Advice on how to keep an overgrown fence clear of growth.

[Solus]

I've just had a fence that has been overgrown for several years cleared by hand.

Some of the shrubs grew very large with 6"+ trunks.  It all has been cut down to the ground and the fence removed with the round aluminum fence posts still in place...if that matters.

Before I try to replant the area, which goes from 6 or so inches wide to 2 or 3 feet in the corners.

What I'm looking for is a herbicide to kill everything were needed until I'm sure any regrowth of the stuff is done...for sure for the next year, I'd say...but I'm not a lawn care person and don't want to  hire one.

What I do want is a recommendation for a herbicide that will do the job. 

I can get a sprayer for the application of that is the best option.

So, anyone have any experience with a product that will keep that fence row clear.  Mulitple applications are fine...say every quarter or twice a year?

Thank for any help you can give.

Take care.

[billt]

Back when I lived in Illinois I wanted to keep an area in my backyard free of weeds and vegetation, so I could gravel over it. The guy at the local hardware store sold me a product called Ortho Triox Ground Clear.

http://www.hardwarestore.com/ortho-triox-ground-clear-vegetation-killer-274449.aspx

Once you put it down, nothing will grow for a year. It worked well, and I bought more of it, put it in a sprinkling can, then put it down around where my chain link fence bordered my back yard. It worked really well. It sure as hell beat going through spools of string trimmer line. I don't know what's in the stuff, but it really prevents growth for a year. The only thing is not to get it too close to anything you want to live. My neighbor had a row of shrubs that bordered my fence, and it never seemed to bother them. If I remember it's a concentrate so you can mix it as strong, or as weak as you want. Something to at least check into. Perhaps there are better products now. But the fact it's still on the market say's something. I used it back in the 70's. I think back then it was made by Chevron.

[MikeBjerum]

If you want to grow select items only, stay away from the ground sterilizers that make things burnt clean for several years.  In this case use Round Up - Spray where practical, and you can brush weeds that are tangled in the good plants.  Also, check with the nursery where you are buying the plants about pre-emerge herbicides like Treflan and Sencor to control grass and some broadleaf.

When we planted our new grove we put down Treflan/Sencor at a rate of 1 quart/.33 pound per acre prior to planting the trees.  The next three years I used the same rate in a hand sprayer and hand raked it in at the base of the trees.  Today the grove is natural, but I use Round Up around all the trees on the yard to give a clean area, so we don't need to worry about nicking the trunks with the mower deck. 

To kill stumps that you have cut out:  Round-Up (strongest label rate) + six ounces diesel fuel per gallon of water.  For any stump larger than 1.5", drill holes down into the stump and apply liberally.  Another trick I have used, but it may not be looked on kindly in city limits, is to drill the stumps, saturate them with waste oil for a week, then saturate with diesel fuel, and burn them.

[Rastus]

Mike's got you zeroed in on conventional.  I won't do it now because it's probably a felony or something, but in the old days people used to put used motor oil on the fence lines down south.  Did the job without being permanent. 

Besides the heavy metals...which I doubt the ground concentration is that high, my observation is that it worked for a long time but and deteriorated.  It was not as persistent as a true herbicide is my thought.

My 2 cents, and they are zinc now so not much to it.

[Big Frank]

A gallon of oil can pollute a million gallons of ground water so it's not a good idea to go that route. The stuff Bill recommended is supposed to kill everything if that's what you want to do. I'd like to spray it through the fence to keep the weeds and picker bushes from getting in from the neighbors yard. They've already choked out almost all of the flowers I had growing along the fence.

[Sponsor]

[Rastus]

Yeah, I know it can but it biodegrades whereas the herbicides are persistent...at least I'd rather take my chances with the refined oil vs. the manufactured chems.  For all the squawking back home about BP there's not a lot of damage that can be seen from the oil spill now....the chemical dispersants yes...but the oil maybe a tar ball here or there and their days are numbered.

I guess it also matters how your groundwater is generated if you are in a rocky area that charges with fissures the oil would get down quickly.  Going through sand bodies, soil, etc. we really don't see a lot of movement of it down to aquifers like you have where I grew up.  For the volumes we're talking about it locks up in an immobile phase within the first few feet and biodegrades. 

Synthetic oil....I dunno about.  For unrefined crude oil the best way to clean up the spills is to suck up free oil and then put some bugs and fertilizer on it.  I 

[billt]

If you want to go the cheap route, and still achieve satisfactory results, try Spectracide Weed & Grass Killer. Wal-Mart has it on the shelf in the garden dept. cheaper than it's shown here. It comes in ready to spray gallon jugs for around $11.00 a gallon.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Spectracide-Weed-and-Grass-1-Gallon/16877791

I have gravel landscape like most here in Phoenix. I use it to spot spray for weeds. I've found it works faster and better than Roundup, and is about half the price. I always keep several gallons on hand. If I spray it in the morning, after a day in the hot summer Sun the weeds are turning black by dinnertime.

[Solus]

Thanks for all the advice.

Thinking I'll start with the Ortho Triox which should stop regrowth for up to a year.  There was nothing in there I want to ever live again and this will insure it is barren till when I decide to reseed with grass.

I do have several stumps to deal with so I'll review those suggestions too.

Thanks again

[TAB]

Clear plasitc sheeiting and a suny day kills stuff dead.

[alfsauve]

Triox fan.  Used it to kill stumps that keep wanting to regenerate.  Drill a  hole in the middle of the stump and fill it with Triox.   Works great on Pyracantha which is especially hard to kill.