Food Plots I may have a problem.

[rifle02]

I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for this question, maybe it should be under the management forum. This spring I hired some excavators to make an improvement on a four-year-old clear-cut. I had them make some shooting Lanes, open up some areas for future food plots, Etc they also made a gravel road across one section, burned some Pines and buried what was left of them. There has been a lot of disturbance to the soil. Now, the place has exploded with black locust shoots. They only are appearing in areas where it was Disturbed with Machinery and I mean nearly all of it.
There's hardly any black locust trees still standing so I think these must be coming from the roots of trees that I thought were long gone. Any suggestions on how to get this under control? I've thought about waiting till winter when I can see what's what and the leaves are off the Locust shoots and the Briars Etc and find what trees are growing and cut them and treat the stumps. Right now this looks overwhelming.

 

[DoubleRidge]

I haven't experienced what you are describing but I've read about and heard others speak about it and understand why it would seem overwhelming.... comments below we're taken from the nrcs website:

"Black locust is difficult to control because of extensive root suckering from the stump and root. Triclopyr is more effective than glyphosate, but both have been used in the control black locust. If possible, foliar sprays are effective when the leaves are fully expanded"

So is the area too large to spray? If so, can you spray sections of it this summer then next spring after green up continue the efforts? Chip away at it section at a time maybe.

 

[rifle02]

Pretty large. Around 20+ acres.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Are the shoots small enough to bush hog? If so maybe that would help you to get in there and have better access to the stumps for treatment.....if the shoots are too big for bush hogging then hack-n-squirt could be an option...but 20 acres, while not impossible, would be allot for one person.....and you may reach out to a state Forester and ask for their input or advice...and in some cases they may even be able to provide assistance.

 

[Popcorn]

Do you have a tractor? UTV? Sprayer rig or especially a wick applicator? Even a back pack sprayer?
I would spray the or wipe them with a wick now and every chance I had. You can spot spray and not kill everything or go full scorched earth and plant a fall cover crop. With Black locust, hesitation will leave you with a thicket!

 

[rifle02]

Do you have a tractor? UTV? Sprayer rig or especially a wick applicator? Even a back pack sprayer?
I would spray the or wipe them with a wick now and every chance I had. You can spot spray and not kill everything or go full scorched earth and plant a fall cover crop. With Black locust, hesitation will leave you with a thicket!

Yes I have a UTV. I think spraying is good but I did not want to kill off the briars and beneficial Plants. I have a number of lanes cut through the clear-cut. The Locust shoots are coming up everywhere not just in the lanes.

 

[Popcorn]

Sadly there are two ways to rid yourself of this vermin.
Spray it once now and maybe once more next June
Or
Mow it repeatedly for years.

If you go to the trouble of spot spraying you can salvage some of your natives

 

[Boll Weevil]

A) Yes, you've got a problem.

B) Here are several personal examples and the outcomes:

1) Felled a 10" diameter locust tree with a saw and hit the wet stump with glyphosate. A few months later not only had a few sucker stems come from the stump, but numerous devil babies in the colony had popped up within a 15-20ft radius. I treated each with glyphosate and haven't see any new sprouts since that time.

2) Plucked a 10" diameter tree out with a trackhoe roots and all, and have seen no sprouts in/around the site of removal. This area is now row-cropped so it's possible there were sprouts but burndown applications prior to drilling corn/beans killed them after a couple of planting seasons.

3) Basal sprayed the bottom 8-10" of stem with Garlon 4 + diesel as the carrier/penetrant (dormant season). By late summer/early fall could push the dead brittle tree over and there were no new adjacent spouts observed.

We do ALOT of TSI focused on removing invasives, improving species mix, adding longterm timber value, and of course habitat improvement. The most reliable method I've found in a forested environment where there are target and non-target trees is basal spray while dormant, leave it standing for a growing season, and that site (from that particular parent tree) is reclaimed. Now, there could still be seed waiting there to germinate but as far as that tree and the associated sucker devil babies in the colony...they're history.

During the winter months we don backpack sprayers with Garlon + diesel and hit the timber. Locust, privet, sweetgum, maple, trees with poor form, and other junk trees get the lower 6-10" painted depending on their diameter. Can cover a lot of ground quickly, you just won't see the effect immediately like with a saw. One full year later decaying junk stems litter the forest floor, the canopy is opened up, and the remaining "keepers" are off and running.