By Brad from Swea City, IA
There is nothing that you can apply to the stumps to make the roots die. The correct way to kill the trees would be to remove the roots from the ground. You can either hire a company to do this or if you have a tractor, you can dig them out yourself. I'm not sure what you are using the land for, but overall it would be best if you could remove everything. Roots that are left in the ground will continue to try to grow and the roots will continue to feed even with the tree stump cut off. So, if you build a house or have landscaping on the property then you can have major problems with roots getting in everywhere (like pipes) and stealing vast amounts of water from your landscaping. And if you leave the roots and then the roots start to decompose under the ground, then your yard will have lots of mushrooms popping up everywhere and lots of bugs, all feeding on the dead tree roots. The way that tree removal companies remove trees is cutting out the roots completely. Sure it will make your yard ugly, but the grass will always regrow back.
Chemicals won't help you, chemicals are a poison and they will hurt you. They may cause damage to the trees but you would need A lot of poison and do you really want to live or garden or anything in an area that was just washed in poison?
What I would recommend, check with local woodworkers in the area. Mulberry tree wood, also called Murrey, is supposed to be great wood for fine furniture. Perhaps you could sell the wood to local artisans to help recoup the costs of removal. Or depending on how large these trees are, you could sell them to be transplanted elsewhere. People pay big bucks to have large trees transplanted, although it does require about a years of prep work from the owner to prune the root system.
If the Mulberry tree is the same a mulberry bush, then I think you need to cut the roots. I was at college, many years ago, and there was a mulberry bush on the grounds. While installing a power cable to the boat house, the bushes roots were damaged. I believe it survived, as the damage wasn't that bad, but the National Trust was concerned, and though it might die.
Does anybody know how to kill a mulberry tree? I have tried cutting it down, but it keeps coming back.
Karen
By Jari
By Ann
By Chell
For Sherry, mulberries are very easy to propagate if you can find one near you - just strip most of the leaves off the bottom of a small end branch about 12 inches long and place in pot of potting mix and keep damp, or you can just stick straight into the soil. Do more than you think you'll need as they may not all take.
Regards. (01/01/2005)
By Jo B.
Add your voice to the conversation. Click here to answer this question.