We own 27 acres south of Gause, TX. The property has a few spots of mesquite trees. The land doesn't have water. Any suggestions on local services? Does anyone do spray work? Just wondering if it makes more sense to hire someone... Appreciate the help.

Lots of mesquite experts on this board. We dabble heavily in mesquite clearing. What size area do you want to treat? How thick are the trees? Can you drive a 4 wheeler through the thickest patches? How tall are the largest trees you want to kill? Any pear to deal with? Proximity of your mesquites to live oaks or other vegetation you want to spare? Do you want total annihilation/napalm treatment or a more selective thinning? Just some of the questions to consider.

Depending on answers above you might have success w something as low cost as a decent backpack manual sprayer and remedy/diesel or sendero, all the way up to dozers, aerial, a grubbing skid steer, or a Polaris set up w a 20-40 gallon tank and demand spray pump.

No matter what you choose, get ready to spend a little to a lot of money and stay at it every year. Do a bit each year and re treat the areas you have conquered.

Thanks for all that information. I think we're going to get a couple of backpack sprayers, and just walk the property.

A few questions:

- Do you need to cut into the tree before spraying (e.g. with a hatchet or machete)?
- Can you cut the tree 8 inches from the ground, leaving only the trunk, and spray, or does it need to be completely intact?
- Is there a fire hazard with using diesel? For example, if we spray on Saturday, and it doesn't rain for a few days.

I think we're going to try to make a run this Saturday, so any tips are greatly appreciated. We found a supplier of Remedy for $60, instead of $90 at TSC, so that helps.

bjuneau said:

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Thanks for all that information. I think we're going to get a couple of backpack sprayers, and just walk the property.

A few questions:

- Do you need to cut into the tree before spraying (e.g. with a hatchet or machete)?
- Can you cut the tree 8 inches from the ground, leaving only the trunk, and spray, or does it need to be completely intact?
- Is there a fire hazard with using diesel? For example, if we spray on Saturday, and it doesn't rain for a few days.

I think we're going to try to make a run this Saturday, so any tips are greatly appreciated. We found a supplier of Remedy for $60, instead of $90 at TSC, so that helps.

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Remedy is typically used as a basal treatment, just spray the bark when possible, foliage as required.

Diesel has a relatively high flash point, so w/o an ignition source, you're good.

GSS said:

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bjuneau said:

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Thanks for all that information. I think we're going to get a couple of backpack sprayers, and just walk the property.

A few questions:

- Do you need to cut into the tree before spraying (e.g. with a hatchet or machete)?
- Can you cut the tree 8 inches from the ground, leaving only the trunk, and spray, or does it need to be completely intact?
- Is there a fire hazard with using diesel? For example, if we spray on Saturday, and it doesn't rain for a few days.

I think we're going to try to make a run this Saturday, so any tips are greatly appreciated. We found a supplier of Remedy for $60, instead of $90 at TSC, so that helps.

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Remedy is typically used as a basal treatment, just spray the bark when possible, foliage as required.

Diesel has a relatively high flash point, so w/o an ignition source, you're good.

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Thanks for that info. I guess we'll be good to go then.

Should I cut the trees at all, or let them be, and just spray? I'd like to get some firewood out this for our smoker, but if I need to leave the trees intact, we'll come back later for that.

Cutting mesquite and applying Remedy/diesel mixture to the stump, within a few hours of cutting, is effective in killing tree.

Thanks. Alright, so guess we'll cut a few trees, too. Bringing a few chainsaws with us, so should be a fun day. I grew up in East Texas and originally from Louisiana, so never had to deal with these... They're nasty little trees, stickers and all...

If the trees are still small and are slick barked you can get away with just a basal spray. Once they start to get hard barked or bigger than about 3" in diameter, you get a better kill by damaging the bark and spraying over. You can also spray in the middle of the first limb junction when the limbs are starting to split the bark and get good results.

EagleFordEarl said:

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If the trees are still small and are slick barked you can get away with just a basal spray. Once they start to get hard barked or bigger than about 3" in diameter, you get a better kill by damaging the bark and spraying over. You can also spray in the middle of the first limb junction when the limbs are starting to split the bark and get good results.

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Read this. Perfect advice.

I shudder to think of how many hours/days/years of my life I've spent with the one armed monkey on my back. A portion of the brush busters experiments were done on our place after we took over management from my grandpa who's only method of brush control for 60yrs was "shred it"

Sooo... how big are these trees?

I can take some pics of some trunks dad has saved up in the back yard of you want to make a deal. There's about 5 that are better than a foot around and 8-10 ft in length.

bjuneau said:

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They're nasty little trees, THORNS and all...

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FIFY - and remember, those thorns are full of bad medicine. Get one lodged under your thumbnail and you'll be whimpering like Jake Spoon until ol' Deets came along and fished it out with his knife. Can't believe Miss Lorena ran off with that joker.

bjuneau,

You've received some good advice here. Since one of my hobbies is watching mesquite die, I'll throw in mine too.

You mentioned having 27 acres, and that can be a bit to cover with just a backpack rig. If you have access to an ATV, I'd buy a 15-gallon sprayer with a 2 gpm 12 volt electric pump (under $100) and use that instead.

I've found over several seasons that generic 'Remedy' (61% Triclopyr) plus diesel applied basally (to the lower 12" of the trunk) with a sprayer will kill mesquites of almost all sizes. Even the larger (12" - 18" diameter) ones. I do agree that spraying higher up where the branches begin to spread out works well on the big 'granddaddy' mesquites.

Plus, you can basally spray just about any time of the year, although I prefer to do it in the Spring and Summer so that I can monitor the results, which generally appear in about 2-3 weeks.

After they die, let them alone for at least 6 months or so before you fool with removing them. This ensures that the root systems are dead as well.

A&M says to mix a quart of Remedy with every gallon of diesel. I've had fantastic results (90%+ kill) with just a pint per gallon of diesel. You've found a good price ($60/gallon), but generic Remedy is available on the internet for about $65/gallon, including delivery, if you prefer convenience.

After the trees are very dead, most become so brittle that you can almost kick them over with your boot. Many will collapse on their own weight in the first healthy windstorm.

Enjoy yourself, and as the good doctor noted, stay away from those damn thorns. It's surprising the bad stuff that hangs out on them. I found out the hard way.

Contact the USDA NRCS office in Cameron. They can have someone come out and evaluate the situation. You may be eligible for cost-share $.

In my area, you can find a farmer or rancher to do the job for his herbicide cost and tractor cost plus a set fee.

If I was going to foliar spray 50 gallons of Sendero for you, I would charge you a minimum of $200.00 for the job plus the cost of a 1/2 Gallon of Sendero (that would be $72.00). This estimate would be contingent upon seeing the actual site before making the deal. Price would go up fast if there are steep slopes, very large trees, large rocks or ditches, or just dense growth limiting the access.

One person I know has a 300 gallon tank in his pickup bed and sprays from the seat of his Ford Pickup. Obviously he is limited to the landscape type, but he can sure foliar spray a bunch with one tank full.

@Ribeye-Rare

Thanks for all that info, very helpful, and very much appreciated. I think I'll give the backpack sprayer a try. I'm young, healthy, and wouldn't mind the walking around, so I'll probably toss everything in my pickup and give it a shot this weekend.

Thanks again, to everyone, for all the info!

You might find this interesting. I used to aquire access to mesquite to sell as firewood, by making a deal with the land owner that I would treat the stump of any live mesquite with Remedy and diesel.

Amazed me, every time, how many mesquite grub beatles were covering the rounds at the end of the day when I went around loading them up.

Then, after seasoning the rounds, always amazed by how much wood the grubs had eaten.

Discerning customers preferred mesquite that had died, or been killed, standing. Said it made better coals and not as eaten up by grubs.

goats, it is pretty dang impressive. I have cut mesquite and even before processing the whole log within 1-2 hours, will have hundreds of longhorn beetles show up. These little stinkers:



If I want to finish a piece of mesquite and keep the bark on, I have to spray it immediately and then I will typically store it in a dry place (inside the garage usually) so they can't find it and the spray won't get taken off by rain. Any mesquite I leave outside, after 1 year, they have probably eaten 70% of the sapwood. After 2 years, there is barely any left. They can be so bad you can hear them from 10-20 feet away.

Agrams - what's the official name of the little honey colored worms that eat their way out of the sapwood for a year or so after felling? They leave pinpoint holes and sapwood dust as the chew their way out. 1-3 mm in length, 1 mm wide at most. Haven't looked at one under a scope but you can make out a thorax, abdomen, legs and I think jaws. Are they in the wood already when you fell the mesquite or are they nymphs related to your longhorn grubs laying eggs in the wood? I put my mesquite cigar tray in the freezer to try and kill them per you recommendation.

I'm not sure the exact names. There are a ton lf species, but the only ones I've ever seen and confirmed are flathead borers and longhorn beetles.

agrams said:

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I'm not sure the exact names. There are a ton lf species, but the only ones I've ever seen and confirmed are flathead borers and longhorn beetles.

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I got curious about this because those are the only two that I ever see. Googled....... the flathead borer adult is the Metallic Boring Beetle. They are those irridescent, very shiny, usually green beetles that are attracted to your fresh chainsaw cut into a mesquite.

Also, the larvae of the Longhorn Beetle looks very similar to the Flat Head except it doesnt have the big flat head.

It is amazing how both of these insects can find a fresh cut mesquite.

Well, we had a guy come out and quote us 9k to mulch about 12 acres of mesquite trees since they don't cover the entire 27 acres.

I'm contemplating renting a skid loader with a forestry attachment, and just doing it myself. I could probably rent one with attached me for around 3k...

Thoughts?

Personal opinion based on experience battling mesquite for 20 plus years. I would not shred mesquite without some sort of follow up herbicide. Frankly I would not shred mesquite and then try to apply herbicide to the rubble/stumps.

If you are contemplating renting a skid-steer with a grubber that pulls small and medium sized trees up by the root (vs a true shredder), grubbing them is extremely effective. In fact if you get the root stalk w the grubber you don't need to spray the tree. Any type of cutting/shredding that does not remove the root will result in rapid regrowth, in some cases thicker than prior to cutting/shredding. Given what you posted earlier in this thread I'd start with backpack or 25-50 gallon sprayer and treat with Remedy/Diesel or Sendero. We started using sendero this year and so far, pretty impressed with the results. You have to pay attention to soil temperature and treat the entire tree canopy w sendero, different application with remedy/diesel.

It's just a lot of ground to cover with a backpack sprayer, but maybe it's worth it in the long run. Also, how easy is it to pull them up with a grubber once they're dead? Most of the larger trees are between 4" - 8" in diameter. Everyone I've spoken to wants to mulch, or recommends mulching, not grubbing.

The Bobcat rental is about 3k for a week:

T770 & Fecon BH74SS Forestry Package

If I rented an excavator instead, and pulled them up, what would you recommend (e.g. size, attachments)?

So if I understand the order of things correctly:

• Spray all the trees
• Rent Excavator and pull them up
• Fill holes with front loader
• Respray any regrowth

txcajun said:

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If I rented an excavator instead, and pulled them up, what would you recommend (e.g. size, attachments)?

So if I understand the order of things correctly:

• Spray all the trees
• Rent Excavator and pull them up
• Fill holes with front loader
• Respray any regrowth

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This sequence does not make sense to me, but maybe it is more practical at your place.

For me, I foliar spray mesquites. About 3 years later the mesquites are falling down. I don't have the time (or money) to both spray and grub mesquites. I clear the thorns wherever I am going to drive but mostly just let them rot.

I have a neighbor who owns a backhoe. He digs his mesquites out with the backhoe. No herbicide.

I would not pull them up. Every single root you leave will sprout, and the foliage you try to kill will be hard to kill because of the massive root system in the ground. When they are dead, you will be able to push them over. If you can't stand looking at them and want them gone now, the cut stump treatment is your best choice.

Quote:

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I would not pull them up. Every single root you leave will sprout

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This is not true. They only sprout from buds on the trunk down to maybe a foot underground to where the first root branches off. So if you grub a mesquite below the ground, you will kill it provided you get enough of it.

Now shredding them will cause a situation where multiple trunks pop up, but that ain't grubbin'.

Apache said:

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Quote:

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I would not pull them up. Every single root you leave will sprout

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This is not true. They only sprout from buds on the trunk down to maybe a foot underground to where the first root branches off. So if you grub a mesquite below the ground, you will kill it provided you get enough of it.

Now shredding them will cause a situation where multiple trunks pop up, but that ain't grubbin'.

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I agree w this 100%

what's worse? Your mesquite problems or my east texas honey locust problems

Bottlerocket needs some sendero also

Allen76 said:

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txcajun said:

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If I rented an excavator instead, and pulled them up, what would you recommend (e.g. size, attachments)?

So if I understand the order of things correctly:

• Spray all the trees
• Rent Excavator and pull them up
• Fill holes with front loader
• Respray any regrowth

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This sequence does not make sense to me, but maybe it is more practical at your place.

For me, I foliar spray mesquites. About 3 years later the mesquites are falling down. I don't have the time (or money) to both spray and grub mesquites. I clear the thorns wherever I am going to drive but mostly just let them rot.

I have a neighbor who owns a backhoe. He digs his mesquites out with the backhoe. No herbicide.

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For the OP - this post sums it up. Common strategies are either herbicide and time, allowing the trees to decay on their own or truly grub the trees that are amenable to grubbing w a grubber or back hoe.

No need to spray and grub the same trees. There may be confusion bc some folks (we are in this camp) use herbicide in some areas and do grubbing in others. So when they say they use both it's on different areas of the property. We choose method of control depending on size and thickness of the trees.

When I was a kid making extra money where I could, I would go to the oil change shop and ask for the used oil. I used this oil for bar oil on my chainsaw. The old man who owned the shop was real nice and asked if I was getting rid of mesquites. He then told me that if you took your diesel and herbicide and a cup of used oil that a 5 gal backpack sprayer could do a lot of damage on mesquites. So I bought a 5 gal sprayer and told a few folks who I had done work for and in no time had added this to my workload. It is hard work and soon used a three wheeler to get more done. But I have found through the years a little more oil makes that herbicide stick and save money on the diesel...and spray all the way around the tree...you can tell the trees that you only sprayed one side!

txcajun said:

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Well, we had a guy come out and quote us 9k to mulch about 12 acres of mesquite trees since they don't cover the entire 27 acres.

I'm contemplating renting a skid loader with a forestry attachment, and just doing it myself. I could probably rent one with attached me for around 3k...

Thoughts?


It's just a lot of ground to cover with a backpack sprayer, but maybe it's worth it in the long run. Also, how easy is it to pull them up with a grubber once they're dead? Most of the larger trees are between 4" - 8" in diameter. Everyone I've spoken to wants to mulch, or recommends mulching, not grubbing.

The Bobcat rental is about 3k for a week:

T770 & Fecon BH74SS Forestry Package

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First, I'll agree with what the other guys have said -- poison the mesquites, let them die, and then mulch them. They won't grow back, you won't have to dispose of the trees, and you won't have to fill in a bunch of holes.

$9,000 sounds a little high to mulch your job, but without seeing your place, I can't be sure. The bigger, better mulchers/hydro axes that really get after it will cost you $2,000 - $3,000 a day, and, I assure you, they are worth every penny.

Cold Creek in Buffalo/Jewitt runs some massive Barko 930's, and I imagine they would clear at least 5 acres per day with one of those beasts. I haven't used them before, but they are relatively close to you.

I am impressed you found a rental mulcher, as most places no longer rent them since the maintenance is just astronomical. That T770 Bobcat is 93 HP with 36 GPM hydraulics, and it will do a pretty good job with that Fecon head, provided that head has the depth control rotor and uses the Samauri/Planer knives instead of the carbide teeth. The carbide teeth certainly last longer, but you've really got to have high HP and GPM to get high production out of them.

When I hired in a skid-steer, it had 120 HP and 45 GPM with the special Fecon head and knives, and it was impressive.

Now, if you've got some time and just want to have some fun with a mulcher, heck, rent one and let us know how it goes. I've always hired mulching in. Maybe I missed the boat and overpaid!

Enjoy yourself, and if you run your own machine, stay inside the cab with the doors closed and the windshield intact. Mulchers can be very dangerous, especially if they hit chains, wires, T-posts, etc...