what will kill this thing?

[Pappy]

I have a Crepe Myrtle that was supposed to be a dwarf variety (bush) planted at the corner of the house. This 'dwarf' is taller than the house! It is several years old so digging it up and trasnsplanting it is not an option.

Besides being too tall and needing trimming several times a year it spreads and produces new plants off the roots. What I want to do is kill the whole thing and then dig out the roots to about 2' deep. I tried some super strong Round Up when the it first started to leaf out but didn't do anything but kill the grass under it. no big deal there since that is going to become a flower bed anyway.

Any ideas?

[tommyt654]

Just as a suggestion, You could dig it up after pruning it back really hard to make it easier to transplant(they have a rather compact root system), but they can pop up growth anywhere there is still a section of root underground which will be hard to completely dig up. I had a customer that for yrs after transplanting one I had to constantly mow down each week as it just would not die even with the drought we went through here in Ga. Its funny cause after all that weekly cutting it started spreading out laterally rather than trying to grow up vertically and later I just said to heck with it 1 fall and dug it up and made a really nice lookin Bonsai out of it for her . To this day it sits on her deck still kickin after all that. They are tough to kill, I ,d use the Ortho Brush Killer rather than the Round-up to finally get rid of it.

[natausch]

Fire, copious amounts of fire

[JimD]

Chain saw and then dig out the roots. It will probably still survive but what is left should be small enough to kill with Round-up.

They're pretty plants in the summer, mine are getting close to flowering right now, but anything that can be cut back to the trunk every year and survive is pretty tough.

Jim

[sparkeyjames]

Chain saw and then dig out the roots. It will probably still survive but what is left should be small enough to kill with Round-up.

They're pretty plants in the summer, mine are getting close to flowering right now, but anything that can be cut back to the trunk every year and survive is pretty tough.

Jim

Try killing a grape vine some time. Darn near impossible. The roots go so deep the things can crop up years later just when you think you have won. I have dug up the roots to a couple of feet deep, sprayed them with roundup and other vegetation killers. All that does is kill it off for the season or sicken it some. The next year though it's back and it's just like it scoffs at me and says, is that all you got pretty boy? So now all I do is trim it back and spit on it a few times, doesn't kill it but it makes me feel better.

[jdon]

Not personally familiar with crepe myrtle, but several years ago cut down a poplar to ground level. The next spring the front yard was inundated with sprouts.

Drilling multiple 1" holes into the stump surface, filling repeatedly with Roundup cured the problem in a few weeks. A couple of years later, I girdled another poplar, along with drilling holes through the trunk (like tapping a maple tree for sap) and filling several times with Roundup- about 6 months before felling tree- no sprouts at all that time.

[crokett]

Cut it way back. Soak the cut ends in Ortho brush-b-gone, also known as poison ivy killer. You could also drill holes in the base and fill them with the brush b gone. I haven't found anything yet that stuff won't kill. Some of the larger vines and bushes did take a few treatments.

Roundup is for grassy type plants. Brush b gone and similar products are specifically for woody- stemmed plants. It is a different chemical.

[cabinetman]

When I was thinking of taking down my Mango tree, a few nurseries recommended Root-X. They said it's effective. I decided a chainsaw and a hot fire with charcoal briquettes would be faster.
.

[Black wallnut]

Cut it way back. Soak the cut ends in Ortho brush-b-gone, also known as poison ivy killer. You could also drill holes in the base and fill them with the brush b gone. I haven't found anything yet that stuff won't kill. Some of the larger vines and bushes did take a few treatments.

Roundup is for grassy type plants. Brush b gone and similar products are specifically for woody- stemmed plants. It is a different chemical.

Actually Roundup is a full spectrum contact herbicide. With the correct application method will kill just about everything short of plants with a genetic resistance to it. The key to success is the application. Monsanto, the maker of Roundup also markets a formula specifically to kill woody plants, although the chemical is different than Brush-b-gone. Follow all label directions and you should have success. For a stump you need the concentrate not the ready to apply weed killer.

I would apply roundup concentrate or a generic equivalent directly to the growth rings on the freshly cut stump. Wait a week or two and repeat. Do this either during the growing season or early fall but not during winter.

[SARGE..g-47]

The City limits signs for my home-town where I live have a note under the city name.... Crepe Myrtle City. I spoke to a couple that are long time friends last night at dinner about how to remove one as they have 100 crepe myrtle's spaced 10' apart lining their driveway on both sides. Needless to say they live a piece back off the road on their 90 acres.

According to Terry B. you will have to chop it back and completely dig up the roots. Any remnant left will re-produce eventually and it will come back. He is not tree expert (he's an antomologist actually) but he personally doubts that the chemicals will kill it to the point it won't re-surface. He compares it to what we southerners call kudzu we brought over from Japan to help avoid errosion back in the cotton days. Once it's in the ground it pretty much stays in the ground unless you remove the roots entirely.

Good luck...

[smorris]

We have a very tenacious vine in the neighborhood here. The only thing I've been able to kill it with is something I get from Lowes that is intended for poison ivy and such. It sprays as a foam and hard kills the plant over about a weeks time.

[tommyt654]

I,d agree with his assesment Sarge, I,ve tried the Round-up Pro and like most Glyphospates its primarily for grassy type plants, Now the Ortho which is Tricoplyr I think they call it is much,much more effective on woody plants, but like I said before your better off trying to dig it all up rather than wasting expensive chemical treatment on it. But if you want to do so plan on repeated application over a long term. During a time when the plant is under stress from drought or heat conditions are best and I always add a cup of dish detergent to the mix as to effect a sticker to it as well.

[gsmittle]

Two words: C-4. After all, Independence Day's right around the corner…

g.

[Pappy]

Two words: C-4. After all, Independence Day's right around the corner…

g.

I want the plant gone from the corner of my house. Really would like to leave that bedroom intact......

[ironhat]

I had a 40' tree of heaven which the state forester discovered. He stated that making non-interconnecting slashes around the trunk and filling them with brush killer would be the only thing that would kill it and the roots (I repeated the app of toxin a couple of more times). I don't know about myrtle but he stated that by cutting it down it shocked the roots into new growth. The slashing would prevent this while carrying the toxin to the root structure. It has also worked for red maple and massive poison ivy vines and trumpet vines. YMMV