This shrubbery grows just south of the Dutchess County Airport on Rt 376:
I’ve called it in, so maybe it’ll get trimmed back in a while… meanwhile, we’ll take the lane and hope for the best.
Overgrowth on Rt 376
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning
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The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 
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5 responses to “Overgrowth on Rt 376”
Looks like Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) that may require agent orange to get rid of it!
For the ailanthus out by the edge of our yard, I sawed ’em off and painted the stumps with Roundup… that got its attention!
I’ve tried that. I swear it encourages them to send out more suckers. Currently I have an every three days rotation: pull out any, spray any leaves with roundup, and dig them out and extract the root structure as best I can. If I stick with that the entire summer, they do not make progress intruding into my yard. If I miss a week, it takes me about three weeks to get back to where I was.
I’m told that Roundup (and the clones) act as super-fertilizers. For thistles, it’s a Very Bad Idea to use the stuff (Yeah, food!). You might want to try a 2 or 4% solution of 2-4D. I had a tree growing just under the powerline, and it’s reluctant to die off. An application of 2% on the leaves and any fresh wood will stop the stump for a year. Your local(?) farm store will sell the stuff; I buy Weedar 64, much cheaper than Crossbow (which has some other ingredients that help…) I buy a big bottle (2.5 gallon), but 1 gallon quantities of the concentrate are available. Not sure of anything smaller. I don’t know if Home Depot sells it.
You need to let it dry before letting any animals near the treated area. I use a powered sprayer, but the mix will keep indefinitely, so I’ll put any leftovers in a spray bottle for the odd stubborn weed.
I used to have a bunch of the stuff when I lived in California. It doesn’t grow up here, mercifully. I dug a few mature trees out, thus getting most of the suckers, but found a bunch of small trees that had grown from seed. Thistles are bad enough; but they do (usually) respond to scorched earth and 2-4-D.