Cleaning a fence row

   / Cleaning a fence row #1  

TNhobbyfarmer

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Middle Tennessee
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Kubota L3430 Polaris Ranger 500
I recently bought a piece of property partially fenced. The previous owner did not keep the fence row clean, hence a lot of growth to clean up. What is the best chemical for killing saplings, vines, honeysuckle, buck bushes, etc.?
 
   / Cleaning a fence row #2  
Any of the 'brush' killers will work.. I buy the grass/weed concentrate and mix it in a sprayer.. Much cheaper this way than buying premixed

Some brush is hard to kill, so I will mix the grass/weed killer a tad stronger and spray it twice.. I have sprayed some poison oak and it took 2 or 3 sprayings to get it all..

good luck..

Brian

Edited to remove the reference to 2d4 as a grass/weed killer
 
   / Cleaning a fence row #3  
Pronto Big N Tuf (41% glyphospate) from TSC is about the cheapest thing I've found that will work.
 
   / Cleaning a fence row #4  
I know spraying fenceline is easy but I will not do it again. I found that once I did it I killed off things that were pretty easy to weedwhack and then got hit with some substantial plants that were more resistant and used more expensive and harsher sprays. They were also tougher to cut and slowed me down.

It is easy to weedwhack under the bottom strand of high tensile...woven wire is tough so I lay in that with a gap at the bottom for weedwhacking. I know it can be a pain but I just weedwhack 2-3 time a year and I like it better. I regret some of my spraying.
 
   / Cleaning a fence row #5  
I use Remedy on my fencerows, but not as often as I should. Mine grow up in hackberry, juniper, and black locust. Sometimes it is necessary to mix Remedy in Diesel oil. I believe it is still a non-restricted herbicide.
Butch
 
   / Cleaning a fence row #6  
Since you did not post any pictures :) we don't know how bad it is :D or how much of it there is to deal with.

If it's brush and you are going to have to cut it you might try painting the stumps with 2, 4D straight from the bottle. Just use a disposable chip brush.
 
   / Cleaning a fence row #7  
Here's a label from a 2,4-D / Dicamba product for you to read and decide if it's right for your situation. I've never seen anything better on poison ivy and honeysuckle, and it's tough on most vines and woody plants. It will not control most grasses (glyphosate products can take care of those if needed).

http://pbigordon.com/pdfs/BrushMaster-SL.pdf

My local Southern States carries it on the shelf.
 
   / Cleaning a fence row #8  
Use Grazon DS or Grazon Extra - it is safe for grazing animals and has no withholding period. Add an organosilocone penetrant for greater effect.

It has a residual effect (12 months in the soil for DS, 18 months + for Extra) and will not kill the grass.

A cheaper option is Methylsulfonurea which also remains active in the soil for a similar time period (depending on rainfall, as its broken down my soil microbes but they need moisture to do it).

15 grams Methylsulfonurea / 100 Litres water + 300ml Roundup is an amazing mix, but you will need to add a non-ionic surfactant for maximum efficacy.

Sorry, I don't know the gallons/quarts equivalents of those measurements :eek:
 
   / Cleaning a fence row #9  
I recently bought a piece of property partially fenced. The previous owner did not keep the fence row clean, hence a lot of growth to clean up. What is the best chemical for killing saplings, vines, honeysuckle, buck bushes, etc.?

It's easier to clean out the fence row while it is still green. Take a lopper, a weed eater with a brush blade, and/or a chainsaw and cut it while it's still green. Either way it's going have to be cut. Dead stuff is much harder to cut than green stuff. As far as spray goes some of these chemicals are not good for critters. Roundup is critter friendly. It works on weeds, Honeysuckle, Wild Rose, and grass. Doesn't work on saplings or trees. I weed eat a lot also. We won't graze the horses on a fence line that has been sprayed with Roundup until it rests a week. Sometimes the pasture rotation and the spraying doesn't work out. So I weed eat. You have to do both. Spraying alone won't get it done.
 
   / Cleaning a fence row #10  
You don't mention, or I just probably skipped it; but is your pasture fenced in? If so, a couple of goats that you can pick up cheap at a local auction will do wonders. Temporary fencing will limit them easily to where their attention is totally on the fence line or if the pasture is not totally fenced.
We use electric fencing with good results; but our Boers are more docile than some of the brush goats; but typically a 4 strand fence works great. The neting type of electric fence that comes with it's own posts in 150' lengths is fantastic for this purpose. We use it to clear the outside of our fenceline where the county/state wont get the brush.
Good Luck.........Dennis
 
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