How can I keep trees from growing in my shrubbery?
Squirrels plant walnuts all over my yard, especially underneath bushes. Rogue trees pop up every spring, but because they're mixed in with the shrubbery, I don't notice them until they get to be a few feet tall. I chop them down, but they just come right back the next year. Is there a good way to get rid of the trees without hurting the bush? Using weed killer would kill everything, so that's out of the question.
Answers ( 2 )
I do not know where you live, nor what type of shrubbery you have, but apparently, you do not keep said shrubbery trimmed up off the ground. We do that here in the Arizona desert because snakes like to sleep during the heat of the day in that kind of deep shade, and some of those snakes are venomous- we do everything we can to make our yard attractive to humans and highly unattractive to snakes.
But, that is the first thing you can do if trimming the bottom of such shrubs up off the ground does not hurt their appearance. With a few to six or so inches clear under the shrubs, you will see tree seedlings earlier, and be able to deal with them without having to chop them down.
Because, short of making sure you leave no walnuts for squirrels to find and then hide- a Herculean task if such trees are anywhere nearby, which means you raking and piling and carting off for a number of weeks- that is your only other option. Squirrels do what squirrels do- they hide foods which are generally seeds of one sort or another, which, in the soil, then consider themselves planted, so they grow. Miracle of Nature, that.
If you are unwilling to put in that work yourself, or pay someone else to do it, then you'll have to accept that squirrels hide nuts under the shrubbery, and those nuts will grow into trees in your shrubbery. But if you can see such seedlings earlier, it will be an easy yank to get them gone and you will have tree-free-shrubbery.
How to Get Rid of Unwanted Trees
Once you determine that a volunteer tree is a weed tree, act quickly to pluck it out of the ground. The earlier you try to remove the seedling and its roots, the easier it will be, especially if you water down the area first. The key is to remove all the root system of the unwanted seedlings so that the plant will not regenerate.
If that moment has passed and the unwanted seedling is already well-rooted, you will need to try other techniques. You can cut down the tree and paint the stump with full strength weed killer or regular paint to kill it. Keep in mind, though, that the toxicity from the use of chemicals may spread to other areas of your lawn, killing other plants, or making the ground infertile.
Some suggest girdling the weed tree, since this effectively cuts off the canopy from water and nutrition from the roots. But this may take a long time and is probably not your best option. To girdle a weed tree, cut a one inch or more strip of bark off from around the trunk. Make sure to cut deep enough to penetrate the hard center of the trunk. Doing this will slowly kill the tree.