Re: Sugar maple roots

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: : : : Pat, you'll be successful. Just make sure to destroy the "little locusts" as soon as they emerge. Sometimes pulling the plants out doesn't work effectively since roots get left behind occasionally underground. Therefore, when they come up, use that round-up full strength so you know you're killing them down to the roots. Remember, if you kill some grass in the process it is not the end of the world, grass are like a giant vine, they do not have roots but rhizomes that creep along the top of the soil, barely protruding. It's going to be a rough time to do this, but it's really the only way to do it. I wish I had other suggestions Pat, hope this helps!

: : : : Good luck

: : : : 
: : : : : : Pat,

: : : : : : There is not a reason the locust seedlings take three years to disappear because if you destroy them down to the roots there is nothing left to live. Also, I assumed they only were seedlings, not stumps. For the stumps with no grass, skip round-up and go for a brush killer, round-up usually works well for noxious weeds but the brush killer will destroy everything, period. After you apply the brush killer, everything will be yellow and horrible, ground up the remaining areas with a pitchfork and remove any leftover "little locust" roots. If the stumps are more than a foot in diameter (5-15 year old) you may want to have them professionally removed or you could drill holes into them, add kerosene and light. 

: : : : : : My info is from a variety of University textbooks, favorably Kingsley Stern's Introduction to Plant Biology volume eights' appendices, and .edu websites. It will not take three years.

: : : : : : Good luck Pat,

: : : : : : Mike

: : : : : Thanks Mike..........First of all, the 2 trees we cut down had been there for probably 30 years.  We had the stumps ground, but there are numerous large roots, some of which were removed--mostly the ones above ground level.  I'm waiting for someone to come and dig up a few more, mostly where there is no grass.  As for the Round Up, instead of mixing the concentrate as 3 oz to 1 gal., we mixed 8 oz to 1 gal, which is supposed to be a brush killer, according to my local nursery.  The stumps of the 'little locusts' turned brown, but within a few weeks new ones came up amid the dead ones.  I'm hoping that once some of these major roots are removed, the worst of my problem will be gone.  Several times I've pulled out every single little locust (which was extremely tough in some areas and took very long), and in a day a bunch of new ones came up all over the lawn.  I can't have my entire lawn dug up, but I will have the 2 areas dug where the old trees were (about 1/4 of the lawn).  I'll live with this until winter, but I don't want to see more growing next spring.  Do you think I'll be successful?

: : : There's only thing Mike.  When I killed many little locusts with the round up, within a week new locusts came up amid the dead ones.  This didn't happen everywhere, but it did happen.  So, it didn't kill the roots. ???????????????

: Hi.........it's me again.  The little locusts were coming up in droves all around where the trees had been cut down.  I got tired of pulling them out and killing them (more just kept coming up from the same spot).  So, last week, I had a backhoe come in and get rid of all of the roots.  They were enormous and some were very deep down.  I had to get 10 yds of top soil to replace all that was dug out.  It cost me a bundle, but I think the job is finally done.  There are still a few here and there (outside of this area) that are still coming up, but I can tell they are from seed (easy to pull up).  I do not think I would have gotten rid of this problem any other way.  Let me know your opinion.  And, thanks for your help.



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Special thanks to Jane and Bob Rosi for providing this information.

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