I have a couple questions about Osage Orange trees (aka hedge apple). I have a bunch of these trees growing in my timber and I dont care much for them. Very thorny, prolific, and hard to kill.
Are they of any wildlife value? Only thing I've ever seen eat the hedge balls is the occasional squirrel.
I was thinking of trying to kill as many of them as I can, but there are probably hundreds of them. Killing a bunch might at least keep them from overtaking the timber. They are just growing randomly in the timber, not in a solid stand. I have considered the following ways of killing them:
1. Drilling a small hole with a cordless drill and injecting the tree with a stout mix of brush killer such as Tordon. Then just leave them stand as they are. This would be the easiest/fastest but would it work?
2. Hinging the tree to make a living brushpile, doubt the tree would ever die though and may still spread.
3. Cutting them down and just leaving them lay where they fall. Stump would probably have to be treated to prevent re-growth. Osage trees are just to unfriendly to try to remove all the cut trees. Given their resistance to rot they would probably lay there for 50 years and look like new.
Any recommendations for chemicals to kill the stumps? Tordon? (I've never used it)
I cleared 7 acres of scrubby pasture 2 years ago with a bulldozer and then disked the ground, then replanted it as a riparian buffer. Tore out all the roots I could find. I mow this 3-4 times a year and yet the Osage trees resprout continually. They start looking like a bush and actually out grow the weeds. I tried spraying the sprouts with a heavy dose of round-up. That made the sprouts die back, and new sprouts just replaced those. I really hate them, they are like the Terminator of trees!
Are they of any wildlife value? Only thing I've ever seen eat the hedge balls is the occasional squirrel.
I was thinking of trying to kill as many of them as I can, but there are probably hundreds of them. Killing a bunch might at least keep them from overtaking the timber. They are just growing randomly in the timber, not in a solid stand. I have considered the following ways of killing them:
1. Drilling a small hole with a cordless drill and injecting the tree with a stout mix of brush killer such as Tordon. Then just leave them stand as they are. This would be the easiest/fastest but would it work?
2. Hinging the tree to make a living brushpile, doubt the tree would ever die though and may still spread.
3. Cutting them down and just leaving them lay where they fall. Stump would probably have to be treated to prevent re-growth. Osage trees are just to unfriendly to try to remove all the cut trees. Given their resistance to rot they would probably lay there for 50 years and look like new.
Any recommendations for chemicals to kill the stumps? Tordon? (I've never used it)
I cleared 7 acres of scrubby pasture 2 years ago with a bulldozer and then disked the ground, then replanted it as a riparian buffer. Tore out all the roots I could find. I mow this 3-4 times a year and yet the Osage trees resprout continually. They start looking like a bush and actually out grow the weeds. I tried spraying the sprouts with a heavy dose of round-up. That made the sprouts die back, and new sprouts just replaced those. I really hate them, they are like the Terminator of trees!