North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Steve <sdw12986@aol.com>]

Jim Fruth wrote:
>     Poplar and Box Elder tree roots criss-cross three of my berry patches. 
> If I pull them up, I only get what doesn't break off and I damage berry 
> plants in the process.  If I rub the root shoots (small trees) with Round 
> Up, the shoot (sometimes) dies but the Round Up doesn't seem to damage the 
> root.  I don't care if the trees, are damaged in the effort.  Cutting the 
> trees isn't an option because when Poplar and Box Elder are cut, they 
> produce copious amounts of root shoots.
>     What would you do to eradicate roots in your berry patch?
>   

I've been reading the replies, and it seems you have no good solution 
unless you are willing to take the risk of being accused of killing 
trees on the public land next door. I bet you could control the sprouts 
by digging a narrow trench right down the property line to sever the 
roots that cross onto your property. (You could immediately fill it back 
in but plan on repeating the process some years from now.)  Do you have 
access to a small back hoe or trench digger?
Once severed from the parent trees, I bet the round up would kill the 
sprouts completely.
By the way, I killed a rapidly growing, silver maple that was reaching 
about 50 feet tall. Last summer, I did the trick of drilling holes in 
the root flares at the bottom of the trunk and filling them with roundup 
concentrate. The tree is quite dead this year. This tree (with some good 
sized sprouts) was getting tall and shading my garden. It was on the 
property line but clearly on my side of the line by a few inches. I was 
afraid the neighbors might complain if I just cut it down. If cut down, 
the tree will have to fall their way because I have smaller trees on my 
side. This method saved the risk of that argument.
They also have a whole clump of silver maples about 15 feet farther over 
on their property. They are shading my garden more each year. I wish 
they were gone too but I'll leave them alone, I promise.

Steve