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Garlon 4 generic is all I have used for years. Used to mix it 4 parts diesel to 1 part garlon but last couple of years I have used 5 parts diesel to 1. Some people even use 6 parts diesel but I think they probably spray a lot of the mix on the trunk. I use an ultra low volume sprayer so I probably will not go more than 5 parts.

I have heard some people concerned about using diesel in a hand sprayer. Manufactures of the sprayers say not to use combustibles in them. I think that is just a CYA statement. Diesel is not that highly flammable and has some lubricant properties so I don't worry about it.

Just don't use a sprayer that has a 'funnel' type top. All sorts of crud falls on the funnel and finds it's way into the mix when pumping air into the tank. Then it plugs up the sprayer filter or the tip of the wand.

It might work but I doubt it and I would never use them. Too expensive and time consuming to first cut the trunk and then install the bag, and then to take the bag off later if you want to reuse it.

A person would have to be totally against using chemicals to even try this technique. They are right that pulling buckthorn larger than ones small enough to pull by hand or simply cutting at the stump is a waste of time as it will not work.

Mix it with diesel at 5/1 and you get a gallon for stump or base application for $15 per gallon.

Spray leafs with it mixed with water and it goes even farther.

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/invasives/fact/commonbuckthorn.html

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/invasives/fact/glossybuckthorn.html

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Invasives/control.html

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Invasives/care.html

"Invasive shrubs such as buckthorn and honeysuckle prevent the regeneration of young trees, causing a long term but very serious impact on forestry in Wisconsin – a $20 billion dollar per year industry. Control of buckthorn alone has been estimated at $500-$2,000 per acre over multiple years.

I was surprised that common and glossy are present in the three extreme NW counties of the state. I will have to keep an eye open in Sawyer county.

However the distribution maps are not accurate. None is shown on the maps in Manitowoc county yet it has been a serious problem there for several years.

Landowners should assume it is present in every county by now. They were once sold by nurseries as an ornamental and thus got their start planted at city and farm homes, then the birds spread seeds to woodlands. This is why infestations are so scattered. People would be surprised to find out that they have it in their own or neighbors city yard.

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/ForestHealth/documents/ControlofInvasivePlants.pdf

Well today I found about a dozen tall ones I still missed, they were mostly 2" diameter and two about 4". There were quite a few up to 1" and tons in the quarter inch class. I did have 100% kill from last year, I could tell because I break off a branch when I treat anything over a couple feet high and nothing I treated today had any broken branches.

I probably treated over 300 today in about 2 hours. No way could you treat that many using any method other than trunk base spraying. Well except foliar spray and there is still a ton of stuff less than a foot tall that I need to foliar spray in that patch. When you open up the canopy like I did last year the seeds just explode. That is what the picture is, just one small part of what needs to be foliar sprayed.

By the way timing is perfect right now. The BT is well leafed out, some other stuff has leafs but overall there is very good visibility to easily spot individual BT.

Oh ya, almost forgot to say that I also spotted a good tree to put a stand in. Nice trail has developed right in front of it.

The key to massive kill of buckthorn is to wait until fall when native trees have dropped their leaves yet buckthorn has succulent leaves. This date is about October 20th give/take a bit. This period lasts about 2 weeks. You drop what you're doing and begin doing foliar spraying using water. Mix at 3-4% triclopyr (Garlon). Gets stiff wind to your back and waft the spray onto the leaves of the buckthorn. Target buckthorn that stands 6 feet and less. Generally Garlon 3 (an amine) is used. Garlon 4 (an ester) can be used as an emulsion in water. This method only kills the trees with green leaves because it won't penetrate bark when used with water. Because native trees have dropped leaves, they are spared. Large swaths of little buckthorn are EASILY killed this way. This is a way to precision target buckthorn while sparing natives.

Using oil penetrants like diesel or odorless paraffin should be used as direct application with low-volume wands or brushes to avoid collateral damage of native trees. Oil will penetrate indiscrimanantly.

Try the fall foliar spraying...very efficient.

Garlon (triclopyr) 4 butoxyethyl ester is great mixed with oil (ester soluble in oil). The ester form can be mixed with water to form an emulsion. Garlon (triclopyr) 3 amine is great mixed with water (amine is soluble in water. Amine CANNOT be used with oil penetrant.

The reason the DNR doesn't' spend a lot of time educating about buckthorn is because they have to prioritize the threat. CWD is a billion dollar threat to hunting industry. Buckthorn is mainly on private lands where individuals choose to fight it. The landowner absorbs the timber productivity loss. The biggest threat today in exotic invasive plants in Garlic Mustard. GM is 15-20x more destructive than buckthorn. The DNR is only one of the avenues to Learn. They can't go door to door. Lots of web education is out there. People just need to "want" to learn.

"If buckthorn was that terrible (I'm not saying it isn't) why doesn't the DNR make a bigger deal about it and get the media to advocate for a "war on buckthorn" much like they did with CWD in deer?"

So why does a person have to go to the DNR's website to hear about it? That wasn't the case with CWD. The DNR and the media took every opportunity possible to create fear in people over CWD, why not things like Buckthorn? "When in doubt keep killing buckthorn" right? How many articles have you written about buckthorn over the years? How many about CWD?

Edit to say Treefarmer must have been typing while I posted and he makes some good points.

Are you spraying uncut buckthorn? I have been cutting mine because they are hindering some trails but I have others I'd love to just spray to kill.

I swore that I read some time ago that people were using Canola oil instead of diesel with their Garlon. Anyone still doing that?

Yes, I treat uncut. The buckthorn I am doing is in areas where I don't care if the trunk stays there for a while. Just cut the stuff that is in your way, leave the rest.

Do the uncut trees eventually just die and fall but can't propogate?

The only exception to this answer might be if you base treated a female with seeds (berries) in summer there might be less chance of the seeds being viable if you cut the tree and deprive the seeds of any nutrients sooner than simply treating the standing tree. I know literature will advise destroying the berries which is really hard to do with a tree as big as these. Another advantage of base treating now versus in fall.

Thanks, much appreciated.

Then I spent several hours killing BT on about 2 acres of my own land. Still have another 2 acres to go. I just can't seem to reach the point of extermination. Every year I think I must be done and still find at about 50 each year on the total of about 4 acres where they populate.

As I got down to a half gallon in the sprayer and finished out at a break point I headed over to the neighbors to spray about 6 big stems I noticed over there yesterday after I ran out of spray. Before doing those I went to hit a few little stems on another fence line that I noticed. Got those and then there was another, and another so I kept following that fence. I ended up spraying over 52 trunks that were over 3" diameter along abut 200 yards of fence. Some single trunks but maybe half were multiple stems off a common stump, some as many as 6 stems on a trunk. That's not even counting smaller stuff that I sprayed. I quit spraying stuff under an inch so I could get the big stuff with what was in the sprayer. That is just what I could reach from one side of the fence. There is a LOT more on the other side.

No wonder I cannot reach an end point on my land. Birds are likely carrying seed from there right over to my place.

Gotta keep telling myself to not throw in the towel.

Have you used dye in your spray to help know what has been sprayed?

I just wish I could get my neighbors to do their property. Most just don't care. The closest ones I am doing for them just to help reduce the amount of seed that gets to my property. Some of it I hunt on so I sort of feel it is one way to thank them.

I treated one area of my own land this morning that I have been treating hard for about 3 years now. It had a big female that dropped a lot of seed before I noticed it. I still treated probably about 100 stems in that less than 1 acre chunk but for the first time they were all under 3' tall, most of them under 1' tall so I have gained on it.

Mine was $62.31 a gallon shipped right to me. They also have cases that have 6 quarts in it if you don't need 4 gallons.

UPDATE: I goofed on the price. The $62 per gallon did NOT include shipping and tax. Actual price per gallon delivered will end up close to $71 per gallon.