Question
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Followup To
Question -
Hello,

I live in S.Florida.  I have a scheflera tree in my backyard, which is invasive.  So I'd like to kill it for use as a snag for woodpeckers.  I tried girdling it, but it is similar to a ficus or banyan in that it has too many nooks and crannies and I can't girdle entirely around it.  If I girdle it too much, I'm afraid it might fall over in a storm.  So I heard I could poison it.  Where might I get tree poison for this?  Thanks.

Jeff
Answer -
You can kill the tree with a herbicide but you will have the same situation as the gridled tree--a dead tree that over time will fall apart and eventually fall. If the tree is near the house or other structure that it would hit if it fell I would recomend cut the tree now. If you want to use a herbicide Garlon would be the one I would recommend--you spray the trunk of the tree and the herbicide is absorbed into the tree and kills the tree.

Thanks!  Where can I get this Garlon?  Do you have to mix it with something?  I'm not too worried about it falling over, the "trunk" consists of several small trunks that taper to the top, and its' far enough away from our house.

Answer
Garlon is sold at garden type stores or Agriculture Coop type. It is mixed with water (read the label for directions) and sprayed on the lower trunk of the tree bark (this is called a basal spray). IF for some reason you can not get Garlon you counld use Roundup but you would have to cut through the bark and then spray. Roundup needs to contact the green tisue of plants to kill them. With Roundup you need to keep the spray off other green plants since it will kill them also.