Killing Rhodo

[Lee4]

Hello all together,

Over the last few years I have been busy cutting down Rhododendron bushes in my woodland. Where possible pulling up the runners and roots. Also where the bushes were big the cut bases were treated with Roundup root killer. I've also returned a year later to treat again. The problem is the plant seems to be getting the upper hand, with new growth and fresh new leaves. So, my question is can anyone recommend an industrial strength weed killer I can get my hands on and eradicate this pesky plant?

By the way the Rhodo wood makes splendid firewood for the stove!

Cheers,

Lee

[oldclaypaws]

Rhodos are an extremely effort-intensive plant to eridicate. Best way is treat large cut stumps with strong glyphospate and spray any regrowth during the active period. The makers of Timbrel (triclopyr based- like a super concentrated SBK brushkiller) reckon its twice as effective as roundup/ glyphospate when sprayed on regrowth. An alternative to try, as Timbrel is very concentrated and expensive, you could use a high concentration of SBK, its the same stuff but can be had for about £17 for a litre of concentrate. I think its bad news for fish, so you wouldn't want to use it near ponds or running water, otherwise it breaks down harmlessly in a few weeks, supposedly.

Timbrel bumph...

http://msdssearch.dow.com/PublishedLiteratureDAS/dh_0061/0901b803800616d4.pdf

This FC experiment of different treatments also seems to sing the praises of Timprel vs glyphospate on Rhodo

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/fr/INFD-8F7C9Y

Whereas Timbrel is 44% Triclopyr, SBK is only 4% odd, so if substituting SBK for Timbrel you'd need ten times the quantity per treatment. Timbrel is recommended to be sprayed on Rhodo foliage at 130 ml (or cc) per 5 litres of water (or you can use paraffin/diesel), so SBK would need 1.3 litres per 5 litres, I think. (Check the maths and doses before trying yourself).

Alternatively you could ask the US Air force if they have some Napalm or Agent Orange going spare, they're quite effective at obliterating everything living in a given area.

[smojo]

I saw something on tv where they were injecting Japanese knotweed directly into the stems with high strength weedkiller and it was having very effective results. Maybe that would be the way to go.

[Terry]

would have thought some of the products mentioned by paws would only be available to licensed operators??

[oldclaypaws]

You need a license to sell pokey herbicides, but not to buy them. Timbrel was available from forestry/agricultural suppliers. I just checked and it seems its recently been withdrawn and replaced by a similar product, ICADE.

SBK is widely available from 'country stores', garden centres and agricultural outlets. Its even on Amazon and Ebay.

Napalm and agent orange are slightly harder to buy, although there are quite high concentrations of them for free along with dioxins in South East Asia's water supply for the next few decades, thanks to carpet bombing by Mr Nixon and the USAF.

[oldclaypaws]

Another Triclopyr product which seems popular with farmers and which might work in high concentrations on Rhodo is Grazon Pro.

Before you get the idea I'm Mr Chemicals, I should add I prefer mechanical forms of control in my own wood. I've tried SBK with mixed results, it seems the better more permanent solution for my brambles is brushcut and then pull the roots when they regrow. - and brambles aren't a plague, they are an integral part of the native ecology, so a few patches are quite acceptable. (unlike rhodos). In general I dislike chemicals, you never know the long term effects and how it impacts on the other sensitive stuff you don't want to kill, like for example fungi, ferns and small hidden micro-species.

[Lee4]

Many thanks for the info chaps. I will try and resist Agent Orange for now and go for the Grazon Pro stuff.

Meanwhile enjoy the autumn colours.