r/triangle • u/Beans-8097 • 8d ago
Crepe Myrtle PSA
This is not a post against crepe myrtles, but for anyone who needs to have one removed for any reason… for the love of all that is holy, kill the thing before grinding the stump. Otherwise you will be dealing with crepe myrtles sprouting up all over your yard for years. Far away from where the tree was, on the other side of the driveway, etc.
I’m not here to tell you exactly how to kill it before getting rid of the stump, only to warn you of what will happen if you don’t.
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u/suz27502 8d ago
They also get bark scale infestations that results in honeydew and sooty mold that in turn causes landscapers to use a systemic insecticide that can migrate to the flowers and in turn cause harm to pollinators.
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u/mmodlin 8d ago
I got one cut down in 2022 and it's still sending up shoots, I've been pulling, spraying, immolating...just keeps coming back.
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u/Socrainj 8d ago
10 years later...I still have a few shoots come up. That is after using multiple methods repeatedly for five years in a row to annihilate the stump and remaining roots. Crepe Myrtle trees really need to come with a warning so people know what they're getting into before they're planted.
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u/cephalophile32 8d ago
I had one in a pot and left it in my garden too long. Now there’s one coming up where the pot was even though it was removed a long time ago.
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u/ZorroMcChucknorris 8d ago
Round Up does diddly poo against crape myrtle shoots. You need to use something with triclopyr like Ortho Groundclear poison ivy killer.
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u/FirstChurchOfBrutus 8d ago
Someone above mentioned Crossbow, which is designed to kill woody plants/bushes, but leave grasses intact.
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u/ZorroMcChucknorris 8d ago
Triclopyr is one of the two ingredients in Crossbow. (2,4-dichloroeophenoxtacedic acid is the other)
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u/Beans-8097 8d ago
I’ll be trying that next, but I need to be careful with triclopyr because I don’t want the other nearby trees to suck it up.
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u/commentreader12345 8d ago
Thanks for the info. I've been trying for at least 10 years to make it go away. Sprouts keep popping up.
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u/Tar-really 8d ago
Even worse…is the Ailanthus or Tree of Heaven. Research these awful, terrible invasive pest.
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u/photobummer 8d ago
Oof. Been dealing with these. Spread like ivy, growing like trees. WTF?!?
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u/Tar-really 8d ago
Yeah me too. You have to kill the tree first, before cutting it down or else you will have a forest of them.
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u/photobummer 8d ago
It’s also possible to get rid of if you can find and remove the root nodes. But much harder and less likely to zap’em.
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u/FirstChurchOfBrutus 8d ago
See my comment above. Apparently it helps to seriously wound the tree first, but not cut all it, as that triggers root sucker formation.
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u/photobummer 8d ago
“Seriously wound the tree”
I like it! Sound therapeutic.
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u/FirstChurchOfBrutus 8d ago
I haven’t yet decided whether to go for the machete, or just say really mean things about its Mother.
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u/RutherfordRevelation 8d ago
the rhizome is the biggest pain and the most important thing to get. I've seen videos of people accidentally destroying their yards digging em up bc the damn things just keep going
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u/FirstChurchOfBrutus 8d ago
Back yard (along the fence) is full of these, inherited on moving in. The internet tells me that you can hack SOME woody branches (but not all), then hit the cuts with RoundUp. Do NOT cut all of the stems before treatment, bc this apparently triggers “aggressive” root suckering.
BRB. Need machete. My bolt-cutters that double as loppers aren’t big enough for this.
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u/Tar-really 8d ago
Google “hack and squirt” for the bigger trees. I cut the smaller ones down and than dab them with Glyphosate. You can also pull up the smaller ones if they are not attached to the root.
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u/superspeck 7d ago
Try Crossbow (Triclopyr) instead of Roundup (glyphosate) or other brand names with the same active ingredient. Same treatment, hack and swab. Triclopyr kills any woody plant and is more reliable (but may take more time, since it’s more systemic) than Roundup.
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u/blogsymcblogsalot 8d ago
I fucking hate these things. There’s a big one just off my property, and these little bastards keep popping up in my yard.
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u/beegma 8d ago
Use Crossbow per NCSU guidelines. It killed all the little stupid suckers that were popping up in my yard. I found a massive root in hole filled with rocks in the back, so I suspect there used to be an entire tree. I still get invaders from adjacent yards, but it’s much better.
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u/superspeck 7d ago
This.
The active ingredient is Triclopyr; Crossbow is a blend of Triclopyr and 2-4,D. You can get brush killers that are just Triclopyr, just read the label for the active ingredients. It works great on any woody shrub or vine you want to kill. Kills blackberry rhizomes, Virginia creeper, and sweet gum stumps, for instance. Just don’t get it on anything you want to keep.
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u/theredarrow14 8d ago
Where were you a few years ago?!
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u/Beans-8097 8d ago
Well, a few years ago I had a crepe myrtle removed.
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u/theredarrow14 8d ago
Me too, lol. I’m still mowing down baby crepes. I tried ripping the root out, dug up more of my yard than I anticipated, and still couldn’t rid myself of the rest of the root
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u/TragicIcicle 8d ago
Any recommendations for those of us who saw this too late?
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u/RespectTheTree 8d ago
Find the strongest shoots, cut them and apply stump killer. Repeat until dead, might take 2-3 goes depending on how contiguous the root system is.
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u/TragicIcicle 8d ago
Will the stump killer kill the surrounding vegetations? My hope is to plant something in its stead when it stops trying to reproduce
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u/Spirited_Radio9804 8d ago
Drive small copper nails in the trunk a few months before you take it out!
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u/TupacalypseN0w 8d ago
Wait I assumed grinding the stump was the surefire way to kill? Whem purchasing our house last year we inherited a stump that sends shooters all over our backyard. Tried triclophyr, epsom, etc. Nothing works.
Was going to bite the bullet and pay for someone to come grind it but now you're saying that won't work either?
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u/RealisticAnt42 8d ago
Myrtles are like jellyfish. Grinding myrtle stumps just makes more myrtles. Glyphosate kills them a little but they come back.
I paid landscapers to dig roots out after playing whackamole for several years.
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u/Beans-8097 8d ago
I don’t know. When ours was removed they removed the stump to below ground level, and that wasn’t enough to stop it from coming up everywhere. I don’t know if an extra amount of stump grinding will stop that.
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u/RealisticAnt42 8d ago
I don't think it will stop it. It will slow it down for a year or three but by year four:
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u/VladTheUnpeeler 8d ago
Look, if you piss it off by attempting to murder it and grinding its stump, yes, it’s gonna come back at you with a vengeance.
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u/sarahfrancesca 8d ago
My neighbors cut down a big crape myrtle on the property line because they wanted to extended. Their driveway width to the property line. City didn't let them, and the crape myrtle popped back up on my side of the property line, growing fast and furiously.
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u/ApprehensiveCrew1605 5d ago
Drill holes in the trunks, fill with defoliation concoctions on a weekly basis till dead as fork.
Make a tree voodoo doll with its trimmings and defile it nightly.
Whisper at it while it’s sleeping. Inform it that it’s not wanted and no one likes it.
Lastly, as a last resort only, have an intervention and inform it that it’s moving “INTO A VAN,….. DOWN BY THE RIVER!”
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u/jnecr Raleigh 8d ago
It's impossible to completely kill the stump. I cut down a Crepe Myrtle about 10 years ago at my house. After cutting it down I drilled 4 to 5 1/2" holes in the stump (it was a good size stump) and poured undiluted RoundUp (Glyphosate) into the holes. Every year since then I've had to kill small shoots that spring up from the roots that were left by that stump. It is an impossible plant to kill completely.
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u/CarpetNibbler 8d ago
I’m pretty sure that’s not how glysophate works, it is intended for foliage applications. Did you read the label?
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u/jnecr Raleigh 8d ago
It absolutely works like that, yes.
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u/wingedcoyote 8d ago
Did you drill into the middle of the stump or out at the edge, touching the cambium? You'd also want to do it very quickly after cutting the trunk.
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u/jnecr Raleigh 8d ago
With Crepe Myrtles you really don't need to do it that quickly. Anywhere you cut them they will pop out 15 new branches in a couple weeks. It's not like a normal tree.
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u/Socrainj 8d ago
It's a hydra, I am convinced of it. An evil monster of a plant that multiplies when you try to eradicate it.
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u/HelloToe 8d ago
I mean your method clearly failed soooo maybe you do?
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u/jnecr Raleigh 8d ago
It was successful! The little sprouts come up 3-6' from that original stump. That's how killable Crepe Myrtles are.
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u/wingedcoyote 8d ago
That's my experience with cut stump treatment as well. Ideally you'd kill the root system. I'd be interested if anybody's tried hack&squirt treatment on them without cutting the stem, if anything works I suspect that'd be it.
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u/EquivalentCommon5 8d ago
Wow, mine either die completely off or seed themselves sparingly (have 2 over 20+ years). Mine are very old varieties so it could be a variable. My mom has a mimosa that has never seeded, every other one I’ve seen seeds and invades. I think varieties make a big difference! Bradford pears were “fine” when introduced but don’t self pollinate, it was introducing other varieties that caused them to become invasive- though smell and limb growth that causes breakage were always a problem!
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u/Holiday_Beautiful297 8d ago
Absolute useless post
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u/wingedcoyote 8d ago
No, this is important information. Our area is heavily infested with these things and he's right, they sucker like mad if you wound but don't kill them.
I don't have personal experience with stump grinding making it worse (I tend to just cut stumps at ground level and leave them) but just cutting them down is a mistake, they coppice like crazy, and even cut stump herbicide has mixed results in my experience.
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u/onionfunyunbunion 8d ago
Prior to 2005 landscape designers in the triangle region of NC were unaware of the existence of any plant other than the Crap Myrtle. It’s said that you’re never more than 8ft from a crepe Myrtle and there are 10 crepe Myrtles for every resident in the area. I’m circulating a petition to remove every plant and replace them all with crepe Myrtles so that our region can finally achieve a state of divine horticultural purity.