Fig Tree Jungle Hell

[MikeGrahamT21]

24 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

I’m not sure why all the comments on killing these figs. 

You want to remove them, not leave them there but dead 

 

get them cut down and get the stumps either ground out, or grubbed out with an excavator, then you can treat any new growth that may come back with a herbicide. 

 

What is is the point of having a dead tree stood up in the air. 

And as for drilling holes and filling with diesel, that’s not exactly the most environmentally sound idea, ??

 

Have a read of the link i posted.

 

If you cut it down, the roots grow even quicker, the stump is the access route for herbicide, so don't cut it straight out, make good use of it! Any form of cutting, and it will simply strengthen whats left. So the last thing to do is cut it down, when it is truly dead.

Edited February 2, 2018 by MikeGrahamT21

[Nickfromwales]

2 minutes ago, MikeGrahamT21 said:

Have a read of the link i posted.

 

If you cut it down, the roots grow even quicker, the stump is the access route for herbicide, so don't cut it straight out, make good use of it! Any form of cutting, and it will simply strengthen whats left. So the last thing to do is cut it down, when it is truly dead.

+1

[Declan52]

36 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

 

 

What is is the point of having a dead tree stood up in the air. 

And as for drilling holes and filling with diesel, that’s not exactly the most environmentally sound idea, ??

 

The diesel will only kill the tree as its being absorbed by just the tree. You only get maybe 50ml in each hole and just top this up. You don't just pour a Jerry can full round the roots as that just won't work. 

It will take a month or maybe more depending on how big the tree is and how vast its roots are but it will work. Once it's killed then the digger will pull it out very easily.

[Russell griffiths]

1 hour ago, Nickfromwales said:

If you don't kill the entire root network by letting the plant transport the poison throughout you'll spend forever chasing new growth. 

You don't leave a dead tree behind, it gets removed when the job is done ☠️?

I fully agree with you on this but you don’t want to do it with the tree still there in leaf, trying to kill off that lot when it still has its leaf area, you will be on a loser. 

The amount of vigour that fig will have come the spring will be amazing, trying to kill it whilst it is still up will be hard you will need to find the cambium layer to a lot of the stems to allow sufficient herbicide to be drawn down into the root system. 

 

I personally would cut it down and use a product called an ECO-PLUG we install thousands of these a year and we provide a no quibble guarantee that if they don’t work we will come back and do it again, for free we have never in the last 4-5 years of using these had a call back, whereas all previous methods only provided hit and miss results. 

They are not cheap but good products never are. 

 

As for diesel i think you will find it is not systemic so will only kill localised tissue and not be drawn down into the root system. 

[PeterW]

EcoPlugs are granular glyphosate with a moisture cap - we’ve used these and also use straight granular glyph in vertical holes in the stumps. Only downside about plugs are they only come in boxes of 100..!

 

Figs have a fairly thick cambium layer - take a Stanley knife and cut round the stem about knee height and cut a 4” section from the bark all the way round. Get a decent 10mm wood spur bit and drill a deep hole at 45 degrees into the trunk, to about half way.  Fill it with glyphosate granules or concentrate half way up and then just run duct tape over the hole and all round the cut band. 

 

That will sort the root and slow down the regrowth at the top. 

 

And then start pruning...!!! Hard ..!

[Yzzy]

No... the 'lass' wants the tree dead, like dead dead... I couldn't give a fig () how brutal it is or not BUT as Nick says, if you leave anything vaguely alive from the fig then it will pop up somewhere and haunt you for years... ergo... I want to kill it dead and then dig it all up.

 

What the 'lass' doesn't want is poisoned ground stopping her from growing anything else there or stopping her from having that fish pond and stream she dreams of.

 

 

[Yzzy]

Excellent advice here thank you all so much.... I'm so cross at the mess but that's life... she initially planted 7 tiny saplings... these are now HUGE and little 'babies' are popping up all over the lawn and on the other side of the bloody garden near the south wall... I'm surprised there aren't any in the actual house...

 

I'll inquire into getting a professional in but I know it will be too pricey for us... so I will do what I can from the suggestions above for now.

Edited February 12, 2018 by Vision Of Heaven

[Jeremy Harris]

Glyphosate has the big advantage that it is only toxic when inside the target plant, and any that accidentally gets on the ground will break down naturally into harmless products within a few days, due to the action of natural soil bacteria. 

 

Once it's done it's job, the soil won't be contaminated with anything from it, and so can be dug over and other stuff planted after a week or two.

 

The bad name that glyphosate is getting from some environmental groups is due to farmers using it to "dry" crops.  Essentially they spray cereals, rape etc with it as soon as the seeds/grain heads have fully formed, which kills the plants and makes the seed/grain dryer.  They can then harvest it with less chance that they will need to put the grain through a grain dryer to get the moisture level down to a level where there is no risk of mould growth.

 

The major issue with this practice is that the seed/grain may well end up containing glyphosate, that then goes pretty much directly into the food chain.  My personal view (as a farmers son) is that the practice of spraying crops pre-harvest with glyphosate should be banned, as it's a misuse of the product.  Used as originally intended, and paying heed to the need to make sure that over-spray does not go near a watercourse, glyphosate is probably the safest and least environmentally harmful herbicide we have.