Does anyone know how I can get rid of all these baby oak trees? How do I prevent them from sprouting like this again? Our back yard has lots of oak trees and we love them for the shade, plus we just love trees. But the acorns this year have sprouted like never before.
By Cricket from Parkton, NC
HI cricket. I am from the coast and all I can do is just pull them up before they get too big. I can't cut them down;they just sprout back worse. Poison doesn't work either unless you are willing to do it two or more times about a week apart and I feed birds so I don't like using bad stuff like poisons. I have discovered that a thick mulch will help and cutting the limbs of the big oaks so they are not hanging directly over your beds. But the squirrels still plant the acorns in my beds! If you discover a miracle, please let me know. The pin oaks and water oaks are very prolific here.
Hi Ncgardener. Unfortunately my baby oaks aren't in my flower beds. I could handle that better than what I have. Mine are all through my back lawn.
Take a shopvac to them after the acorns fall, and before they sprout, and it does the trick. It's a bit noisy but it works, and I think it's kinda fun! I only have one red oak about 28-29 years old, but it puts out a lot of acorns. Also landscape fabric and bark mulch so they have a harder time taking root.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I have a lot of "volunteer" trees (oak, pine, pecan, chinaberry, weed trees) in my yard. They are 1 inch - 6 inches in diameter. I want to get them out of my beds. I have cut them back, but need to kill or get the roots up. I have tried to shovel. Any ideas and thanks.
By laidback arcing from Charleston, SC
Get in touch with the local arbour foundation and see if they will come and take them away for you. Or maybe some other organization trying to get a wooded area going.
Cut tree & put motor oil & salt on the cut portion, that kills the roots.
BJ from MO.
Some people posted epsom salt and others just have salt. I understand about cutting into the stump and adding but do I water them in around the roots or just put them around the roots and allow nature to do it thing? Thanks for the help!
Suckers of my cassia tree are springing up all over the yard including between cracks in sidewalk, what to do?
By Judith R from Tampa, FL
I use Roundup using a Q-Tip to paint a small amount on the leaves. It's tedious but works and doesn't affect the adjacent grass. You might have to do it 2-3 times.
my extension agent says to cut and paint the stem with a brush of full strength roundup in the fall. (As my grandfather says the sap is going down). obviously the sap takes the poison with it. This has to be done within 90 seconds after cutting the small tree or large bush (paint around the base too) as the cells close up and you want the roundup to do this while the cells are open after the cut.
