not really ... why cant you use a hand held pump tank.. and simply spray a two foot circle around each plant at very low pressure ... and be done with it ... my question is.. why does it need to be an overall application... farm brings to mind round up ready crops.. and i am not familiar with such in regard to pine.. call your Ag or extension office.. and see if they cant help;. or guide you to a state forester ... its the way you want ot do it.. that is the issue ... otherwise.. its a brilliant idea... regarding reducing competition .. etc ... in early spring.. as the ground cover is starting to come awake.. simply make a circle around each tree.. putting the nozzle near the tree.. and spraying away from the tree ... and i bet you will kill 90% .. i wouldnt go for 100% kill ... its not worth the time invested on perfection ... though in z8 ... perhaps you could do it right now ... the zone is too foreign to me ... [here in MI .. the snow would matt down the weeds.. making spraying easier ... does that not happen for you???] yes its not the easy way ... but really.. what other garden excessive can you get in winter ... or whatever you call winter.. in z8 .. lol ... [probably something along the lines of you have to pull out a windbreaker on some days.. lol] ken ps: i use hundreds of gallons of generic RU per season ... there are spraying tricks.. if you do get to this point.. i could elucidate how ... but i am not wasting my time.. if you arent interested ...

Not sure it anyone still looks back at this section of the forum, but I found it extremely interesting. The question I have is more of a top-down question. I currently grow blue spruce, in multiple numbers (hundreds/maybe a thousand potted up now, and maybe another thousand almost ready to pot ). Mine are 2-3 years old, so early stage. Grown from seed. Some from "majestica" blue spruce seed which seem to grow quite eratically to be honest. In any case, I read of blue spruce cultivars like Hoopsi, and Fat Albert. I believe they are grafted onto Norway Spruce understock. What I don't understand is how the colour (very vibrant blue) is common to all grafted stock. I assume that "they" (whoever "they" are) select specific/specimin adult trees and take scions exclusively from that tree? Who would maintain the Hoopsi "trademark" i.e. select consistent adult trees? I assume certain of the "progeny" may then be a source of scions, thus improving the variety? Also, I know I can buy grafted Hoopsi grafted stock (a year or two old) but if I wanted to graft my own Hoopsi, how would one proceed (and is this type of activity monitored? i.e. purchase a Hoopsi adult tree and presumably take my "scions" from that tree??) Alternatively, if one of my current trees grew with a vibrant blue colour (I seem to have a few out of a thousand) could I then use that tree for scions, a number of years from now? (provided I obtained or grew Norway Spruce or some other suitable understock). Sorry, you can tell I'm very new to this. But any information will be helpful.

Jarpe, Barbara: The field grafts my friend has done haven't been in large enough numbers to have a reliable system established. He has a lot of shade in some areas of his yard. Personally, I would use white plastic to reduce heat build up. The two grafts with clear bags that I looked at the day I took pictures looked fine, but we haven't had too many sunny days this spring. I think that gradually opening the bottom of the bags to slowly decrease humidity is a good plan. As far as I know, he has only had success with five needle pines. He has tried on spruce several times without success yet. He tried fir as well (1 or 2 grafts) He grafts in late winter/early spring If I were going to experiment, I would try to harvest scion a couple of weeks before anticipated bud break on the rootstock and then graft as buds were beginning to expand on the rootstock. Sluice: I agree the SP growth is fantastic. It took us a while to figure out what we had on there because the tag was gone, but then I remembered what we'd done. Unpro: wish I could give you more info. I think the typical grafting methods are probably superior. Unless you are looking to modify something already in the ground this is not the preferred method. I did review a couple of Youtube videos with demonstrations of top grafts of pines. One is linked below. Keith Here is a link that might be useful: Field grafting loblolly pine

I moved into new constrution 9 years ago. The yard was stripped of all vegetation and only some brush was left. Some loblollies has started to sprout up on the steep hill on the side of our yard. There was also a wooded section in our neighbors yard. When we had our yard landscaped, we wanted the hill to go 'native' and blend in with the wooded area. The landscaper planted both loblolly and Virginia pines. The LL do grow fast and will put down pine straw after a few years. You will not be able to collect it and use it elsewhere, but it will cover under the trees. esh we have had limited success in transplanting the seedlings. I think if you do it early enough you can do it. But if you have a bunch of them, you really don't need to since they do produce a lot of seedlings. Mostly I have to take out seedlings that I don't want in that spot. The LL have done a great job screening out my neighbors yard and provinding both shade and support for the hill (it was eroding). They do probably need to be staked while young and we almost lost some of them in the December ice storm a few years ago. They became weighed down by the ice and a few were actually pulled from the ground and were laying down. They were too small at the time to break. GG, I don't think one LL will be a good idea. THey do sway a lot in windy weather and unless you have a lot of other lls or hardwoods, it may come down in a storm. And whatever you do, don't plant it too close to your house. Every time we have a storm I see one that has come down on someones house. They get huge and we have lots of birds and squirrels nests in the (including a hawks nest this year) but they are best for wooded areas, not yards. I would go with a virginia pine, they are much prettier (look more like a Christmas tree). You can tell the LL as seedlings because their needles are long and look 'frizzy' if you know what I mean.