Herbicides to kill maple seedlings

[HoosierLawnGnome]

I, know, I know - "mow them and they'll die"

I've been mowing the same ones for several weeks now. They're around too long. When I see something that isn't a blueberry or bewitched plant in my turf area, it needs to die, and die quickly.

This year I had a bumper crop. Too many to hand pull.

Anybody have something you spray on them (not glyphosate) that will kill them more quickly than waiting for them to mow multiple times over the course of three weeks?

[andy10917]

Some people say Triclopyr works. Maybe. A little. I wouldn't expect to write home to Mom about the results.

[HoosierLawnGnome]

Aarrrrrgggggh, they powered through my pre-emergent barrier. They aren't visible unless you're on top of them, but I DON'T LIKE THEM

[andy10917]

Did your pre-emergent say that it covered Maple Tree seedlings? If not, quitcherbitchen. Here is the perfect solution:

[HoosierLawnGnome]

I wouldn't be a lawn nut if I didn't [banned word] about a weed.

[oze]

Yes, maple tree forest here as well. I think I said this in another forum here, but I am definitely breaking Paul Bunyon's record for number of trees felled in 15 minutes. And I don't need no stinkin' giant blue ox to help me.

[HoosierLawnGnome]

Dangit andy after that post I yanked about 100 3 in seedlings today with this ingenious device:



It's like a mini forest on the side yard. Dang you natural selection. I will thwart you again!!!!!!!!!!

[ Post made via Android ]

[mattya]

I feel ya - I've had terrible results with Triclopyr. They seemed to laugh at it and welcome more.....And then I yanked them out by hand and tossed them in the fire pit! Take that!

[BoatDr]

I used to get upset about this. Last year, I got over it and started to laugh. You now have me cracking up when I see them while I'm mowing. Hmm...maybe you guys have found room in the market for one more viciously toxic herbicide.


- Sent From My Sandlot.

[ken-n-nancy]

Anybody have something you spray on them (not glyphosate) that will kill them more quickly than waiting for them to mow multiple times over the course of three weeks?

The oak seedlings in my lawn seemed to be done in pretty quickly with 2,4-D when I sprayed for broadleaf weeds a couple weeks ago. I presume maple seedlings would be the same, but I haven't had many of those yet this year.

[andy10917]

I have no idea what happened here this year. Last year I counted a couple of sq ft and extrapolated that I had to have 30,000-40,000 maple seedlings. This year, almost none. Go figure. I have applied no herbicides this year, other than a few spots treated with Tenacity.

[HoosierLawnGnome]

This is a tree I planted 10 years ago, but seeded for the first real time this year. It's not stress - the tree has just matured. And it was a LOT. I was mulching up helicopters for weeks.

I don't have any straight 2,4D on hand.....

[fun4me2]

Are you talking about a Silver Maple Tree dropping helicopters? I had a huge one smack in the middle of my back yard.
I not only had those darn things all over the yard, my gutters would fill up with the maple seedlings. By midsummer I had gutters filled with mini maple trees.
This tree's roots were on the surface and keeping lawnmower blades sharp was a major problem as well as growing thick grass.
The tree was 50+ yrs.

Ants got at it. I started seeing huge piles of "sawdust" at the bottom of the tree trunk from ants hollowing out the trunk.
6 years ago I had to take it down at the cost of $3,000.

Had planted a Japanese red maple, a dogwood, and a flowering crab apple tree several years prior in anticipation the that the huge maple would eventually come down.
Can't say I miss it.

[Galuvian]

Same battle here. This year has not been as bad a previous years, but I did put halts down this year. WBG Max doesn't touch them. I've been doing Step 2 of the triangle approach this year, and some of the maple saplings do look a little unhealthy but it isn't enough to kill them. Maybe if I did 2-3 apps on them. But I'd rather skip the chemicals when I know mowing will take care of it in just as much time.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Cole]

I hope no one minds me bringing an old thread to life, but I have been trying to deal with thousands of oak tree saplings and they're just not dying. I cut around 3 inches high and it doesnt cut most of them. I dropped it to 2.5 inches just to try and get more, but it's still not cutting it. I tried spraying with triclopyr a couple of weeks ago and they are showing signs of death, but they are just hanging around so long. They make the yard look terrible. Has anyone found any better way to deal with these things? I'm resorting to hand pulling at this point, but I'm wondering if that's my only option for a quick death. Cutting and triclopyr has been too slow, it'll be a month and a half or better before they're gone at this rate. That's half our summer up here!

I have probably cut them 6 or 7 times now with no sign of killing them. It's getting to be too hot here to drop the cut anymore this year, but would have I been better off dropping down to 2 inches or so for a few cuts in the first place? I don't want to deal with the same thing next year. We didn't have much time for fall cleanup when we moved in so hopefully I'll have an opportunity to clean up more acorns this fall. I've never seen so many saplings come up before, but this is a new lawn to me. The oaks are pretty, but they are an excessive amount of work to keep a nice lawn.

[TimmyG]

You've answered your own question: hand pulling is your best option to cure impatience. Have fun!

Triclopyr is far and away your best option for chemical control. It's very effective on woody plants and gentle on cool season grasses. Correctly dosed, I would actually expect a single application to eliminate any deciduous tree seedlings, unlike herbaceous broadleaf weeds which may require two or even three applications. Worst case, hit 'em again in 10–14 days. No, it's not an immediate kill, but it sure beats hand pulling.

That said, mowing is 100% effective, but as you've found, you have to wait for the seedings to grow tall enough. As I mentioned here regarding maple seedlings, your oak seedlings have likely halted top growth while they put all energy into developing substantial tap roots, which also makes hand pulling difficult. Until they resume top growth, you'll just keep mowing over them. But once they do, mowing will without question be the end of them.

[KBGkicksazz]

I put my push mower on the lowest setting to chop them as short as possible and it helps to kill them faster.

[john5246]

they were all over my newly seeded midnight/betwitched lawn, of course every single one came up because they fell maybe 2 days after I put down seed. I pulled up almost 200 I would say. I pulled up 8 today by hand. I need to get them when they are young because the more the roots develop the greater the risk it will pull up some bluegrass with it