controlling kosters curse

[Durian Fiend]

Better late than never.  Here's my experience.

Roundup:  Works pretty good, fast but indiscriminate.
Milestone: No effect.
Crossbow:  Slow death.  But death.
Cover it (like with a tarp):  Very effective, but impractical for large areas.  Same goes for pulling it out.

I don't like using roundup for a lot of reasons but one of the big ones is that it's not a selective herbicide.  AKA potential collateral damage.  Crossbow is selective and effective, and not nearly as persistent as Milestone (which doesn't work in this case anyways).  It's also labeled for unrestricted use in livestock pastures (except pregnant/lactating) after it's dried.  We don't use it in our paddocks, but it's reassuring to know this.

Crossbow works by mimicking the plant growth hormone auxin. It causes uncontrolled growth in susceptible plants, leading to their eventual death by disrupting normal cell division and growth processes.  This is not a fast process with kosters curse so it takes patience.  It might be faster by decreasing dilution but I'm not in a hurry.

How do you apply the crossbow? 

This plant is easy to kill with a mower until it gets larger.  Then you can either dig/pull it out or cut flush to the ground for ease of mowing in the future.