How to Best Approach Buckthorn Management

If buckthorn is dying, I'm happy.  But there is a strategy behind killing it that will save you some work in the long run.

In this video, I discuss an observation I made this summer regarding some buckthorn I killed last fall.  Had I thought about what I saw this summer last fall, I would have saved myself from a little bit of additional buckthorn work this summer.

* For foliar treatment of buckthorn I treat them with a 5% solution of Triclopyr 4. For cut stump I treat the stump with a 25% solution of Triclopyr 4/ 75% diesel or crop oil. I like to mix in applicator dye with both solutions to see where I'm spraying easier. You end up using less chemical if you mix in dye.

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[MarcusWieland-vpec]

I can't imagine having acres of land to have to battle with, but I make use of the buckthorn trying to take over my yard. I make trellises out of the big branches or trunks of the smaller ones. I pop up the ones that are about 3ft tall and weave those into some of the trellises because they're still thin and bendy. Then because the leaves are obnoxiously high in nitrogen I collect tons of them and ferment them to mix into plant food for my garden. Then wherever the buckthorn takes over, garlic mustard also takes over which I like to cook with.... I've also been wanting to experiment with making a tea out of it to use as a foliar spray to see how it does at deterring pests due to how both garlic peel tea and mustard seed both deter I'm guessing garlic mustard must have the same terpenes as both garlic and mustard plants seeing that it has the flavor of like a garlicky japanese hot mustard.... but if you can control it and get rid of it in a way you can also glean value you might as well because this isn't going to be your last battle with it which makes it an so you gotta have a mindset of "you're gonna pay me for having to kick your a$$". Aside from that, with some of the "huge" buckthorn thy get almost a foot in diameter, I like to make live edge candle holders out of them. I get one thick chunk from the center and the two "half circle" shapes, it's a pretty wood when you sand it and oil it.... it's an irridescent pinkish orange brown and is a pretty hard yet light wood to work with.... so if you wouldn't want to personally do something like that, that would be a ton of free material you could give to a buddy who likes making things like that. idk.... just some ideas.

[StevenSmith-t]

Glad to hear you’re chasing buckthorn. Triclopyr 4 / diesel 1:4 mix works on basal bark treatments as well when temperatures are below 85°. Good information as usual.

[Forestrist]

It can persist in the seed bed for 1 to 2 years. It's likely you'll still have to treat seedlings, but not as many. Good video. BT is a pita

[NorthMissouriOutdoors]

Great share and information on this topic

[dboutdoors]

How much Triclopyr 4 do you put in a 4 gallon backpack sprayer for foilage spraying? Thanks.