09-01-2010, 01:55 PM
If you’ve a vast amount of Strawberry Guava you need to clear -
Just wanted to report our success with eliminating our Strawberry Guava infestation and how we attacked it.
We initially began by cutting the base of the stocks with heavy duty 3” pruning shears until we finally found that the amount of time to cut down the many thousands we had would require far too much additional time and energy.
We eventually began using a weed whacker with a 9” carbide blade (this also makes for a clean near 90 degree cut rather than creating many dangerous pointed stumps that one could fall upon and become fatally impaled). That took them down quickly and effectively, allowing additional quick weed whacker sweeps at higher points on the cut stocks to pull them out of the vine entangled tree canopy. Then we removed them to a location where we piled them up disallowing most of them from being in contact with the ground. The cuttings can re-sprout if allowed contact with moist soils. After they dried out we then dumped them on another branch pile we had begun.
After doing this, we allowed the stumps to begin growing rather than trying to paint an herbicide on each individual remaining stump.
Several months later, after the stumps had re-accumulated enough leaf foliage, we sprayed them with water diluted Crossbow. It took a little over a month before their deaths became readily apparent in the foliage.
Aside from missing a few here and there with the initial herbicide application, the method worked fairly easy or rather as easy as it could be without using heavy excavation equipment or crop dusting them.
Just wanted to report our success with eliminating our Strawberry Guava infestation and how we attacked it.
We initially began by cutting the base of the stocks with heavy duty 3” pruning shears until we finally found that the amount of time to cut down the many thousands we had would require far too much additional time and energy.
We eventually began using a weed whacker with a 9” carbide blade (this also makes for a clean near 90 degree cut rather than creating many dangerous pointed stumps that one could fall upon and become fatally impaled). That took them down quickly and effectively, allowing additional quick weed whacker sweeps at higher points on the cut stocks to pull them out of the vine entangled tree canopy. Then we removed them to a location where we piled them up disallowing most of them from being in contact with the ground. The cuttings can re-sprout if allowed contact with moist soils. After they dried out we then dumped them on another branch pile we had begun.
After doing this, we allowed the stumps to begin growing rather than trying to paint an herbicide on each individual remaining stump.
Several months later, after the stumps had re-accumulated enough leaf foliage, we sprayed them with water diluted Crossbow. It took a little over a month before their deaths became readily apparent in the foliage.
Aside from missing a few here and there with the initial herbicide application, the method worked fairly easy or rather as easy as it could be without using heavy excavation equipment or crop dusting them.
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