About 2 months ago I took out an old, old fruit tree, even ground the stump down below the grass line. Now, there are HUNDREDS of baby fruit trees springing up all over!! Obviously we'll mow over them (if the yard dries out) but I'm wondering if there is something I can spray or sprinkle on them to kill them. After we mow, the lawn will look like it has razor stubble if I can't get rid of all those trees. I don't want to kill the grass but those trees have gotta go! I don't know if they've surfaced because the tree is gone, kind of a survival of the species thing or because we've been so wet and rainy. When it's not raining that front yard gets A LOT MORE SUN than it ever has before. It really changed the ecosphere or whatever in the front yard!
They have probably come up from the seeds of fallen fruit and the rain gave them good germination conditions. We still get Peach tree saplings that way even though the tree died and fell over more than 10 years ago and I really thought I had raked up all the pits. While the ground is still really wet and when they are short, try pulling or using a trowel to dig them up. If the tap root hasn't gone too deep you should be able to get them out with the fruit seed attached or at least all of the roots if the seed has already composted into the soil. If you just cut or break the stem leaving the seed in the ground they will come back Cutting them will create two future trunks to grow instead of killing them. If you get some brush and stump killer and douse each tree 'stump' you should be able to kill them without hurting the grass. Beside the persistent Peach trees, I also pull up at least 2 dozen Pecan tree saplings every spring.
I wish I had a pecan sapling!! These are Italian plums or Italian prunes or something along those lines. I visited with a retired gardener/landscaper at church this morning and he said the exact same thing I think I'll head to the co-op and see if I can find some brush killer. He said it may take as long as a few years to get them all gone
Yes but I don't want to kill the lawn too. Bought some "Bayer Brush Killer" today. Hope that does the trick without killing my front yard
I don't think it will kill your whole front yard, but just the weeds/trees you are trying to kill. I have had great success with the round up products.
The brush and stump killer can be sprayed for fuller coverage but to limit the coverage making sure you don't accidentally cause harm other plants, you can use a paint brush to apply it to just the plant you want killed.
Great idea with the paint brush Toni...I have read about that idea before with great success. ....we have suckers all over from our flowering crab tree...we keep cutting them back and they seem to multiply. I noticed that they are extending farther away from the tree too...Good luck removing yours
