Invasive Brush Plants – Part 4 – Yaupon Holly Continued

Clear & Spray Method – This method works best in clearing a large area choked with small yaupon. We use either a pair of loppers to cut the small yaupon trunks or a mechanical clearing saw device. The clearing saw is like a weed-eater on steroids, instead of a little plastic string for cutting, it uses is metal circular saw blade. 





Stihl Clearing Saw



Once we cut out the small brush and drag it to the burn area, the job is done until spring or summer the next year. This is when the cut yaupon will make is big comeback by sprouting from the root. When the regrowth is about shin to knee high, we spray the foliage with Remedy mixed with water and a squirt of liquid dish soap. We use water instead of oil in the Remedy mixture because the mixture sprays better and stays on the leaves just fine. Depending on how strong the Remedy mixture, the leaves will get black spots overnight and a few weeks later turn completely black, fall off and the plant dies, including the roots. The trick here is to patiently wait for the regrowth and to spray the mixture in warm weather while the plant is growing so that it will take in the poison. This method has a very good success rate, but sometimes a second pass with the spray is needed to get plants that were not sprayed the first time because they were too small or not noticed because they were covered with leaves. I have heard, but not confirmed, that if you don’t put enough Remedy on the first time, a more vigorous and more difficult to kill plant will emerge. So, we make sure we use enough at the right strength, usually ¼ Remedy to ¾ water so that we do not create a super-yaupon resistant to Remedy.



Guests Burning Yaupon and Cedar



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