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How to kill tree of heaven

last year

I have tree of heaven popping up everywhere. There's government land next to me that has it and it seems to send root suckers and seeds everywhere. It seems like it can grow 5 feet in a week. I've pulled up roots and it might help the area for maybe a month, but it soon returns. Worst tree ever. Anyone had luck getting rid of it? if so, what did you do?

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Comments (6)

bengz6westmd
last year
last modified: last year
Only thing to do is cut them down low, then apply a full-strength herbicide w/a cloth or brush on the exposed surface of the cut. Try to do it when there will be little/no chance of rain for quite a few days. Even then, some roots will prb'ly survive and then you'll have to repeat the process later. Wear throw away gloves or if it gets on your hands, wash thoroughly afterwards.
davidrt28 (zone 7)
last year
It's been discussed several times already: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/1649416/how-to-kill-ailanthus-aka-tree-of-heaven
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if you use stump killer ... properly applied to the cambian layer immediately after cutting flush to the ground ....things will not pop up everywhere .. and you would avoid having to dig this out ... and this would be a good place to do such.. as nothing should be planted that close to the house ... no matter the plant ... and you would avoid utilities.. if any ... dig safe ken
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If it's small enough to lean or bend, place a tarp under it, unless it's just over soil or mulch, and spray the foliage with either RoundUp or a 2,4-D style lawn herbicide. Spraying a diluted mix will often put less herbicide into the environment. The tree will "grow" the herbicide into it's roots an die in a few weeks. Then cut it off. It's a good method to trace a weed plants roots into the rootball of another shrub too.
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As Ken says, apply undiluted Roundup (or generic equivalent) to the entire outer ring of the stump IMMEDIATELY after cutting. I personally use a sopping-wet q-tip to apply the stuff to smaller stumps/cuts -- dripping it on from the "handy applicator" suggested above would be less tedious with large stumps. Uptake of herbicide through the leaves just isn't enough to kill these guys. On the other hand, even eucalyptus stumps 5 feet in diameter can be kept from re-sprouting by painting herbicide on the cambium of the stump soon after cut.
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charles kidder
Original Author
last year
I don't have access to the trees. Just babies. There's a wall in the way. Is there a way to kill the mother tree via the roots? Like maybe slice open the roots and put roundup in the cut?
bengz6westmd
last year
Doing what I suggested to the "babies" might be the only thing you could do (it would be about the same as doing what you suggest, but that won't kill the mother tree), other than find a way to get rid of the mother tree -- ask the owner, complain to a local government, etc.
cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)
last year
last modified: last year
I killed one using triclopyr concentrate on freshly cut stumps.

This was a tree in my catty-corner neighbor's yard- the home was vacant for a couple of years so I took the opportunity, lol.

I had to scale a fence to do so (as well as drag away the felled tree) and I'm an old lady- surely you climb a wall?
davidrt28 (zone 7)
last year
last modified: last year
HA! cearbhaill. I have done some guerilla gardening too. A few years ago there was a foreclosed on house down the street. I noticed a huge patch of (invasive, Eurasian) thistles growing in a side yard the mortgage company was refusing to cut. They probably blew in from the adjacent farm. There was no other landscaping that would get injured so I sprayed the dreadfully powerful confront onto them one night. Local thistle crisis averted. They all died and were replaced by grass, because clopyralid has a residual anti-asteraceae effect. (anti a lot of other stuff anti-effect, too...you would need to be very, very careful where you used the stuff and it's caused problems with compost in the past. And is no longer labeled for use on residential lawns. Well, this wasn't a lawn anymore. It was a 4 foot tall brush pile. Nobody was going to make compost from that yard any time soon, that's for sure. The new owner's plantings are doing just fine...by the time the house sold, it had broken down.)

And btw I can guarantee you the farmer was nervously eyeing that patch and thinks I did him a favor.

I had to scale a fence to do so (as well as drag away the felled tree) and I'm an old lady- surely you climb a wall?

LOVE THIS!

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