Smoke

[Dave]

It is pretty smokey here today. The BLM had some contractors cut several hundred acres of Juniper a year and half ago. They went through with looked like giant log skidders with a grapple on the front. They pile them where the ground was flat enough to get around. Well today they are burning those piles. The smoke is all blowing right down to our house. A lot of smoke! Thank you BLM.

I have been using what is sold as Pronone pellets. I forget the chemical. Little pellets about the size of an aspirin. It says one pellet for every 3 feet tall. Just spread them around the drip line of the tree. The trees just die in place. Tree is dead a few months later. Taking up less space than falling them. Also a lot cheaper and easier than falling, piling, and burning.

 

[kenny thomas]

I wasnt familiar with this herbicide but just read some about it. Looks like it should work good. But lots of Personal Protective Equipment recommended. Is it that bad to handle?
Is it restricted use?

 

[bird dog]

Its best to use vinyl gloves if you put them out. They don't work real well in tight clay soils but do very well in sand or loam. In some states they are restricted.

The best way to use them is on the upside of the plant you are trying to kill. They soak in in and gradually work down hill through the target root system. You have to be careful with them around desirable trees. You can distribute them them uphill of encroaching brush to keep it in check.

In some places they work phenomenal. In some places you can hardly tell you put any out. They are slow reacting and take a good rain to get the slow process started.

A good use of them is along fence lines where you have some small tree and brush growth. Walk along the fence and drop one pellet per linear foot on the uphill side.

I keep a sealed container of them in my side x side to toss out when I come across something that needs to die.

Spike pellets are one in the same.

 

[kenny thomas]

Its best to use vinyl gloves if you put them out. They don't work real well in tight clay soils but do very well in sand or loam. In some states they are restricted.

The best way to use them is on the upside of the plant you are trying to kill. They soak in in and gradually work down hill through the target root system. You have to be careful with them around desirable trees. You can distribute them them uphill of encroaching brush to keep it in check.

In some places they work phenomenal. In some places you can hardly tell you put any out. They are slow reacting and take a good rain to get the slow process started.

A good use of them is along fence lines where you have some small tree and brush growth. Walk along the fence and drop one pellet per linear foot on the uphill side.

I keep a sealed container of them in my side x side to toss out when I come across something that needs to die.

Spike pellets are one in the same.

Ok, i used Spike for years.

 

[puzzled in oregon]

Description

Pronone Power Pellet Herbicide, 3 oz. Jar

Approximately 130 Pellets



Concentrated pellet of hexazinone allows easy and uniform dosage as an individual stem treatment for control of undesirable woody plants. For use in rangeland and in forestry site preparation, pre-harvest control of hardwoods, and pine release in pine-hardwood stands for growth enhancement of loblolly, slash, shortleaf, and longleaf pine. Provides control of many woody plants such as black cherry, blackgum, dogwood, elm, hawthorne, hickory, oak, red sweetgum, and sumac. On woody plants, symptoms usually appear within three weeks after sufficient rainfall has dissolved pellet and carried herbicide into root zone where it's absorbed during periods of active plant growth. Active ingredient: 75% hexazinone.

PRODUCT NOTES

• Restricted Sales: R53 Cannot be sold in AK, CA, CT, DE, HI, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, NH, NJ, NV, OH, PA, RI, VA, VT, WA, WI
• Restricted Sales: R93 Cannot be sold Internationally

 

[puzzled in oregon]

Never heard of this product before. But definitely have some brush I would like to try it on.

 

[kenny thomas]

Guess i cant buy it here. But im 6 miles from TN.

 

[SmokinM]

Never heard of it but nothing about that sounds like a good idea to use.

 

[Dave]

My first try of this I had real good luck with the 12 foot and smaller junipers. They absolutely died. The bigger ones are showing some dead portions but haven't completely died. The pellets work out to be costing 10cents each. So my second try I used a few more pellets on the bigger trees. I ordered them from Forestry Supply. They delivered them by mail.

 

[kenny thomas]

Never heard of it but nothing about that sounds like a good idea to use.

Many things were restricted in Virginia because of the tobacco crops. It was sensitive to almost everything. Now tobacco is almost gone.

 

[puzzled in oregon]

I think I can afford a 3 oz. jar, that is about 130 pellets. The SDS was a little spooky.

 

[bird dog]

I used them on some large ash juniper which are what most people in Texas call cedar trees. Put the pellets around the drip line. It takes a few months but the trees died along with the roots.

A few months later with the top showing dead, a big wind would just topple the trees root ball and all. I liked them because the cleanup was just one pick.

 

[farmerjan]

What do these pellets do to the ground/earth around the trees? What about grasses and such? Also, what about earthworms? Not picking on anyone or the product... I would like to know any and ALL things it can affect.... I won't use sprays around the base of the electric netting to stop the grasses growing up into it... and it is a PITA to move the whole row a foot to weed eat or mow it... but I have finally gotten past the damage treated hay did to the garden crops and I did see some earthworms this year finally again... so I am very cautious of using anything that will "kill" something...

 

[puzzled in oregon]

There is no a lot of information, and it sounds like it can leach to other plants easily and be effective quite long.
Maybe not a good idea on the wet Oregon hillsides.

 

[SmokinM]

Yep when .03 oz. will kill a healthy tree diluted into the soil around it by rain doesn't sound like it is something I want around.

 

[greybeard]

Where was this stuff when I was trying to kill a million chinese...........................tallow?

 

[farmerjan]

One other concern would be what happens if the trees are cut for firewood...or even just burned in place.... does it get released in smoke and how that affects the air quality?

We are having the effects of the smoke from the huge wildfire south of here... air was not the greatest for breathing... but it goes away in a couple days, and the rain coming will hopefully help to slow it and take alot of the particulates out of the air.

 

[simme]

One famous use of Spike was when the Alabama football fan decided to take down the 80 year old oak trees at Toomer's Corner at Auburn. These were beloved oaks where Auburn football fans gather to celebrate. The Alabama fan made his second mistake when he called a sports talk show to take credit for his work. The trees could not be saved as they had been given an extremely large dose. Eventually the Alabama guy "pleaded guilty to a Class C felony of criminal damage of an agricultural facility, was ordered to serve at least six months in jail, spend five years on supervised probation and ordered to pay $800,000 in restitution". He never got the restitution paid up before his death 10 years later.

His stated reason - he wanted the Auburn fans to hate him as much as he hated them. I suspect he might have succeeded. But suggest that there are probably better goals in life if we put some thought into our goals.

 

[Lucky_P]

One famous use of Spike was when the Alabama football fan decided to take down the 80 year old oak trees at Toomer's Corner at Auburn. These were beloved oaks where Auburn football fans gather to celebrate. The Alabama fan made his second mistake when he called a sports talk show to take credit for his work. The trees could not be saved as they had been given an extremely large dose. Eventually the Alabama guy "pleaded guilty to a Class C felony of criminal damage of an agricultural facility, was ordered to serve at least six months in jail, spend five years on supervised probation and ordered to pay $800,000 in restitution". He never got the restitution paid up before his death 10 years later.

His stated reason - he wanted the Auburn fans to hate him as much as he hated them. I suspect he might have succeeded. But suggest that there are probably better goals in life if we put some thought into our goals.

Simme,
I was going to post on just that occurrence. The guy went to Auburn and poisoned those trees while almost everyone in town was at, or was watching Auburn play in the SEC conference Championship game in Atlanta.
https://www.wsfa.com/story/14043972/toomers-corner-trees/
Aggressive attempts to save the Toomer's oaks were undertaken - massive irrigation, excavation and replacement of as much soil as was possible, but they declined and died over a couple of years' time. They have subsequently been replaced with new live oak trees, after replacement of all contaminated soil in the area.

I grew up at Auburn, not more than about 4 miles from the Toomer's oaks - our farm was about a mile outside the city limits then... it's now completely within the city limits, and has been at least partially developed as an upscale residential housing development.
I had collected acorns from the Toomer's live oaks, back around 2001, and had one seedling growing here in KY that lasted 10 years or so, until a typical KY winter took it out.

It's hard for some to imagine someone with that much hatred for an institution, all over football games - but there's an almost religious fervor surrounding SEC football. I know my maternal grandmother HATED Bear Bryant with a passion, but I don't think she'd have gone out of her way to hurt him or anyone/anything associated with U.ofAL.

 

[greybeard]

Heck Lucky, it's with an almost religious fervor that causes US Army West Point Cadets to steal Navy midshipmen at the Naval Academy's mascot...a goat. And vice versa. The USN mascot (goat named Bill) has been stolen by either Army or Air Force at least 10 times and once using chloroform to knock the goat out. Once, the Navy goat ended up in a vet clinic for a week after the kid napping. Army also stole the Air Force academy's falcon and stuck it in a dog crate to get it off the AF area and the poor thing beat it's wings bloody trying to get out. In the early 90s, Navy midshipmen cut phone lines, and zip tied a bunch of US Army civilian employees while stealing the West Point mules.

It used to be nothing for UT fans to sneak over to College Station and try to set the Aggies' big wood pile afire a day or 2 early.