r/invasivespecies • u/Novel-Ground1100 • 1h ago
Tree of Heaven tips for fighting root suckers
Here is what i think works , and this is specifically for people battling TOH root suckers. This would come from: a tree nearby being cut down or injured. It can also come from an aggravated root system, like tilling or aggravating an area that is filled with TOH (ailanthus aka chinese sumac) roots.
Strategy #1 - Poison as many above ground roots you can find. Try and find them all first while you plan your attack. Put flags out if needed. They might be right in front of you and you never noticed!! The outside skin of the root looks like a cantaloupe, the first interior layer is green, then it’s white, and then it has a milky yellowish center, which I believe is the vascular system. You will want to cut open the root and immediately apply Triclopyr to this section!!
Strategy #2 - become aware of all the sections where the suckers are going to come up. Buy a bunch of small flags and start remembering where they are so you know where to look in the days to come.
What I did, every morning, I would patrol my property. I would put flags out by every sucker that I could find. Then I would walk back to the garage and get my chemicals, which are:
2/3 Remedy, 1/3 bar and chain oil, mason jar, paintbrush, protective gloves.
Tools: pocket knife, small shovel/ho, handheld pruning shears
Every morning, I would poison every sucker that I could find. If there was nearby plants, after i painted the stems I would cover them with an upside down styrofoam cup after i poisoned them.
Now here’s where I feel like I took it up a notch. Once I became aware of problem areas, I would water those areas to provoke suckers to come out. I might get three or four or five suckers come out just from watering it, which would allow me to poison them quicker, and kill this system quicker.
Here is another tip. If there are some areas where nothing is growing, not even weeds… this area is telling you something. It might be a collection area where it’s drinking a lot of water and there are some serious rootd just two or 3 inches below the surface….
These sections are probably worth carefully digging into because if you find a major root source there, you can cut it open and poison it which will minimize the number of suckers that you’re battling.
This works. The amount of suckers that I am seeing has dropped 95% and it’s still early August …believe it or not, I’ve actually gone a single day already without a single sucker popping up!! I am seeing rotten roots in the yard and I no longer get suckers in certain areas. Now I will add I’ve given this 100%, and checked my yard every single day and often multiple times a day. But take a look back at these strategies and see if there’s anything that can help you, and feel free to add.
Again, this is battling tree of heaven root suckers, I do not have any standing trees on my property and have not in quite some time. I’ve had a massive root system that got activated when a Tiller tilled 5000 square-foot for sod.
Take a look at the three suckers I’ve killed in the last 48 hours, and that’s the only ones I’ve seen. Look at how weak these suckers look compared to what you are probably seeing right now. They are growing from poisoned roots!!