Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Crossbow herbicide

T

TimberPig

Active Member
Anybody use this stuff?
I originally set out to buy Remedy herbicide but was unable to locate any other than at F/S for $120 a gal. I stopped at Theisens yesterday and their sales people talked me into buying Crossbow as an alternative for a tree killing herbicide. My primary use for it will be basal spraying (standing trees) and some foliar spraying for control of Osage Orange (not specifically listed).
I have read the label and it is 2-4D ester (34.4%) and Triclopyr BEE (16.5%). It recommends 5.12oz product per gal of diesel for a basal spraying to control tough trees like locust etc. My first concern is that seems like a light mix compared to the 25% product/diesel recommendation I got for Remedy. They do not contain the same ingredient however with Remedy being twice the price you would think it would at least go as far, which it certainly would'nt at 25% vs 4% with Crossbow.
My second concern is that the Crossbow lable states that when mixed with water it forms an emulsion (not exactly sure what that means) rather than a soulution and may require constant agitation (not an option).
So, having read the lable I am wondering if anybody has any real-life experience with Crossbow control of woody vegitation and what mixtures you had success with and on what species?
 
I've used it alot with good results. Mostly on MFR and poison ivy as a foliar application. Used it in a hand sprayer without any problem. I didn't mix it with diesel because I wasn't treating any stumps. Used it on thisles with limited success, knocked 'em back but didn't kill 'em. I was only using an ounce to a gallon of water though. Maybe a stronger mixture would have worked. Killed the broadleaf weeds in the fenceline just fine. Doesn't translocate as bad as Tordon 22K and isn't as resdiual either.

For me it worked fine as a woody plant killer. MFR is tough anyway, but if I was careful and sprayed the entire bush it killed it. Poison Ivy and five finger ivy were no match and I didn't kill the host tree, not so lucky with Tordon 22K.

Anyway, when I'm out of the Tordon 22K I'll go back to Crossbow. Don't need a licenses for Crossbow.

The 'Bonker
 
I friend of mine uses Crossbow with DSL and he says it works great on brush etc. I think he uses it mostly on MFR and locust trees in his pasture.
I'm always trying to make brush so haven't tried to kill any yet
grin.gif
 
Sounds like decent enough sucess then. If 1oz/gal of water will work on weeds it seems reasonable for 5.5oz mixed w/diesel to kill trees. I suppose if a trial run fails I'll still have some expensive weed killer. BTW, I have always had pretty good luck killing both thistles (if not too big) and MFR with plain roundup or 2-4D.

I am not normally one to kill brush either, but these particular Osage and Locust are in the way and repeated mowings and round-up/2-4D applications havent fazed them much. After you fight the same thorny trees 3 or 4 times it starts to get personal. Most of these are not sprouting from stumps above ground, they are sprouting from roots left over after the D9 Cat removed the trees.
Thanks for the info.
 
foliar worked great for me during the summer and honey and osage. you can now get crossbow without a license? Any idea where you can get your hands on that? I usually get mine from a coworker whose husband is a farmer and has a license...and I have to pay her a premium to get it...that stuff really knocked out the locust/osage/MFR for me in the hot summer months.
 
Crossbow isn't restricted. I bought a gallon a few years ago at the Co-Op in Coralville west on Hwy 6, almost to Tiffin.

The 'Bonker
 
Just thought I would throw out an update on the Crossbow. I have been using 2oz/gal in water as a foliar spray and have been very pleased so far. It has been 90% effective on the Osage and Locust trees. It is a little slow, maybe 2+ weeks for total kill but it has also been very dry. A couple larger trees (6'+) had a few limbs that have survived so far, but maybe I missed them. The stuff seems to be pure death on MF Rose. Although the label indicated mixing it with water might be a problem it has worked just fine.
Shortly after spraying I noticed some wilt in a few oak and ash saplings that were extremely close, but those appear to have come around and are doing ok now.
I have not tried it as a basal application yet. However, I did cut down a larger locust the other day and was almost out of Tordon RTU. I mixed 2oz of Crossbow and 2 oz water in with the 2oz or so of Tordon I had left. After treating the locust stump I poured the remainder on the basal area of an Osage orange and it is now toast.
So far it seems to do everything I had hoped. Thanks for the replies.
 
Thanks for the update on your success with crossbow, picked up a rain check in Burlington Farm King last week for $54/gal. I have been trying to keep locust off a new pond dam by cutting them off, Crossbow sounds like the answer I'm looking for.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom