I cut one those trees down and sawed it into firewood, and stacked the rounds up on the ground. A week later I went to move them into the woodshed and the rounds had put out roots into the ground and were sprouting leaves. Truly the tree of hell!
This was so helpful - the history and the specifics about treating ailanthus to eliminate. A looming urgent concern here in Mid-Atlantic is that tree of hell is a favored host for the invasive spotted lantern fly, which is on the march here in the mid-Atlantic.
One of my neighbours has sheep and they eat the tree like you wouldn't belive it. Didn't know that until this summer when i saw him and his grand son cutting down the trees that sheep couldn't reach. So, for younger trees, the sheep are the solution 🙂
I will have to look into sheep! I have read that goats will eat the non-native invasives on your property, but only after they have cleared all of the natives first.
My goats prefer the ailainthus trees first and strip the bark. It bothers me because they are my main and favored source of renewable firewood. I love the smell of the leaves because when rubbed they smell like a roasted cashew or pistachio. The Asians use all parts as medicines but I've not tried that yet.
@@TheWoodlandSteward Sheep are easier to keep where you want them vs goats. I raise sheep, and I don't even have my property fully fenced - wooded hills on two sides, and a creek on another side keeps them in. I have noticed that they eat the stink trees (what I call the trees), and that's fine with me! The trees are a problem here.
Greetings from Korea. Here, the spotted lanternfly is also an invasive. The Korean Forest Service identified Ailanthus altissima as a "bad tree", because it provided a favorite surface to Lycorma delicatula to lay its eggs on. So you have two reasons to try eradicate Ailanthus altissima.
The spotted lantern fly is newly introduced to my area. I was visiting a friend when I saw the first I had seen. Then I saw another one. And another. And then dozens. Her neighbor had two of these trees.
@@thistlesabsolutely inundated with lantern flies in south western Pennsylvania,and every Alanthus tree is literally covered with them. Nearby hardwood and conifers hardly any. Some chemical attraction? Probably.
@@fredbunce9232 I live in the North Side of Pittsburgh and if the lantern fly population increases in 2024 at the rate it increased in 2023, you won't be able to go outside without lantern flies crawling all over you.
Thank you!!! I moved into a property that had this tree right next to the deck and right on top of my septic. Looks like it's been cut back for years and they're suckers everywhere coming up through the deck on the other side of a huge deck. I bet there's about 1600 square feet of this nightmare. I had the main trees cut down a few weeks ago, not knowing all this. Now I have suckers everywhere. This was THE best video. Now onto the removal of buckthorn!
This was so amazing, I wish I would have watched this before I cut 3 down. Talk about a nightmare. I honestly have cried. Thank you so much. I hope I can find the Triclopyr 4 easily, I have a lot of work to do. Thank you again.
Ailantex is a bio herbicide. A naturally occurring ground fungus verticillium non-alfalfae is safe . Research in many states and in Europe as well find this the go-to method. If I could find some in the ground in this state innoculation would be almost rewarding. Biodiversity is marker of health. That verticillium non-alfalfae in found in America is...
Oh yeah, we thought it was black walnut, cut down dozens growing next to our foundation of our house... We have a million now 😭😭😭 and I'm sick all the time with it near me
I was on a expedition run by some local botanists 25 years ago and this stuff was all over the place throughout western NC. We covered a large area and saw it almost in every forest as well as the nearest city’s growing out of the side of buildings .
I believe the real problem is deforestation and deer. Deer kill young tree seedlings making it hard for nature to reforest itself. This tree smells bad and is therefore super deer resistant. That's the reason why it becomes invasive.
I've been seeing this tree in the news especially connected with spotted lantern fly. Neither have made it into my state yet but both are at the doorstep and officials are asking for people to keep a lookout for them. As a citizen naturalist, I appreciate the explanation of how to identify the tree of heaven vs the walnut and ash trees which are common here.
I live in Pittsburgh and two years ago I had never seen a lantern fly. Now there are thousands of them crawling all over the outside of my house and my neighbor's house. The spotted lantern fly is a serious problem.
i have so much to learn! I am new to Indiana and just bought quite a few acres and moved here. I want to save the planet - or at least this spot. Your videos are INVALUABLE. Thank you, on behalf of the bugs, birds, bees, bats, bears (well, if any were left here..)...and the planet.
Herbicide is bad for ALL life forms and has already killed the phytoplankton plants , causing the 350 mile wide DEAD ZONE in the Gulf of Mexico where the Mississippi washes in all this non biodegradable herbicide toxin
I just identified 5 of these in my backyard of the house I moved into in the Midwest. They are still fairly young some being between 4 and 6 feet tall. The largest one grew rapidly over the last year and a half and about 20 feet tall. They are growing in a corner of the yard where I planned to garden around. Glad I identified it and learned it is an invasive tree so I can rid of it. I shall be trying this method!
I'm in the midwest too, I never realized at first why I would take care of some of these and in less than a year I had so many more!! Young saplings don't pull out easy either most just break off and keep on sprouting.
I had a juvenile one appear in my bonsai bed where I have 9 other babies left to grow but tree of heaven was the only tree in there that was growing. I just dug it up and was amazed as to how long and thick the roots were for such a young tree. They had even crossed over the trees I purposely planted in there.
Hi Jim this is Peggy (Ferguson) Wisniewski. I did a google search on black walnut trees and the tree of heaven, and came across this youtube video. So I’m watching this video, and I realize I’m watching my childhood best friend. You look good old friend 😊, and thanks for the information on killing those root suckers. It’s already too late to prevent them. Take Care old friend, Peggy
I had one large Ailanthus in my backyard that set seed every season and acted like a 'mother' tree, causing no end of seedlings in all the yards adjacent to my lot. To get rid of it, I ringed the bark all the way around with a hatchet, interrupting the tree's ability to feed its roots, then I sprayed the cut ring liberally with Tordon. The bark above the ring peeled off in sheets in about 2 months. I re-applied the Tordon a couple of times. Once I was satisfied that the stump was dead, I set up some guy lines, then took it down with a saw. Looking back on it now, I probably would have saved a couple of small seedlings. Ailanthus seedlings grow very quickly -- 15-20 feet in a season easily -- but can be kept in check by _coppicing_ the trunks back to about 6 inches above the ground. Growing them this way with annual/bi-annual coppicing, they can be used for a very nice palm-like tropical effect in smaller yards. Later, if you get tired of it, just break out the Tordon. Whatever you do though, don't let them go to seed.
Thanks for this informative video! I will be at my parents property this weekend and will be on the lookout for it. Very useful clear video. Great job!
We have these trees in the foothills of the California Gold Country. I read somewhere that they were brought over by the Chinese who worked in the gold mines, and gold fields back in the days of the great Gold rush here in the west. They are a pest tree, and are cut down and treated mostly. We used to have some vast areas covered with them. You are right about how hardy they are as I have seen them growing in conditions where nothing else will.
Tree of heaven leaflets look more spikey when young. The leaves have a unique radiating palm-like distribution of fronds coming from a central branch - even at a very young age when it's only a foot high. Since they spread by suckering, you often see them growing in a tight stand like bamboo. They frequently grow along the roadside or in flowerbeds, even in grass - anywhere the soil has been disturbed. They also grow extremely quickly like bamboo. The bark is totally smooth when they're young.
Thanks for this video. For years, my forestry consultant and I have been soaking the bark on Tree of Heaven with a Garlon mix. It's pretty much under control. Most of my time is controlling the suckers. My neighbors' properties still have large Trees of Heaven that can send seeds my way. With their permission, I'm going to try the method shown in the video.
Good luck! I was working along a property line today and thinking about how we need to work with our neighbors if we are going to get these problems under control.
@@TheWoodlandSteward No neighbor denied me access. It’s a good investment to prevent the spread to my land . Also, I get easy access to parts of my farm via neighbor’s service roads.
@@enrquedelreal469 Hello. According to my records: 20% Garlon & 80% Crop Oil. Blue dye was added to the mix for marking where we treated. Also orange ribbons and spray paint. Hope my answer helps you.
This is THE channel for me! I'm currently a landscaper wanting to take my career squarely in the direction of woodland stewardship. What degrees, certifications, education, or credentials do I need? I know half the woods by just living in it my whole life.
Intriguing idea! I guess it would depend on who your clients are and if you are working for yourself or another agency. A lot of education happens outside of school, but if you need to sell how knowledgeable you are, a degree certainly helps. People are probably more apt to hire someone with practical experience related to their particular problem. I would start keeping a portfolio of projects you've worked on, with before and after photos. I don't have any advice for you about official credentials. I may have my degree in Botany, but I do this for free. Talk with people in the industry that actually get paid to do what you would like to do.
Hi from the Big City, not only have we had Ailanthus for decades, but now we have SPOTTED LANTERN FLYS all over NYC, not just my Brooklyn back yard, but *crawling on the side of a building on 33 street and the Broadway* !
Do you have an update on how your treatments worked out? Would love an update video on this! Had to cut down 3 large TOH on my property and now I'm dealing with seedlings everywhere, it's quite the nuisance! I am inevitably missing some of the seedlings so they grew a taproot and now I want to do a basal bark application since they are so small.
The plant that actually looks most like it here in VA is Staghorn Sumac, the leaves are much more more similar between those two than the Walnust, Ash or Hickory. From a distance they're almost indistinguishable until they flower and fruit. ToH has orangey-brown clustered fruit that hangs down where the Staghorn Sumac has distinctly reddish flame-shaped fruit that stands upright. TOH is everywhere along roadsides, at wood's edges and in lawns. I've been fighting them for a few years on 3 properties that belong to me and my family. But since the state isn't doing anything about them it's a constant thing and will be an ongoing battle until they get onto a control program.
In Northern California in the Gold Country these trees are all over where gold panning and prospecting was going on . A co-worker of mine who was kind of a History buff told me it was the Chinese miners who planted these everywhere they went in the mid 1800's using the fast growing straight trunks and limbs for tent poles , tool handles , and possibly even some medicinal purposes ?
I'd be surprised that they planted them to make use of the wood. It's very weak, splits easily, rots quickly, burns poorly and smoky; though I agree it grows pretty straight. I think of it as garbage wood. I am fighting both it and buckthorn on our property.
@@travelfeet I wish ours rotted quickly! We've got one right beside the house we bought 9 years ago, not knowing what is was. It's over 50' tall and 5' in diameter. We, now have hundreds in our yard and many hundreds more in the woods surrounding 3 sides of us. They're even growing thru our deck and under our home, separating the stone from the house. We are currently having to have our home leveled for the 3rd time in just under 9 years. We're at the point, if the home weren't 3000sf with the entire lower half in fieldstone, we'd like to just burn the whole darn property to the ground. The root systems on these things are unbelievable!
In Kansas City my neighbor's tree was only a small twig in 1997. By 2005 it was 20 feet tall and wide. That tree does not live long in this area but it drops millions of quickly sprouting seeds and has been a headache in my flower garden for 25 years. Every time I disturb the garden soil the seeds sprout. When my neighbor cleaned out her fish pond that grew under the Mimosa, I spread the muck in my garden, not knowing the seeds could remain dormant, even under water, over 20 years until exposed to the sun. The nearly dead tree was removed 4 years ago and I am still fighting seedlings and sprouts all summer.
Thank you for another educational video! According to brief internet search, because inquiring minds want to know, the Tree of Heaven scent is likened to that of rotting cashews.
Glad I found this, I was about to clear cut our grove of tree of heaven. I have 25 trees on a hillside that have sent root suckers out across my yard. Now I will wait till summer and treat as you suggested. Thanks
We called it stink weed growing up, always at war with the multitude of little ones popping up around the house. Didn't realize until much later that the tree in the neighbor's yard was the same plant.
I had good luck killing small to mid sized trees in one year (without significant suckering) using Tordon RTU and hack and squirt, but it has taken a second treatment to kill the bigger trees (say 20"+ DBH), and the really big trees I treated with Tordon are still alive after 2 seasons. So, I've switched to Trichlopyr mixed with diesel starting late last summer, so we'll see how that does. Have not tried glyphosate. I've been doing hack and squirt on TOH from late Aug. through mid October, but I've heard some say that they've gotten the best kills on TOH by treating mid summer, so I'm going to try that this summer. One caution, these trees seem to be horribly prone to barberchairing when cut 6-12 months after being treated. I let them stand dead where I can, but if they have to come down don't expect to drop them right where you want them with normal notching tree felling methods.
Please never use glyphosate. It is a class 1 carcinogen. Not even a molecule should ever contact any part of your body. I know glyphosate is effective but try anything else. I personally will try your methods with Trichlopyr and diesel, as I made the mistake of cutting an old grove of root suckers and a 12" DBH mother tree cut at 4ft above the ground.
You made your problem worse by cutting it down lol. As a defense it will shoot up more sprouts or root suckers Apply herbicide during later summer months so it moves it through the entire root system as it moves sugars. Wait 30-45 days then you can cut.
@@papameticulousThey've entered ours, and we're now having to have our home leveled for the 3rd time in just under 9 years. We're at wits end with them! They're even growing under the house and coming between the stone and upper wood portion, literally cracking the fieldstone all around the house.
I found Tree of Hell on my property in Westchester County NY. Ironically, just below two 140 foot black walnuts. The stink glands were not clear nor the smooth leaf margin…the ridges seemed more frequent…main ID: hot old peanut butter smell instead of pungent black walnut smell! Great details for other ID; especially versus other trees
1:59 ridges for my specimen seemed to be 3-5 per leaflet. Hence, confusion prior to your video. Love what you did with similar tree specimens. I have 3 books on tree identification & still feel ignorant & incompetent. I am still 0.1% percentile versus population!
I made the mistake of just cutting down a dozen of these, early, one spring, and spent the entire summer pulling something like 10,000 root sprouts (100 every day, for about 100 days). A couple years later, I was trying to get rid of a couple more and learned about treating the stump with herbicide. But I cut them late in the spring, this time, after the root system has sent most of its stored energy up the trunk, to form a new canopy, and before that canopy had any time to repay that mortgage. Not one root sprout, that time. I think late summer, fall or winter is the wrong season to cut them down, because lots of sugar has been sent back to the roots, by then. And early spring is too early, because that stored sugar has not been sent up to make the new canopy, yet.
You can also tell a difference from the smell of the leaves. Tree of heaven smelling like rancid urine and black walnut smelling like citrus and medicine.
Wow, good luck these suckers are a constant battle on the farm. We don't have any large trees but constantly the young ones coming up scattered around the hillsides and Forest floors everywhere.
Thanks Ted! I do hope that people catch some enthusiasm for taking care of our natural world. There is something that each of us can do to keep "the natural world" natural.
I have been using the hack/squirt and basal bark method on 12 trees of hell for the past 2 seasons. The method works and most of the bark is dark, decaying and clearly affected by the herbicide (Brustox / Triclophyr). I am having these trees cut down. I feel I am prepared for the battle of suckers that awaits me.
@@enrquedelreal469 yes. The root system is extensive and they shoot up everywhere. I pluck them out while they are young. It will be a lifetime battle. Considering mulching the area but they seem to grow though that too.
@@libertyandcheesesteaks8928 Do you think the ones you are able to pull out are seedlings from the previous adult tree's fruit as opposed to root suckers?
Thanks for the video. I think this is the best video I've seen regarding treating these trees. We have (had) hundreds of these and, over the last few years, I've used your technique to kill them. I use Glysophate, for the hack and squirts. At least 44% concentration. I have noticed that the time of year is very important in getting a 'complete' kill. with no suckering. I've treated earlier in the season and had quite a few suckers so now I aim to treat just before the leaves start to turn. When, as you say, all the energy flow is heading towards the roots. I have noticed that many sprouts surround our dieing oaks. Whether this causes the die-off or is a results of the die off itself I do not know. It is concerning, as we have lost many oaks, and what with the allelopathic nature of this tree and garlic mustard I'm worried that the soil will take many years to recover. These Tree of heaven absolutely cover the roadsides here in Maryland, and any utility line cutting work always seems to just cut and do nothing else. Also we have the oncoming issue of spotted lantern fly, which is suspected of needing tree of heaven to breed. And those little buggers can do some SERIOUS damage to a woodland. So thanks for the video. Great advice! Hope more people watch this.
I have not noticed the Spotted Lantern Fly around here (southern Ohio), but I am sure it will make its way to us. It is good motivation to get the Tree of Heaven under control! Thanks for the comments.
Agree - this video was so helpful - thank you, thank you. We have ailanthus all over here in Northern Virginia and DC, too - along roadways, for sure, but really, everywhere. My neighbor has two 40 footers that overhang my backyard anx I’ve always got lots of little ones coming up - maybe from seeds, not sure - that I am trying to root out. (We are watching the progress of the dreaded spotted lantern fly here, too.)
Very informative video. We bought our house in march 2020. Within a month the side of the house of taken over by what I was calling the "city weedy tree". I had no idea it was actually Tree of Heaven until now. Last year I just hacked it all down and pulled stuff out twice. I thought I "fixed" it. Then sure enough it came back in 2021. I decided I wasn't going to waste my time so I went to Tractor Supply and a bottle of Tordon RTU which worked. I squirted it all over the leaves and within 2 weeks i had a wilted forest along the side of the house. Eventually everything died and turned black. I haven't pulled it out. It looks terrible, but honestly I wanted to see if it was actually dead for good.I'm dealing with my house looking like a horticultural massacre happened. I missed my time now that its September to effectively kill the tree feeding all of this I think. I may need to wait till next july to attempt a hack and squirt on the tree.
It sounds like you are getting it under control! I would think that you could hack and squirt your parent tree in September. If you wait too long you will allow it to flower again next summer.
HELP😢 In reading all these comments, I am seeing a lot of eastern states having a problem with this tree of Heaven. I live in California near the Sacramento area. We live on 4 plus acres. We have beautiful Heritage oak trees and many Agave plants or Century plants as they are sometimes called. Those clusters are huge right now but we are infested with the tree of Heaven it is taking over the entire property.!! When the Sprouts Are Young and the ground is moist we can pull them up by the root. The root looks like a twisted, bulbous type route but it also has a long network of rooting! They are spreading EVERYWHERE!!! They are taking over the century plants and growing at the base of all of our other trees and groups of them are sprouting up in clusters and TAKING OVER! PLEASE ADVISE HOW TO STOP THIS INVASION!!!😢
Thanks so much for the information..we live in a forested area. There are a healthy mix of species...predominantly oaks..Northern Illinois, Sublette specifically. We've been pulling buck thorn, and we weren't sure what the species now identified as tree of heaven..it helps when your neighbor is a Forrester. We were confused because of the similarities to suman and walnut. We'll be diligent in keeping our old oaks as healthy as possible. Your information is invaluable!
I've been waging war against these trees for years. I volunteer to help maintain a public park. These trees -- which I call "wooden dandelions" -- were beginning to spread through the park. So during autumn -- while the trees are sending food down to their roots in preparation for next spring -- I girdled the trees and painted the wounds with 8% triclopyr. Next year, the trees were dead and only one tree produced root suckers. (The trees still occasionally sprout from old seeds.)
Thank you Jim new subscriber here I found your channel because k was watching a video on the spotted lantern fly 🪰 I live here in MD and this tree is one of the major attractions of this very very invasive insect “plant hopper” I’m sure your aware! So I am educating myself about the insect snd it’s preferences . Well done 👍🏻
I have like 5 of these in my yard and I kept chopping them down only for them to sprout out more branches 🙄 thank you this helps. An update on this tree would be greatly appreciated
Apply a systemic herbicide during late summer, 1x a week for a few weeks if necessary so the living tree will move the herbicide throughout the whole root system as it moves sugars during photosynthesis. Cut down in early fall. For my forest gardening business/agroforestry installs, this has proven to be the most effective but can be a lot of work but much less than hand pulling.
I just came here bci read that the spotted lantern fly likes this tree, so i wanted to see what this tree looks like bc we have a problem with that bug here in CT. I came to see what the tree looks like, i got a wonderful lesson as well...
In the poorer of the older parts of the city where I was born, Decatur, Illinois, there are some gigantic ones. Nobody seems to cut any of them down. In any part of town, little ones seem to sprout from roots, or perhaps occasionally from seed. Various places I’ve lived in the United States have lots of the tree. I recall a fairly big hillside in Boulder, Colorado that when I saw it maybe thirty years ago was almost an ailanthus monoculture…
It's funny, in the lower NY area, I don't think I've seen them that big. The only ones I've seen are about 4" in diameter, like any tree sapling that is a few years old, but not out of that sapling stage.
Have used battery powered drill with 2" wood boring drill bit about 1" into trunk at 45 degree angle simply pour Fertilome brand stump and brush killer (undiluted) into cavity around tree trunk. Late summer or early fall when leaves begin to drop is correct time. For small seedlings or young trees, mix 8 oz to 1 gal water, just spray leaves only during hottest part of summer, wait one day, then cut or mow down. Large trees will take 2 years, will die back slowly from the very tips first. Works, patience is key!
We had a huge tree of heaven in our yard and tonnes of suckers throughout our lawn and garden. We hired an arbourist who told us that best thing was to cut it down, leave the tree stump and he cut away a shoebox sized rectangle in the top of the stump. He said if we pour rock salt into that spot and add water, it’ll eventually kill off the tree stumps and suckers. He said we won’t see any difference this year in suckers. That’s for sure!! I’ve been digging up root ball/suckers all season to try to speed up the killing off process. It’s endless and depressing. Do you recommend that I use the herbicide on the worst suckers that come up? I worry that my garden will never rid of this horrible invasive tree and gardening will never be fun again! Any specific help is greatly appreciated. Also worry for environmental issues with using chemicals. Thank you!
I understand the concern about using herbicides, but you need to balance the environmental impact of not treating invasives with the impact of using the herbicides. We try to treat Tree of Heaven just on the bark to limit the spread of the herbicide. I try not to use a foliar spray, which will drift onto other non-target plants (particularly with the spreading nature and compound leaf of TOH). If I have to apply something onto the leaves, I prefer to use glyphosate, which has a very limited half-life in the soil.
@@TheWoodlandSteward thank you! Is there a specific brand or concentration you recommend to apply to the leaves? I guess the sponge on approach is safest?
A small amount of chemicals will NOT do anything at all, especially with how damaging this tree is, using chemicals is safer for the environment by a mile.
Susan, I will try to do a follow-up video, like we just did for Japanese Stiltgrass. I find that the hack-and-squirt method takes more than a year to kill the tree. Often I will treat it again the second year. Because the trees are in the woods, I let them stand for habitat and let them fall naturally.
This is an insidious plant. Have 33 acres in southern Illinois and have used Tordan with similar technique. This and Russian Olive are invasive in area's where the land was not properly maintained. It amazed me that some people maintain these invasive junk trees.
Thanks for your video, I had this tree cut down by a professional because the root started lifting concrete slab in my backyard. A year later I see baby trees everywhere in my yard all around the house.
Great video I was reading about lanternflies and they kept referring to tree of heaven so I looked you up. Probably thought it was sumac as I rode by but now I know better.
I was driving through NJ and PA the other day and this stuff is growing EVERYWHERE. Also probably the reason why there are so many spotted lantern flies.
My current recommendation for Tree of Heaven is Triclopyr 4 (in kerosene) for basal bark treatment, and Triclopyr 3 (in water) for cut stem and hack and squirt.
Had one in front of y house in Chicago. City had to repair sewer system and they removed it. Was glad. When fall arrived it was the darnest thing to rake up.
I have been in hell with these stinking (literally) trees for 15 years. They were in the back yard around the back of a shed someone before us had planted around a little patio. I hated them so I cut them down. That was 15 years ago. I have been in tree fighting hell ever since. I bought a huge tractor and have pulled up and interrupted the roots with it and that didn't even work. I am going to try and approach it as you suggest. I hope it works. If it does I will send you a couple coupons for a dinner at your favorite chow joint!!
Liked and subscribed! Though I'm in Florida, this content is educational and helpful in exploring biological control techniques. There are multitudes of plant species (stupidly) introduced here similar to this tree in terms of the branching roots. I see the technique you demonstrated as another possible tool in combating invasive here. Many thanks!
My place burned in one of the Northern California fires. I had spent 40+ years making sure no ailanthus were growing on my property, but after the fire they sprouted up everywhere. I assume seeds were carried there in the whirlwinds of the fire. I have been pulling the small trees. Will that be enough to eliminate them? Does pulling leave root pieces in the ground that will become trees? Thanks for the best video I've seen on this topic.
Sorry to hear about your place. I wonder if seeds were brought in or if a mature tree in the area was killed by the fire and the roots (which can travel pretty far) sprouted. I would think pulling seedling would be effective, but breaking off root suckers may not do much more than slowly starve the roots.
I love your videos, tree of heaven hadn’t been on my radar until I watched this, walked around our forest and I’ll be they are here. The Japanese honeysuckle, burning bush, Bradford pear and now The tree from Hell.
This was exactly the information that I needed. Wondering if the trick will work on other trees that tend to sucker when they are cut to the ground. Hedge? Locust? Calary Pear? I know the Locust and Hedge (Osage Orange) are native but problematic when there are so many of them in one small woods.
I can't give you any advice from personal experience on Osage Orange or either locust, as they are fairly well behaved on our property. We don't have any Callery Pear (Pyrus calleryana), but I have not heard of problems with simply cutting and applying 20% glyphosate to the cut stem. Let me know if you find out anything different than that.
Heh. If you don't know it, this is the hardy weed/tree that Betty Smith used as a metaphor for a sort of hardscrabble spirit that allows the poor denizens of her childhood to survive oppressive city life in her semi-autobiographical "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
I have the same trees in my garden but recently the leaves started to become yellow and are dying, having brown and darks dots on them? anyone would know what cause this?
When we moved to our farm house in rural Southwest Missouri, our yard was full of elms and trees of paradise (heaven). All were tall, mature trees. We discovered the trunks of trees of paradise tended to hollow out they aged, which made them very brittle and prone to wind damage. Large limbs would crack and fall in a strong thunderstorm. Sometimes even the upper trunk, 20-30 feet up, would split from the wind as it was hollow. They, too, sent out sprouts from the roots, especially along the roadway ditches. It was a constant battle to remove them. However, over the course of about 20 years, the mature trees died out. No one poisoned them. Possibly the regular mowing kept sprouts from getting established. Left untouched, I've seen thickets of young sprouts that would require a chainsaw to make a dent in. We were told the wife of the original family had planted them because they grew fast and there were no shade trees around the house when they first moved there around 1900. The last trees probably died out in the 1980s. (edit for spelling)
Thank you. Great video. We treated a really large one a few weeks ago with the hack and squirt method. How long do you wait between treatments? It’s in an area of my yard I’d like to reclaim but want to make sure we don’t get more suckers!
Outstanding presentation. I despise tree of heaven. I've used triclopyr extensively on barberry (another invasive plant) and, I use it on my lawn to get rid of weeds. It's great for getting rid of clover and won't harm most common grasses as long as it's properly mixed with water. Thanks for the info on how to kill Ailanthus.
Excellent. Unfortunately, my tree trem guy just cut my tree of heaven off and left a few feet high stump as it was growing into an old fence. I had no idea what it was! It's taking over now as it has spread twenty feet around the tree.
"professional" tree people just means tree people who get paid. There are so many out there with a ladder, a truck , and a chainsaw. They don't all know what they're up to.
Great video. Just moved into a large lot with many trees of heaven. Will have lots to do, but only starting now, in September. Want to get them dealt with before the spotted lanternfly arrives, which will be soon!
Ok, so now I know why I have several popping up. Obviously I chose a tree guy that had no idea by removing the 2 or 3 that I had would only produce more. Question, the small ones that I have and are popping up in my front yard (and neighbors), can I spray the leaves with this Triclopyr? Some of them are young enough and I am able to pull them out, roots and all (I think!). But others will not budge. Checking out Triclopyr 4 and Kerosene on Amazon, do you have a link to share? Or tell me exactly what to purchase at Home Depot? And what about using a methylated seed oil instead of kerosene? TIA! Thanks for the great video too!
Great video. Thank you. I have been actively trying to clean up 40 wooded acres which has a lot of these trees. This year I got to see my results which were fantastic using hack/squirt and basal bark spray. Question, when is a good time to cut down a dead one? Though 99% of them I will have to leave standing.
It depends on your motivation for cutting it down. If it is a hazard, I would cut it down soon after it no longer leafed out. If it is not a hazard, I would just let it stay and decay naturally, providing habitat for all sorts of things.
Jj what exact solution did you use? I bought the triclopyr 4 he recommended but I’m hesitant to mix with any flammable mixture because I live in the Central Valley in California and it’s hot.
Be aware that they are horribly prone to barber-chairing after having been treated this way, which is a safety concern. Don't expect to notch and drop one in a controlled way with normal tree-felling methods like with a live healthy tree. I've found that MOST of them barberchair 6 to 12 months after being treated.
@@wbflatpick28 I believe it's the way the tree breaks when it's cut to be felled. They wood splits in a way that it's not a clean break, more like a barber chair. This means it can be very dangerous and might break in an uncontrolled way. Not good,
We have 35 acres in middle Tennessee with some TOH and also Princess Tree. We ordered both Triclopyr 3 and 4 for the job because we've seen conflicting info on the internet. You mention 4 in this video. Is 3 comparable? And many thanks for the video! We think many of our neighbors are going to regret forestry mulching these invasive trees... What do you think? Is repeated forestry mulching an option to eventually eliminate this species? Or will it be a never ending battle with a forestry mulcher?
I'm not familiar with Forestry Mulching. I will look into that. While I have used Triclopyr 4 exclusively to this point, I would use Triclopyr 3 (which is water soluble) for applying directly to the cambium of trees by cut stem treatment or hack and squirt, and I would use Triclopyr 4 (which is oil soluble) for treating bark where the water soluble formulation would be repelled.
Thanks, very useful. I hadn't known about the allilopathy before, but that would explain a lot. My neighbors just had a monster Ailanthus that straddles the property line cut down, to our great relief, as it was sending out huge roots far away, and scores of smaller ones, all over our yard. They have left a stump about 5 ft. tall and I foresee disaster from the suckering. If I can't convince them to have the stump ground out, and I only have access to half its circurmference, would the Triclopir treatment still have an effect? Grateful for any suggestions.
I doubt if you could effectively treat the stump at this point. Hopefully, they already did. I would watch for those suckers and treat them individually with the Triclopyr 4 in kerosene on the bark. Or, possibly cutting the stems and treating the stems with a 20% glyphosate solution.
When comparing the rachis on the black walnut to that of the tree of heaven you mention that the red color is absent in the tree of heaven (3:50), but then later when showing the samaras (presumably in late summer) the specimen you showed has a red color on the rachis. (9:32) I've experienced some confusion surrounding that in the past, because when I was first introduced to them I would find small plants without fruit or flowers and be left wondering if it could be, say, smooth or shining sumac. While I don't have that trouble so much any more, and the leaf margin helps a lot, I would like some clarification: there _are_ in fact times in which tree of heaven displays a reddish color on the rachis, correct?
You are right! Since I made that video I have seen a lot of Tree of Heaven and Black Walnut with reddish rachises. I shouldn't have suggested that it was diagnostic.
I grew up in North Central Indiana, and our backyard had a Tree of Heaven. I've always had an exceptional sense of smell.. this tree smelled HORRID to me. I HATE the smell to this day, and I still remember it. Why ANYONE would have planted it where they did, is beyond me.
In Oklahoma we're having trouble with Bradford Pear seedlings springing up everywhere... there are old fields now with 90% bradford pears, pretty when they bloom but they crowd everything else out
I never beleived my devices listened to me but having a convo with hubby about this tree today. We have what I think are black locust. Similar leaves. We are in high desert southern Calif behind the Eastern Sierras. I think that was the tree back by a separate workshop. I used image match of the leaves to match it! Its all over town! It rooted from seeds and mostly from the roots. The main tree wasnt that big and blocked the way into the workship door. Interestingly a very similar tree but grew more in a canopy shape but seemed identical leaves is growing about 30 feet over from that one. It has similar flowers but a lot of pods. The other one had flowers and minimal pods. We got the bad tree and roots all out. The other tree is not invasive even from the pods? I keep thinking maybe its the other gender or maybe just looks similar. Strangely the bees would die from the the tree from hell! Im not sure if they overate the pollen or it was toxic to them. The reason I was talking about it is we drove by a yard infested with these trees I call scary tree. But weirdly in the middle of the tees was one looking just like the "sister" tree? The pods are now turning brow as was this one? So I think thats how we got it out. We didnt hire out the landscaper to get rid of other dead trees on our retirement purchase lot. We just kept pulling the sprouts! First the 4 foot one then the smaller and kept after them. so none were there by the time he took out the main tree. Well at any rate the one with lots of pods never root and never sucker?!
Thank you sir, for great botanical explanation. I wonder being tall tree, does tree of haven produce Any Useful Wood or any other economic benefit. Good day. Jyssojuan
Hey, first off, excellent info. Second, I was wondering if the trees become more brittle when killed with roundup and what, if anything, you do to removed the trees after they die?
Really helpful video. I have a ton of root suckers coming up in my yard after it was cleared by the previous owners (we just bought it). What is the solution you recommended for the suckers? Looks like you applied it to the stem rather than the leaves? I appreciate your help!
We apply a mixture of Triclopyr 4 (Triclopyr BEE 61.6% by wt.) 20 parts concentrate in 100 parts kerosene (or similar oil) as described in the Basal Bark Treatment, Low Volume. I don't really like to treat the leaves because there is so much overspray. I have tried spraying the solution on the base of the tree, but again, there is a lot of overspray. Because Tree of Heaven has such smooth bark it seems to work well sponging it onto the trunk. The problem there is that the kerosene dissolves the glue holding the sponge onto the applicator. I have taken to wiring the sponge in place. I hope that helps.
Very nice video. Do you have any experience with Autumn Olive? I would love to hear about what works best for you to get rid of Autumn Olive. I have a whole farm being overtaken with AO and cutting and bulldozing makes it worse. Spraying foliage with roundup just makes it mad.
We treat Autumn Olive the same way we treat Honeysuckle (see our latest video), with the following notes. While I can pull young Honeysuckles I find that young Autumn Olive almost always breaks off at the roots. Spraying with 2% glyphosate does not seem to be as effective on AO as other woody invasives. I have great luck with cutting and applying 20% glyphosate to the cut stem. While I have never tried mowing, other sources seem to suggest that it is pretty resilient to cutting without treating. Other sources suggest a basal bark treatment with a triclpyr solution, similar to what we recommended for Tree of Heaven, but I don'thave any personal experience with it. Does that help?
@@TheWoodlandSteward Yes, very much so. I am checking to see if my agriculture department in my state will help me with chemicals and/or labor. The deer and bear love the red berries but this stuff is taking over. I dozed 20 acres 5 years ago and the forestry dept. planted pines and they were quickly overrun with AO. Not one pine survived. I'm declaring war on AO this next summer. Thank you!!!
Should you treat the mature trees only once? Will they die or should you cut them down after this treatment? I am desperate to clear 2 acres from this invasive tree. There are mature trees and seedlings all over. I want to create a meadow for a garden and fruit trees. I want to completely erradicate all of the invasives. Thank you for best advice.
We were not in a rush and I had to treat several trees two years in a row. If I was in a hurry, I might cut them down and treat the stumps, understanding that I will also have to cut all the sprouts the same way.
We had to deal with these "paradise trees" when we lived in the Texas Panhandle. The trees in the yard behind ours sent out roots that went across an alley and through our property, under our house, all the way to our front yard. They cracked into and clogged my sewer line, requiring complete replacement. I dug out the young tree sprouts in the front yard and poured lots of table salt into the hole; they never grew back, which was amazing! However, another tree had broken my back fence, and I ended up digging a huge crater to get most of the roots out. (I probably dumped an entire box of salt in that hole, too!) These trees also had the most putrid smelling flowers; I could not go out in the backyard while they were blooming or I would get sick. (I live in Oregon now and see trees that might be tree of heaven, except they don't smell horrible. Maybe they're something else, as you have indicated. Thank you for this video. I wish I had known about the technique to get rid of them years ago. I would not have had the whole tree nightmare!
That salt might make that soil sterile for a very long time. It was a method of warfare many years ago to destroy a population ability to grow food for themselves.
I have 2 of them in my yard with a hammock in between. No way I'm getting rid of it! it provides shade and I treat it with a mix of neem oil and water to clear any pests and fungi. Want a tree of heaven? plant it where you normally mow the lawn around the tree and treat it with neem oil. Haven't seen 1 pest yet on my tree
There is a creek at the bottom of our woodland slope that is dry, unless it rains. I have some 4-6’ TOH near there. Could you tell me what solution to use for a basal bark application? The diameters of the trees are too small for hack and squirt. Thank you so much for all of your informative videos. I am in the Western Hills area of Cincinnati!
I'm in Somerset county, NJ, and those little buggers have taken quite a liking to my young maple trees. Fortunately, I have a Bug-A-Salt gun, and had a very satisfying time blasting away at them yesterday. Even wound up with a partially gutted female hanging from a branch by her entrails. I left it as a message to the other flies.
This is great info. These are coming up all around my yard and I never thought to treat them as you did.I just cut the shoots off about once per month in all except winter, Great information. Sharing!!!!
I cut one those trees down and sawed it into firewood, and stacked the rounds up on the ground. A week later I went to move them into the woodshed and the rounds had put out roots into the ground and were sprouting leaves. Truly the tree of hell!
Dont use it for firewood
This was so helpful - the history and the specifics about treating ailanthus to eliminate. A looming urgent concern here in Mid-Atlantic is that tree of hell is a favored host for the invasive spotted lantern fly, which is on the march here in the mid-Atlantic.
One of my neighbours has sheep and they eat the tree like you wouldn't belive it. Didn't know that until this summer when i saw him and his grand son cutting down the trees that sheep couldn't reach. So, for younger trees, the sheep are the solution 🙂
I will have to look into sheep! I have read that goats will eat the non-native invasives on your property, but only after they have cleared all of the natives first.
My goats prefer the ailainthus trees first and strip the bark. It bothers me because they are my main and favored source of renewable firewood. I love the smell of the leaves because when rubbed they smell like a roasted cashew or pistachio. The Asians use all parts as medicines but I've not tried that yet.
@@TheWoodlandSteward Sheep are easier to keep where you want them vs goats. I raise sheep, and I don't even have my property fully fenced - wooded hills on two sides, and a creek on another side keeps them in. I have noticed that they eat the stink trees (what I call the trees), and that's fine with me! The trees are a problem here.
great idea - IN ASIA.@@inharmonywithearth9982
Wouldn't want milk or meat from sheep with this diet.
We've been cutting these trees down to the ground for years and wondered why they were spreading. Now I know and can tackle them properly.
make sure they arent native sumacs they look very similar
Greetings from Korea. Here, the spotted lanternfly is also an invasive. The Korean Forest Service identified Ailanthus altissima as a "bad tree", because it provided a favorite surface to Lycorma delicatula to lay its eggs on. So you have two reasons to try eradicate Ailanthus altissima.
The spotted lantern fly is newly introduced to my area. I was visiting a friend when I saw the first I had seen. Then I saw another one. And another. And then dozens. Her neighbor had two of these trees.
@@thistlesabsolutely inundated with lantern flies in south western Pennsylvania,and every Alanthus tree is literally covered with them. Nearby hardwood and conifers hardly any. Some chemical attraction? Probably.
@@fredbunce9232 insects can find their preferred hosts. I’m sure the trees are a draw.
Great post.
@@fredbunce9232 I live in the North Side of Pittsburgh and if the lantern fly population increases in 2024 at the rate it increased in 2023, you won't be able to go outside without lantern flies crawling all over you.
Thank you!!! I moved into a property that had this tree right next to the deck and right on top of my septic. Looks like it's been cut back for years and they're suckers everywhere coming up through the deck on the other side of a huge deck. I bet there's about 1600 square feet of this nightmare. I had the main trees cut down a few weeks ago, not knowing all this. Now I have suckers everywhere. This was THE best video. Now onto the removal of buckthorn!
This was so amazing, I wish I would have watched this before I cut 3 down. Talk about a nightmare. I honestly have cried. Thank you so much. I hope I can find the Triclopyr 4 easily, I have a lot of work to do. Thank you again.
I cut down a dozen who will be sending out babies in the spring - Round UP??
Ailantex is a bio herbicide. A naturally occurring ground fungus verticillium non-alfalfae is safe . Research in many states and in Europe as well find this the go-to method. If I could find some in the ground in this state innoculation would be almost rewarding. Biodiversity is marker of health. That verticillium non-alfalfae in found in America is...
Oh yeah, we thought it was black walnut, cut down dozens growing next to our foundation of our house... We have a million now 😭😭😭 and I'm sick all the time with it near me
For baby trees, what is the formula triclopyr 4 and kerosene? 50/50.
I was on a expedition run by some local botanists 25 years ago and this stuff was all over the place throughout western NC. We covered a large area and saw it almost in every forest as well as the nearest city’s growing out of the side of buildings .
In most inner cities it'll grow in any cracks in the concrete... To the point it's called the ghetto palm 😂
I believe the real problem is deforestation and deer. Deer kill young tree seedlings making it hard for nature to reforest itself. This tree smells bad and is therefore super deer resistant. That's the reason why it becomes invasive.
I've been seeing this tree in the news especially connected with spotted lantern fly. Neither have made it into my state yet but both are at the doorstep and officials are asking for people to keep a lookout for them. As a citizen naturalist, I appreciate the explanation of how to identify the tree of heaven vs the walnut and ash trees which are common here.
I live in Pittsburgh and two years ago I had never seen a lantern fly. Now there are thousands of them crawling all over the outside of my house and my neighbor's house. The spotted lantern fly is a serious problem.
i have so much to learn! I am new to Indiana and just bought quite a few acres and moved here. I want to save the planet - or at least this spot. Your videos are INVALUABLE. Thank you, on behalf of the bugs, birds, bees, bats, bears (well, if any were left here..)...and the planet.
Good luck on your quest!
Herbicide is bad for ALL life forms and has already killed the phytoplankton plants , causing the 350 mile wide DEAD ZONE in the Gulf of Mexico where the Mississippi washes in all this non biodegradable herbicide toxin
I just identified 5 of these in my backyard of the house I moved into in the Midwest. They are still fairly young some being between 4 and 6 feet tall. The largest one grew rapidly over the last year and a half and about 20 feet tall. They are growing in a corner of the yard where I planned to garden around. Glad I identified it and learned it is an invasive tree so I can rid of it. I shall be trying this method!
I'm in the midwest too, I never realized at first why I would take care of some of these and in less than a year I had so many more!! Young saplings don't pull out easy either most just break off and keep on sprouting.
@@yukonjack.HAHA Surprise! Gift that keeps giving. haha Just don't give me any please.
Good luck on killing them.
I had a juvenile one appear in my bonsai bed where I have 9 other babies left to grow but tree of heaven was the only tree in there that was growing. I just dug it up and was amazed as to how long and thick the roots were for such a young tree. They had even crossed over the trees I purposely planted in there.
Hi Jim this is Peggy (Ferguson) Wisniewski.
I did a google search on black walnut trees and the tree of heaven, and came across this youtube video.
So I’m watching this video, and I realize I’m watching my childhood best friend. You look good old friend 😊, and thanks for the information on killing those root suckers. It’s already too late to prevent them.
Take Care old friend,
Peggy
Hey Peggy! Small world! I hope you are doing well and you are getting your TOH under control.
Thank you so much for this!! I have been having stress dreams about removing a tree of heaven in my yard, but you made it look very manageable :)
I had one large Ailanthus in my backyard that set seed every season and acted like a 'mother' tree, causing no end of seedlings in all the yards adjacent to my lot. To get rid of it, I ringed the bark all the way around with a hatchet, interrupting the tree's ability to feed its roots, then I sprayed the cut ring liberally with Tordon. The bark above the ring peeled off in sheets in about 2 months. I re-applied the Tordon a couple of times. Once I was satisfied that the stump was dead, I set up some guy lines, then took it down with a saw.
Looking back on it now, I probably would have saved a couple of small seedlings. Ailanthus seedlings grow very quickly -- 15-20 feet in a season easily -- but can be kept in check by _coppicing_ the trunks back to about 6 inches above the ground. Growing them this way with annual/bi-annual coppicing, they can be used for a very nice palm-like tropical effect in smaller yards. Later, if you get tired of it, just break out the Tordon. Whatever you do though, don't let them go to seed.
Thanks for this informative video! I will be at my parents property this weekend and will be on the lookout for it. Very useful clear video. Great job!
We have these trees in the foothills of the California Gold Country. I read somewhere that they were brought over by the Chinese who worked in the gold mines, and gold fields back in the days of the great Gold rush here in the west. They are a pest tree, and are cut down and treated mostly. We used to have some vast areas covered with them. You are right about how hardy they are as I have seen them growing in conditions where nothing else will.
Tree of heaven leaflets look more spikey when young. The leaves have a unique radiating palm-like distribution of fronds coming from a central branch - even at a very young age when it's only a foot high. Since they spread by suckering, you often see them growing in a tight stand like bamboo. They frequently grow along the roadside or in flowerbeds, even in grass - anywhere the soil has been disturbed. They also grow extremely quickly like bamboo. The bark is totally smooth when they're young.
Thanks for this video. For years, my forestry consultant and I have been soaking the bark on Tree of Heaven with a Garlon mix. It's pretty much under control. Most of my time is controlling the suckers. My neighbors' properties still have large Trees of Heaven that can send seeds my way. With their permission, I'm going to try the method shown in the video.
Good luck! I was working along a property line today and thinking about how we need to work with our neighbors if we are going to get these problems under control.
@@TheWoodlandSteward No neighbor denied me access. It’s a good investment to prevent the spread to my land . Also, I get easy access to parts of my farm via neighbor’s service roads.
What garlon mix did you use Mark? I bout the stuff he recommends which is said to compare to garlon?
@@enrquedelreal469 Hello. According to my records: 20% Garlon & 80% Crop Oil. Blue dye was added to the mix for marking where we treated. Also orange ribbons and spray paint. Hope my answer helps you.
Where can we get this? Please help thanjs
This is THE channel for me! I'm currently a landscaper wanting to take my career squarely in the direction of woodland stewardship. What degrees, certifications, education, or credentials do I need? I know half the woods by just living in it my whole life.
Intriguing idea! I guess it would depend on who your clients are and if you are working for yourself or another agency. A lot of education happens outside of school, but if you need to sell how knowledgeable you are, a degree certainly helps. People are probably more apt to hire someone with practical experience related to their particular problem. I would start keeping a portfolio of projects you've worked on, with before and after photos. I don't have any advice for you about official credentials. I may have my degree in Botany, but I do this for free. Talk with people in the industry that actually get paid to do what you would like to do.
I would say certified arborist and master gardener.
Hi from the Big City, not only have we had Ailanthus for decades, but now we have SPOTTED LANTERN FLYS all over NYC, not just my Brooklyn back yard, but *crawling on the side of a building on 33 street and the Broadway* !
Do you have an update on how your treatments worked out? Would love an update video on this! Had to cut down 3 large TOH on my property and now I'm dealing with seedlings everywhere, it's quite the nuisance! I am inevitably missing some of the seedlings so they grew a taproot and now I want to do a basal bark application since they are so small.
The plant that actually looks most like it here in VA is Staghorn Sumac, the leaves are much more more similar between those two than the Walnust, Ash or Hickory. From a distance they're almost indistinguishable until they flower and fruit. ToH has orangey-brown clustered fruit that hangs down where the Staghorn Sumac has distinctly reddish flame-shaped fruit that stands upright. TOH is everywhere along roadsides, at wood's edges and in lawns. I've been fighting them for a few years on 3 properties that belong to me and my family. But since the state isn't doing anything about them it's a constant thing and will be an ongoing battle until they get onto a control program.
In Northern California in the Gold Country these trees are all over where gold panning and prospecting was going on . A co-worker of mine who was kind of a History buff told me it was the Chinese miners who planted these everywhere they went in the mid 1800's using the fast growing straight trunks and limbs for tent poles , tool handles , and possibly even some medicinal purposes ?
I'd be surprised that they planted them to make use of the wood. It's very weak, splits easily, rots quickly, burns poorly and smoky; though I agree it grows pretty straight. I think of it as garbage wood. I am fighting both it and buckthorn on our property.
@@travelfeet I wish ours rotted quickly! We've got one right beside the house we bought 9 years ago, not knowing what is was. It's over 50' tall and 5' in diameter. We, now have hundreds in our yard and many hundreds more in the woods surrounding 3 sides of us. They're even growing thru our deck and under our home, separating the stone from the house. We are currently having to have our home leveled for the 3rd time in just under 9 years. We're at the point, if the home weren't 3000sf with the entire lower half in fieldstone, we'd like to just burn the whole darn property to the ground. The root systems on these things are unbelievable!
@@Chelarue Ugh, that sounds terrible. It seems to rot quickly once its dead, but as we both know, it's hard to kill! Good luck.
In Kansas City my neighbor's tree was only a small twig in 1997. By 2005 it was 20 feet tall and wide. That tree does not live long in this area but it drops millions of quickly sprouting seeds and has been a headache in my flower garden for 25 years. Every time I disturb the garden soil the seeds sprout. When my neighbor cleaned out her fish pond that grew under the Mimosa, I spread the muck in my garden, not knowing the seeds could remain dormant, even under water, over 20 years until exposed to the sun. The nearly dead tree was removed 4 years ago and I am still fighting seedlings and sprouts all summer.
Thank you for another educational video!
According to brief internet search, because inquiring minds want to know, the Tree of Heaven scent is likened to that of rotting cashews.
Now I have an odd desire to seek out some rotting cashews and see if that is right!
🤮
That sounds right. I'm battling this plant right now and always thought it smelled like rotten peanuts, but rotten cashews may be more apt.
Well, rancid cashews, yes. Or even rancid peanuts. The smell is similar.
Glad I found this, I was about to clear cut our grove of tree of heaven. I have 25 trees on a hillside that have sent root suckers out across my yard. Now I will wait till summer and treat as you suggested. Thanks
You would have ended up with 400 of them…
Oof! That was a close shave. You avoided hell.
The smell tells you everything you need to know about the tree of heaven. If you have ever smelled the broken leaf you will know it every time.
We called it stink weed growing up, always at war with the multitude of little ones popping up around the house. Didn't realize until much later that the tree in the neighbor's yard was the same plant.
I call these horrible bastard trees the Peanut Butter Devil and I have been at war with them for 5 years
I had good luck killing small to mid sized trees in one year (without significant suckering) using Tordon RTU and hack and squirt, but it has taken a second treatment to kill the bigger trees (say 20"+ DBH), and the really big trees I treated with Tordon are still alive after 2 seasons. So, I've switched to Trichlopyr mixed with diesel starting late last summer, so we'll see how that does. Have not tried glyphosate. I've been doing hack and squirt on TOH from late Aug. through mid October, but I've heard some say that they've gotten the best kills on TOH by treating mid summer, so I'm going to try that this summer. One caution, these trees seem to be horribly prone to barberchairing when cut 6-12 months after being treated. I let them stand dead where I can, but if they have to come down don't expect to drop them right where you want them with normal notching tree felling methods.
The problem with Tordon is it's volatility, which may affect other native plants
@@r.guerreiro140its pretty awful shit
Where can I get this chemical? Please help
Please never use glyphosate. It is a class 1 carcinogen. Not even a molecule should ever contact any part of your body.
I know glyphosate is effective but try anything else. I personally will try your methods with Trichlopyr and diesel, as I made the mistake of cutting an old grove of root suckers and a 12" DBH mother tree cut at 4ft above the ground.
We had two very large trees of hell cut down last year, my yard is now a raging sea of suckers. I absolutely hate these trees.
I feel your pain!
You made your problem worse by cutting it down lol. As a defense it will shoot up more sprouts or root suckers
Apply herbicide during later summer months so it moves it through the entire root system as it moves sugars. Wait 30-45 days then you can cut.
Same here, I pray the roots don't enter your and my foundation
@@papameticulousThey've entered ours, and we're now having to have our home leveled for the 3rd time in just under 9 years. We're at wits end with them! They're even growing under the house and coming between the stone and upper wood portion, literally cracking the fieldstone all around the house.
I found Tree of Hell on my property in Westchester County NY. Ironically, just below two 140 foot black walnuts. The stink glands were not clear nor the smooth leaf margin…the ridges seemed more frequent…main ID: hot old peanut butter smell instead of pungent black walnut smell! Great details for other ID; especially versus other trees
Wasn’t sumac either m, but forgot if I decide that based on old peanut butter smell process of elimination or more intellectual confirmation.
1:59 ridges for my specimen seemed to be 3-5 per leaflet. Hence, confusion prior to your video. Love what you did with similar tree specimens. I have 3 books on tree identification & still feel ignorant & incompetent. I am still 0.1% percentile versus population!
I drove through westchester and fairfield recently, it was all over the highway aides
I made the mistake of just cutting down a dozen of these, early, one spring, and spent the entire summer pulling something like 10,000 root sprouts (100 every day, for about 100 days).
A couple years later, I was trying to get rid of a couple more and learned about treating the stump with herbicide. But I cut them late in the spring, this time, after the root system has sent most of its stored energy up the trunk, to form a new canopy, and before that canopy had any time to repay that mortgage. Not one root sprout, that time.
I think late summer, fall or winter is the wrong season to cut them down, because lots of sugar has been sent back to the roots, by then. And early spring is too early, because that stored sugar has not been sent up to make the new canopy, yet.
You can also tell a difference from the smell of the leaves. Tree of heaven smelling like rancid urine and black walnut smelling like citrus and medicine.
So "smells like heaven" is not a good thing..lol
Umm tree of heaven smells like peanut butter
@@robertmichaeltiller3886 Very gross peanut butter
My black walnut leaves smell like Ivory soap
agree@@robertmichaeltiller3886
Wow, good luck these suckers are a constant battle on the farm. We don't have any large trees but constantly the young ones coming up scattered around the hillsides and Forest floors everywhere.
Jim I really enjoyed this video. It was interesting and informative. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and care for the environment.
Thanks Ted! I do hope that people catch some enthusiasm for taking care of our natural world. There is something that each of us can do to keep "the natural world" natural.
I have been using the hack/squirt and basal bark method on 12 trees of hell for the past 2 seasons. The method works and most of the bark is dark, decaying and clearly affected by the herbicide (Brustox / Triclophyr). I am having these trees cut down. I feel I am prepared for the battle of suckers that awaits me.
Ron, hopefully by killing them slowly with the hack and squirt method you will not have to deal with any suckers. Let us know how it goes!
Any update Ron? Did you cut them down? Any suckers?
@@enrquedelreal469 yes. The root system is extensive and they shoot up everywhere. I pluck them out while they are young. It will be a lifetime battle. Considering mulching the area but they seem to grow though that too.
@@libertyandcheesesteaks8928 Do you think the ones you are able to pull out are seedlings from the previous adult tree's fruit as opposed to root suckers?
@@RvParkBuilder some yes, but some came up with the root that would extend several feet back towards the trunk of the original tree.
Thanks for the video. I think this is the best video I've seen regarding treating these trees. We have (had) hundreds of these and, over the last few years, I've used your technique to kill them. I use Glysophate, for the hack and squirts. At least 44% concentration. I have noticed that the time of year is very important in getting a 'complete' kill. with no suckering. I've treated earlier in the season and had quite a few suckers so now I aim to treat just before the leaves start to turn. When, as you say, all the energy flow is heading towards the roots. I have noticed that many sprouts surround our dieing oaks. Whether this causes the die-off or is a results of the die off itself I do not know. It is concerning, as we have lost many oaks, and what with the allelopathic nature of this tree and garlic mustard I'm worried that the soil will take many years to recover. These Tree of heaven absolutely cover the roadsides here in Maryland, and any utility line cutting work always seems to just cut and do nothing else. Also we have the oncoming issue of spotted lantern fly, which is suspected of needing tree of heaven to breed. And those little buggers can do some SERIOUS damage to a woodland. So thanks for the video. Great advice! Hope more people watch this.
I have not noticed the Spotted Lantern Fly around here (southern Ohio), but I am sure it will make its way to us. It is good motivation to get the Tree of Heaven under control! Thanks for the comments.
Tree of heaven secrete juglone which are toxic to a lot of other growth. It's just an asshole tree.
Agree - this video was so helpful - thank you, thank you. We have ailanthus all over here in Northern Virginia and DC, too - along roadways, for sure, but really, everywhere. My neighbor has two 40 footers that overhang my backyard anx I’ve always got lots of little ones coming up - maybe from seeds, not sure - that I am trying to root out. (We are watching the progress of the dreaded spotted lantern fly here, too.)
Very informative video. We bought our house in march 2020. Within a month the side of the house of taken over by what I was calling the "city weedy tree". I had no idea it was actually Tree of Heaven until now. Last year I just hacked it all down and pulled stuff out twice. I thought I "fixed" it. Then sure enough it came back in 2021. I decided I wasn't going to waste my time so I went to Tractor Supply and a bottle of Tordon RTU which worked. I squirted it all over the leaves and within 2 weeks i had a wilted forest along the side of the house. Eventually everything died and turned black. I haven't pulled it out. It looks terrible, but honestly I wanted to see if it was actually dead for good.I'm dealing with my house looking like a horticultural massacre happened. I missed my time now that its September to effectively kill the tree feeding all of this I think. I may need to wait till next july to attempt a hack and squirt on the tree.
It sounds like you are getting it under control! I would think that you could hack and squirt your parent tree in September. If you wait too long you will allow it to flower again next summer.
HELP😢
In reading all these comments, I am seeing a lot of eastern states having a problem with this tree of Heaven. I live in California near the Sacramento area. We live on 4 plus acres. We have beautiful Heritage oak trees and many Agave plants or Century plants as they are sometimes called. Those clusters are huge right now but we are infested with the tree of Heaven it is taking over the entire property.!! When the Sprouts Are Young and the ground is moist we can pull them up by the root. The root looks like a twisted, bulbous type route but it also has a long network of rooting! They are spreading EVERYWHERE!!! They are taking over the century plants and growing at the base of all of our other trees and groups of them are sprouting up in clusters and TAKING OVER! PLEASE ADVISE HOW TO STOP THIS INVASION!!!😢
@@SimplyMissy1 Watch the video before you read the comments. That's how most people do it. Time consuming? The solution even more so.
Or speed it up by 2x@@ckennedy309
Very informative video. Thank you and very well done with the definition being on screen.
Thanks so much for the information..we live in a forested area. There are a healthy mix of species...predominantly oaks..Northern Illinois, Sublette specifically. We've been pulling buck thorn, and we weren't sure what the species now identified as tree of heaven..it helps when your neighbor is a Forrester. We were confused because of the similarities to suman and walnut. We'll be diligent in keeping our old oaks as healthy as possible. Your information is invaluable!
Thanks for the comment! As a former Northern Illinois Forest Dweller I appreciate your looking after the woods!
So glad I found this!!!!! Thank you!!!! …and the spotted lantern fly seems to favor this tree😡.. but now I know how to deal with them🙏🏽💖
I've been waging war against these trees for years. I volunteer to help maintain a public park. These trees -- which I call "wooden dandelions" -- were beginning to spread through the park. So during autumn -- while the trees are sending food down to their roots in preparation for next spring -- I girdled the trees and painted the wounds with 8% triclopyr. Next year, the trees were dead and only one tree produced root suckers. (The trees still occasionally sprout from old seeds.)
Thank you Jim new subscriber here I found your channel because k was watching a video on the spotted lantern fly 🪰 I live here in MD and this tree is one of the major attractions of this very very invasive insect “plant hopper” I’m sure your aware! So I am educating myself about the insect snd it’s preferences . Well done 👍🏻
Fortunately, I have yet to see a Spotted Lantern Fly, but I think about them every time I treat a Tree of Heaven!
As long as you are educating yourself.... you meant to use *you're not your
@@kevinkelly1529 thank you!! I take no offense 🙂👍🏻
I have like 5 of these in my yard and I kept chopping them down only for them to sprout out more branches 🙄 thank you this helps. An update on this tree would be greatly appreciated
Apply a systemic herbicide during late summer, 1x a week for a few weeks if necessary so the living tree will move the herbicide throughout the whole root system as it moves sugars during photosynthesis. Cut down in early fall. For my forest gardening business/agroforestry installs, this has proven to be the most effective but can be a lot of work but much less than hand pulling.
I just came here bci read that the spotted lantern fly likes this tree, so i wanted to see what this tree looks like bc we have a problem with that bug here in CT. I came to see what the tree looks like, i got a wonderful lesson as well...
I hope it was useful.
@@TheWoodlandSteward Türkçe olarak videoda anlatmak istediğini özet gecermisin bende dikmek istiyorum ama tedirginim
In the poorer of the older parts of the city where I was born, Decatur, Illinois, there are some gigantic ones. Nobody seems to cut any of them down. In any part of town, little ones seem to sprout from roots, or perhaps occasionally from seed.
Various places I’ve lived in the United States have lots of the tree. I recall a fairly big hillside in Boulder, Colorado that when I saw it maybe thirty years ago was almost an ailanthus monoculture…
It's funny, in the lower NY area, I don't think I've seen them that big. The only ones I've seen are about 4" in diameter, like any tree sapling that is a few years old, but not out of that sapling stage.
@@bigred9428Count your blessings! Our yard is full of huge ones, with the largest being over 50' tall and over 5' in diameter!
Excellent information. Thank you! We have an infestation of Trees From "Heaven" which we will continue to work on halting it's progress.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. Good luck with stopping TOH in its tracks!
Have used battery powered drill with 2" wood boring drill bit about 1" into trunk at 45 degree angle simply pour Fertilome brand stump and brush killer (undiluted) into cavity around tree trunk. Late summer or early fall when leaves begin to drop is correct time. For small seedlings or young trees, mix 8 oz to 1 gal water, just spray leaves only during hottest part of summer, wait one day, then cut or mow down. Large trees will take 2 years, will die back slowly from the very tips first. Works, patience is key!
I just found your video and thanks for sharing I have been trying to identify these most of the day, BIG help!
Glad it was helpful!
We had a huge tree of heaven in our yard and tonnes of suckers throughout our lawn and garden. We hired an arbourist who told us that best thing was to cut it down, leave the tree stump and he cut away a shoebox sized rectangle in the top of the stump. He said if we pour rock salt into that spot and add water, it’ll eventually kill off the tree stumps and suckers. He said we won’t see any difference this year in suckers. That’s for sure!! I’ve been digging up root ball/suckers all season to try to speed up the killing off process. It’s endless and depressing. Do you recommend that I use the herbicide on the worst suckers that come up? I worry that my garden will never rid of this horrible invasive tree and gardening will never be fun again! Any specific help is greatly appreciated. Also worry for environmental issues with using chemicals. Thank you!
I understand the concern about using herbicides, but you need to balance the environmental impact of not treating invasives with the impact of using the herbicides. We try to treat Tree of Heaven just on the bark to limit the spread of the herbicide. I try not to use a foliar spray, which will drift onto other non-target plants (particularly with the spreading nature and compound leaf of TOH). If I have to apply something onto the leaves, I prefer to use glyphosate, which has a very limited half-life in the soil.
@@TheWoodlandSteward thank you! Is there a specific brand or concentration you recommend to apply to the leaves? I guess the sponge on approach is safest?
A small amount of chemicals will NOT do anything at all, especially with how damaging this tree is, using chemicals is safer for the environment by a mile.
Would have been helpful to see the impact of this treatment on the tree after some time has passed. Do you wait a whole year and then cut it down?
Susan, I will try to do a follow-up video, like we just did for Japanese Stiltgrass. I find that the hack-and-squirt method takes more than a year to kill the tree. Often I will treat it again the second year. Because the trees are in the woods, I let them stand for habitat and let them fall naturally.
This is an insidious plant. Have 33 acres in southern Illinois and have used Tordan with similar technique. This and Russian Olive are invasive in area's where the land was not properly maintained. It amazed me that some people maintain these invasive junk trees.
Thanks for your video, I had this tree cut down by a professional because the root started lifting concrete slab in my backyard. A year later I see baby trees everywhere in my yard all around the house.
Hopefully I'll beat it before it wrecks my home
I'm glad I found your channel. This was a very informative video I look forward to watching your channel
Glad it was useful.
The Lanterns love these in NYC! Thx for making this very informative and taught me some useful terminology! I forgot about a 'rachis' lol
Great video I was reading about lanternflies and they kept referring to tree of heaven so I looked you up. Probably thought it was sumac as I rode by but now I know better.
We bought a small piece of property and had no idea what these were. Between the lantern flys and these bugs, I wish we hadn’t.
I was driving through NJ and PA the other day and this stuff is growing EVERYWHERE. Also probably the reason why there are so many spotted lantern flies.
Just happened upon your UA-cam. Very well produced and informative. I subscribed to learn more.
You have shared such wonderful info!! I will be rewatching to get the names of all the herbicides that you have recommended.
My current recommendation for Tree of Heaven is Triclopyr 4 (in kerosene) for basal bark treatment, and Triclopyr 3 (in water) for cut stem and hack and squirt.
Had one in front of y house in Chicago. City had to repair sewer system and they removed it. Was glad. When fall arrived it was the darnest thing to rake up.
I have been in hell with these stinking (literally) trees for 15 years. They were in the back yard around the back of a shed someone before us had planted around a little patio. I hated them so I cut them down. That was 15 years ago. I have been in tree fighting hell ever since. I bought a huge tractor and have pulled up and interrupted the roots with it and that didn't even work. I am going to try and approach it as you suggest. I hope it works. If it does I will send you a couple coupons for a dinner at your favorite chow joint!!
so! what is the situation now?
What happend now?
Liked and subscribed!
Though I'm in Florida, this content is educational and helpful in exploring biological control techniques.
There are multitudes of plant species (stupidly) introduced here similar to this tree in terms of the branching roots.
I see the technique you demonstrated as another possible tool in combating invasive here.
Many thanks!
Good luck! Thanks for combating invasives!
My place burned in one of the Northern California fires. I had spent 40+ years making sure no ailanthus were growing on my property, but after the fire they sprouted up everywhere. I assume seeds were carried there in the whirlwinds of the fire. I have been pulling the small trees. Will that be enough to eliminate them? Does pulling leave root pieces in the ground that will become trees? Thanks for the best video I've seen on this topic.
Sorry to hear about your place. I wonder if seeds were brought in or if a mature tree in the area was killed by the fire and the roots (which can travel pretty far) sprouted. I would think pulling seedling would be effective, but breaking off root suckers may not do much more than slowly starve the roots.
Sheep eat it like you wouldn't belive it. Find someone with sheep, and let them feast on them on a regular basis, until their roots die out 🙂
Thank you for this very informative video... I’ll be back to let you know if we can knock off the 50 or so small ones growing in our yard.
Good luck!
How did it go?
The tree that grows in Brooklyn. I can still remember how it smells when bruised.
Thank you. That along with pawlonia, shrub honeysuckle, privet and bradford pears grrr and that stilt grass taking over everything.
I love your videos, tree of heaven hadn’t been on my radar until I watched this, walked around our forest and I’ll be they are here. The Japanese honeysuckle, burning bush, Bradford pear and now The tree from Hell.
Job security!
This was exactly the information that I needed. Wondering if the trick will work on other trees that tend to sucker when they are cut to the ground. Hedge? Locust? Calary Pear? I know the Locust and Hedge (Osage Orange) are native but problematic when there are so many of them in one small woods.
I can't give you any advice from personal experience on Osage Orange or either locust, as they are fairly well behaved on our property. We don't have any Callery Pear (Pyrus calleryana), but I have not heard of problems with simply cutting and applying 20% glyphosate to the cut stem. Let me know if you find out anything different than that.
Heh. If you don't know it, this is the hardy weed/tree that Betty Smith used as a metaphor for a sort of hardscrabble spirit that allows the poor denizens of her childhood to survive oppressive city life in her semi-autobiographical "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
I have the same trees in my garden but recently the leaves started to become yellow and are dying, having brown and darks dots on them? anyone would know what cause this?
Sorry, I have no idea.
This was concise and exactly what I needed because I have these on my property and they drive me nuts
When we moved to our farm house in rural Southwest Missouri, our yard was full of elms and trees of paradise (heaven). All were tall, mature trees. We discovered the trunks of trees of paradise tended to hollow out they aged, which made them very brittle and prone to wind damage. Large limbs would crack and fall in a strong thunderstorm. Sometimes even the upper trunk, 20-30 feet up, would split from the wind as it was hollow. They, too, sent out sprouts from the roots, especially along the roadway ditches. It was a constant battle to remove them. However, over the course of about 20 years, the mature trees died out. No one poisoned them. Possibly the regular mowing kept sprouts from getting established. Left untouched, I've seen thickets of young sprouts that would require a chainsaw to make a dent in. We were told the wife of the original family had planted them because they grew fast and there were no shade trees around the house when they first moved there around 1900. The last trees probably died out in the 1980s. (edit for spelling)
Thank you. Great video. We treated a really large one a few weeks ago with the hack and squirt method. How long do you wait between treatments? It’s in an area of my yard I’d like to reclaim but want to make sure we don’t get more suckers!
Outstanding presentation. I despise tree of heaven. I've used triclopyr extensively on barberry (another invasive plant) and, I use it on my lawn to get rid of weeds. It's great for getting rid of clover and won't harm most common grasses as long as it's properly mixed with water. Thanks for the info on how to kill Ailanthus.
Why would you want to get rid of clover
@@melikecomedy It has no place in a lawn.
In greece we call ailanthus "stinking walnut" exactly because the leaves resemble walnut trees
A very descriptive name!
Excellent. Unfortunately, my tree trem guy just cut my tree of heaven off and left a few feet high stump as it was growing into an old fence. I had no idea what it was! It's taking over now as it has spread twenty feet around the tree.
"professional" tree people just means tree people who get paid. There are so many out there with a ladder, a truck , and a chainsaw. They don't all know what they're up to.
Great video. Just moved into a large lot with many trees of heaven. Will have lots to do, but only starting now, in September. Want to get them dealt with before the spotted lanternfly arrives, which will be soon!
Ok, so now I know why I have several popping up. Obviously I chose a tree guy that had no idea by removing the 2 or 3 that I had would only produce more. Question, the small ones that I have and are popping up in my front yard (and neighbors), can I spray the leaves with this Triclopyr? Some of them are young enough and I am able to pull them out, roots and all (I think!). But others will not budge. Checking out Triclopyr 4 and Kerosene on Amazon, do you have a link to share? Or tell me exactly what to purchase at Home Depot? And what about using a methylated seed oil instead of kerosene? TIA! Thanks for the great video too!
Great video. Thank you. I have been actively trying to clean up 40 wooded acres which has a lot of these trees. This year I got to see my results which were fantastic using hack/squirt and basal bark spray.
Question, when is a good time to cut down a dead one? Though 99% of them I will have to leave standing.
It depends on your motivation for cutting it down. If it is a hazard, I would cut it down soon after it no longer leafed out. If it is not a hazard, I would just let it stay and decay naturally, providing habitat for all sorts of things.
Jj what exact solution did you use? I bought the triclopyr 4 he recommended but I’m hesitant to mix with any flammable mixture because I live in the Central Valley in California and it’s hot.
Be aware that they are horribly prone to barber-chairing after having been treated this way, which is a safety concern. Don't expect to notch and drop one in a controlled way with normal tree-felling methods like with a live healthy tree. I've found that MOST of them barberchair 6 to 12 months after being treated.
@@johnr6179 what the heck is barberchair?
@@wbflatpick28 I believe it's the way the tree breaks when it's cut to be felled. They wood splits in a way that it's not a clean break, more like a barber chair. This means it can be very dangerous and might break in an uncontrolled way. Not good,
We have 35 acres in middle Tennessee with some TOH and also Princess Tree. We ordered both Triclopyr 3 and 4 for the job because we've seen conflicting info on the internet. You mention 4 in this video. Is 3 comparable?
And many thanks for the video! We think many of our neighbors are going to regret forestry mulching these invasive trees... What do you think? Is repeated forestry mulching an option to eventually eliminate this species? Or will it be a never ending battle with a forestry mulcher?
I'm not familiar with Forestry Mulching. I will look into that. While I have used Triclopyr 4 exclusively to this point, I would use Triclopyr 3 (which is water soluble) for applying directly to the cambium of trees by cut stem treatment or hack and squirt, and I would use Triclopyr 4 (which is oil soluble) for treating bark where the water soluble formulation would be repelled.
@@TheWoodlandSteward Thanks so much for the reply! Do you use or have a phone app recommendation to identify trees by taking a pic of the tree?
I see this tree everywhere, didn’t know it was so evil.
Probably more evil than I presented.
Thanks, very useful. I hadn't known about the allilopathy before, but that would explain a lot. My neighbors just had a monster Ailanthus that straddles the property line cut down, to our great relief, as it was sending out huge roots far away, and scores of smaller ones, all over our yard. They have left a stump about 5 ft. tall and I foresee disaster from the suckering. If I can't convince them to have the stump ground out, and I only have access to half its circurmference, would the Triclopir treatment still have an effect? Grateful for any suggestions.
I doubt if you could effectively treat the stump at this point. Hopefully, they already did. I would watch for those suckers and treat them individually with the Triclopyr 4 in kerosene on the bark. Or, possibly cutting the stems and treating the stems with a 20% glyphosate solution.
When comparing the rachis on the black walnut to that of the tree of heaven you mention that the red color is absent in the tree of heaven (3:50), but then later when showing the samaras (presumably in late summer) the specimen you showed has a red color on the rachis. (9:32)
I've experienced some confusion surrounding that in the past, because when I was first introduced to them I would find small plants without fruit or flowers and be left wondering if it could be, say, smooth or shining sumac. While I don't have that trouble so much any more, and the leaf margin helps a lot, I would like some clarification: there _are_ in fact times in which tree of heaven displays a reddish color on the rachis, correct?
You are right! Since I made that video I have seen a lot of Tree of Heaven and Black Walnut with reddish rachises. I shouldn't have suggested that it was diagnostic.
I grew up in North Central Indiana, and our backyard had a Tree of Heaven. I've always had an exceptional sense of smell.. this tree smelled HORRID to me. I HATE the smell to this day, and I still remember it.
Why ANYONE would have planted it where they did, is beyond me.
In Oklahoma we're having trouble with Bradford Pear seedlings springing up everywhere... there are old fields now with 90% bradford pears, pretty when they bloom but they crowd everything else out
And they still sell those stinking weeds in home stores. Makes me furious!
I hear the Norway Maple also inhibits the growth of other trees and plants.
Thank you for your video.
I never beleived my devices listened to me but having a convo with hubby about this tree today. We have what I think are black locust. Similar leaves. We are in high desert southern Calif behind the Eastern Sierras. I think that was the tree back by a separate workshop. I used image match of the leaves to match it! Its all over town! It rooted from seeds and mostly from the roots. The main tree wasnt that big and blocked the way into the workship door. Interestingly a very similar tree but grew more in a canopy shape but seemed identical leaves is growing about 30 feet over from that one. It has similar flowers but a lot of pods. The other one had flowers and minimal pods. We got the bad tree and roots all out. The other tree is not invasive even from the pods? I keep thinking maybe its the other gender or maybe just looks similar. Strangely the bees would die from the the tree from hell! Im not sure if they overate the pollen or it was toxic to them. The reason I was talking about it is we drove by a yard infested with these trees I call scary tree. But weirdly in the middle of the tees was one looking just like the "sister" tree? The pods are now turning brow as was this one? So I think thats how we got it out. We didnt hire out the landscaper to get rid of other dead trees on our retirement purchase lot. We just kept pulling the sprouts! First the 4 foot one then the smaller and kept after them. so none were there by the time he took out the main tree. Well at any rate the one with lots of pods never root and never sucker?!
If I use a mini excavator, and dig out the roots, would I still get the suckers? Great video. Thanks!
Thank you sir, for great botanical explanation. I wonder being tall tree, does tree of haven produce Any Useful Wood or any other economic benefit.
Good day. Jyssojuan
Hey, first off, excellent info.
Second, I was wondering if the trees become more brittle when killed with roundup and what, if anything, you do to removed the trees after they die?
Really helpful video. I have a ton of root suckers coming up in my yard after it was cleared by the previous owners (we just bought it). What is the solution you recommended for the suckers? Looks like you applied it to the stem rather than the leaves? I appreciate your help!
We apply a mixture of Triclopyr 4 (Triclopyr BEE 61.6% by wt.) 20 parts concentrate in 100 parts kerosene (or similar oil) as described in the Basal Bark Treatment, Low Volume. I don't really like to treat the leaves because there is so much overspray. I have tried spraying the solution on the base of the tree, but again, there is a lot of overspray. Because Tree of Heaven has such smooth bark it seems to work well sponging it onto the trunk. The problem there is that the kerosene dissolves the glue holding the sponge onto the applicator. I have taken to wiring the sponge in place. I hope that helps.
@@TheWoodlandSteward what alternative oils do you recommend?
Did you have any luck getting rid of the suckers? We are in an almost identical situation and are worries we will never be rid of the nasty things.
Very nice video. Do you have any experience with Autumn Olive? I would love to hear about what works best for you to get rid of Autumn Olive. I have a whole farm being overtaken with AO and cutting and bulldozing makes it worse. Spraying foliage with roundup just makes it mad.
We treat Autumn Olive the same way we treat Honeysuckle (see our latest video), with the following notes. While I can pull young Honeysuckles I find that young Autumn Olive almost always breaks off at the roots. Spraying with 2% glyphosate does not seem to be as effective on AO as other woody invasives. I have great luck with cutting and applying 20% glyphosate to the cut stem. While I have never tried mowing, other sources seem to suggest that it is pretty resilient to cutting without treating. Other sources suggest a basal bark treatment with a triclpyr solution, similar to what we recommended for Tree of Heaven, but I don'thave any personal experience with it. Does that help?
@@TheWoodlandSteward Yes, very much so. I am checking to see if my agriculture department in my state will help me with chemicals and/or labor. The deer and bear love the red berries but this stuff is taking over. I dozed 20 acres 5 years ago and the forestry dept. planted pines and they were quickly overrun with AO. Not one pine survived. I'm declaring war on AO this next summer. Thank you!!!
Should you treat the mature trees only once? Will they die or should you cut them down after this treatment? I am desperate to clear 2 acres from this invasive tree. There are mature trees and seedlings all over. I want to create a meadow for a garden and fruit trees. I want to completely erradicate all of the invasives. Thank you for best advice.
We were not in a rush and I had to treat several trees two years in a row. If I was in a hurry, I might cut them down and treat the stumps, understanding that I will also have to cut all the sprouts the same way.
We had to deal with these "paradise trees" when we lived in the Texas Panhandle. The trees in the yard behind ours sent out roots that went across an alley and through our property, under our house, all the way to our front yard. They cracked into and clogged my sewer line, requiring complete replacement. I dug out the young tree sprouts in the front yard and poured lots of table salt into the hole; they never grew back, which was amazing! However, another tree had broken my back fence, and I ended up digging a huge crater to get most of the roots out. (I probably dumped an entire box of salt in that hole, too!) These trees also had the most putrid smelling flowers; I could not go out in the backyard while they were blooming or I would get sick. (I live in Oregon now and see trees that might be tree of heaven, except they don't smell horrible. Maybe they're something else, as you have indicated.
Thank you for this video. I wish I had known about the technique to get rid of them years ago. I would not have had the whole tree nightmare!
That salt might make that soil sterile for a very long time. It was a method of warfare many years ago to destroy a population ability to grow food for themselves.
I have 2 of them in my yard with a hammock in between. No way I'm getting rid of it! it provides shade and I treat it with a mix of neem oil and water to clear any pests and fungi. Want a tree of heaven? plant it where you normally mow the lawn around the tree and treat it with neem oil. Haven't seen 1 pest yet on my tree
There is a creek at the bottom of our woodland slope that is dry, unless it rains. I have some 4-6’ TOH near there. Could you tell me what solution to use for a basal bark application? The diameters of the trees are too small for hack and squirt.
Thank you so much for all of your informative videos. I am in the Western Hills area of Cincinnati!
I'm in Somerset county, NJ, and those little buggers have taken quite a liking to my young maple trees. Fortunately, I have a Bug-A-Salt gun, and had a very satisfying time blasting away at them yesterday. Even wound up with a partially gutted female hanging from a branch by her entrails. I left it as a message to the other flies.
I have been very tempted to get a salt gun for Carpenter Bees, although swatting them with a badminton racquet has been pretty satisfying in itself.
You're such a badass
@@Daniel-ff6ho So far no lantern flies on the trees, so maybe they go the message 🙂
This video was so helpful! I am so worried about the latterly. Beat wishes to you all.
This is great info. These are coming up all around my yard and I never thought to treat them as you did.I just cut the shoots off about once per month in all except winter, Great information. Sharing!!!!
Glad it was helpful!