Recumbent Bicycling

Overgrowth on Rt 376

This shrubbery grows just south of the Dutchess County Airport on Rt 376:

Rt 376 Overgrowth - south of DC Airport intersection
Rt 376 Overgrowth – south of DC Airport intersection

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.

5 thoughts on “Overgrowth on Rt 376”

  1. Looks like Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) that may require agent orange to get rid of it!

      1. 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.

        1. 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.

  2. 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.

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