. That will solve the problem once and for all.

[Janice]

Ortho Shrub and Brush killer. Stuff kills elm trees! Cut it as close to the ground as possible, paint the freshly cut surface and any exposed bark with it full strength, never had any regrowth. Elm trees are stubborn to kill, so I'm impressed. If it's too short to cut again to get a freshly cut surface, there are dilution rates for spraying, but as I've never used it as a spray, I cannot attest to it's effectiveness there, but I'm sure you'd have to allow some regrowth in order to spray it .. for it to take the spray down to the root zone in order to kill it.

Janice

[Ron]

Thanks Janice and all the others who kindly replied. What a variety of suggestions! The guy that cut it down offered to come over next year and dig it out by hand if it was still a problem. I have a feeling that by the time he was finished, he would own the house!

[Roy]

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