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Roundup will kill it if used as part of a larger and long term policy of cutting, recutting, spraying, and respraying. Much better results are obtained by being very selective in what you spray rather than spraying wholesale. I have killed trees as large as my wrist by cutting them down, spraying the stump with full strength roundup, then spraying again when the sprouts come up, this time with the concentration recommended for foliage. It will take repeated follow-up but eventually it dies. If you have the time and the energy you can kill it. Unfortunately no one has the time and energy to go out and do this where it is needed most, over the thousands of acres of relatively native forest, on inaccessible ridges and mountaintops. Therefor, the biocontrol is very necessary. It is hard to believe there could be anyone as backwards and possibly malicious as that Singer guy who is behind the Save the Coqui and Save the Guava movements. I have heard of Munchhauser's Syndrome where people make themselves or other family members (usually children) sick because they somehow crave attention that much. Maybe that is his problem. Some things democracy is not good at, as when loudmouth fools can so easily upset the apple cart for nothing. It is the price we pay for the benefits of democracy.
Fire won't do much unless it occurs often enough. The above ground parts get killed back but the roots send out sprouts again. That happened on my property.
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Thanks for the link, I'll give it a listen (later) but it's impossible that these things are near my place in HPP because I would've noticed them! We do have crickets, but I can only hear them when I've wiped out the nearest coquis - it's a sign that I'm having an effect.
If there were no coquis I'd just hear a wall of cricket sound which is 1% as annoying as coquis and maybe 10% of the sound volume.
I can assure you, I know exactly what a coqui sounds like and there's nothing that can touch them in decibels.
ETA: re-reading your post I see that you figure the coquis keep the katydid at bay. That could be the case. Where can I go to hear them in the wild?
ETA: wow, that is annoying! Nothing like that near me and I can remember when we had no coquis. Crickets, yes, but not loud.
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Yes, Mr Singer is at it again, he must crave the attention.
Strawberry guava is a plague. Remember that story a few months back of hunters (or hikers) who had to be rescued because they were surrounded by the stuff and couldn't get out? I can imagine that all too well.
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What if you mixed Roundup with a broadleaf herbicide as well, maybe something like 24D, aka CoolShot? When I have needed total weed kill in the past, this is what does the trick. I have a friend in the lawn care business back in Illinois. 24D/Coolshot, when used alone, is a great weedkiller in grass as it doesn't kill most normal grasses.
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I presume that the original poster wants to preserve some native or otherwise desireable plants. That is part of the reason that I suggest the surgical strike route. It is also my experience that guava is extremely hard to kill and I have not read of much that will kill it in one go. I have read that roundup/glyphosate is relatively benign and breaks down quickly and would prefer to use it even if I have to use it multiple times. I have successfully suppressed yellow himalayan raspberry by hand pulling with very rare instances of using roundup and what makes it work is being persistant. The roundup just helps when the plant is too large to pull easily by hand due to the thorns. Now, guava is tougher but I still mantain that the key is investing enough time and energy rather than looking for that silver bullet.
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We had the same question, and the advice from Garden Exchange was to use Crossbow. It's about $40 a quart, put it on the freshly cut stumps. Can also get that from Farmers Co-Op or CPS. It will help to get a little Turf Trax blue dye so that you can remember where you've been. Mix them in a little squeeze bottle, only a tablespoon of the blue stuff is enough for color, and put it on the freshly cut stumps (needs to be freshly cut in the past few hours or else the cambium will seal up, stop feeding the roots, surface poison would be ineffective). So far so good for us. We did miss a few, and they grow back thicker than the original tree, they like to sprout in all directions from a cut stump, so you'll get 10 thin trees looking like a bush where you once had a tree. Also, the stuff you have in your cut piles will start to send down roots and sprout towards the sky if you don't kill it somehow. Good luck.
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http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-Allig...B000BANMUY
These alligator tools work well. I had cut away part of the guard around the drive gear to to clear wood chips when working the tool hard. I have done 1/2 - 3/4 acre on one blade.
Be sure to always cut the guava at 90 degrees to the stalk. Cutting at 45 leaves a deadly stake to fall on in case of a trip and fall - a common danger in a thicket.
I use Remedy to paint the stumps with good results... one time application will kill it ... 2" brush and food coloring to see where I have been
anyone use a goat on this stuff?
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All this effort, all this time, all this expense. Biocontrol has a lot going for it.
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just be sure not to cut the stuff at 45 degrees it can do some serious damage if you fall on it - see my post previous page - aloha
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Just want to make sure.....Waiwi is the orange-ish barked very tall/thin trees, right? The pictures I've seen don't show the bark very clearly.
Wao, I hear ya on the katydids, we have "siren trees" where I live!
Puna: Our roosters crow first
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Tordon RTU works best for me on stumps but cant find it here in the Puna area. I mix 4 oz. Crossbow in Diesel and spray in the newly cut stumps.We cut the bigger trees into firewood and chip the smaller stuff and branches. Foliage mix crossbow will take care of the smaller saplings but may take repeated applications. BEI had crossbow for about $75.00/ Gal.
Ron E Smith
