Prickly Ash - Help

[locust]

I've got a decent stand of timber - oaks and hickory - and I did TSI a few years back. Now I have a spreading prickly ash problem. Fairly dense in some areas. Small ones 4-6 ft tall and less than an inch around...in fact less than 1/2 inch mostly. Too many to cut by hand and treat stumps. Any ideas on how to get rid of these? Is there a foliar spray that will kill these besides roundup? If I did cut and treat the stump, what would work and when on that? I've heard burning parts of timber is a good remedy to do anyways, but the DNR forester I asked didn't think burning would help(nor do I know if I could do that myself..yikes). He suggested roundup, but it concerns me to spray that in the timber in these areas without killing everything underneath(which may be some small oaks). Any advice/experience on this?

 

[dbltree]

I don't know what you would spray that wouldn't kill any other trees or brush also? Roundup has a Brush Killer version -

http://www.roundup.com/index.cfm/event/ProductGuide.product/documentId/1c47822e380daf9bbdb20570cf00d81b

Whatever that spray lands on though...it's going to kill. Things like Tordon I would think would be even worse. I don't know about fire...they sound a little to big for that and hardwoods can take a lot of heat

 

[Old Buck]

I also have prickly ash in my timber. I usually get rid of it before doing tsi but the same technique should work either way. It is a rather soft wood so I just walk around with a spray or squirt bottle of Tordon RTU in one hand and snap the trunk with my other, then apply the tordon. It might be easiest to do in winter or early spring.

On stuff over an inch and a half you might have to cut mechanically.

I've also had one guy going along with loppers and another following with Tordon in a bucket and applying it with a synthetic mop but it takes two guys and is less efficient.

Isn't habitat management fun?

Old Buck