How to Kill Pine Trees
Pine trees are usually desirable landscape trees in your yard. Towering high into the sky, they provide ample shade as well as a home to a variety of animals. Sometimes, however, it may be necessary to kill a pine tree. It may be interfering with a power line or it might be diseased. For whatever reason you have to kill pine trees, rest assured it is an easy process to accomplish. Non-selective herbicide works best at killing a pine tree, but it must be applied correctly to work.
Identify which pine tree you want to kill and mark it by tying a ribbon around it. This will prevent you from inadvertently killing the wrong tree.
- Pine trees are usually desirable landscape trees in your yard.
- Non-selective herbicide works best at killing a pine tree, but it must be applied correctly to work.
Take a hatchet or axe and make horizontal but non-overlapping cuts around the entire trunk of the pine tree. Extend the cuts into the sapwood, which is the lighter colored wood of the trunk. The cuts should be 2 inches long and 1 to 3 inches apart.
Use a spray bottle and spray 1 to 2ml of non-selective herbicide into each cut. A good non-selective herbicide to use is Roundup.
Repeat the application after seven days if the tree isn't completely dead.
Kill Pine Trees
Sometimes pine trees can grow like weeds in your lawn or pasture land, and if you don‘t get rid of them you‘ll be living in a forest. You can kill those pesky pine trees in a number of ways. Band the pine trees by removing a 3-inch strip of bark going around the trunk. Make sure you cut and remove the bark in the strip. Drill a hole into the pine tree with a paddle or spade bit on a drill. Pour this into your sprayer and spray the pine trees. Be careful not to spray on a windy day or the wind will carry the herbicide to other plants and kill them. Hammer some long copper nails into the roots of the pine tree. If you live in a rural area and the pine trees have claimed your pasture land, do a controlled burn. Do not start burning on a windy day or when the conditions are extremely dry, or your fire will go out of control.
- Take a hatchet or axe and make horizontal but non-overlapping cuts around the entire trunk of the pine tree.
- Sometimes pine trees can grow like weeds in your lawn or pasture land, and if you don‘t get rid of them you‘ll be living in a forest.
Tip
Consider purchasing a hypo-hatchet. This is a hatchet that injects herbicide into the tree every time you strike the tree. These come in handy when multiple trees need to be killed.
Warning
Keep the herbicide off desirable plants. The herbicide will kill all plants it comes in contact with. If you accidentally get some on a desirable plant, wash it off completely before the herbicide has a chance to dry.
Related Articles
References
- Crawford Conservation: Timber Stand Improvement - Chemical Treatments
- Agricultural Extension Service The University of Tennessee: Tree Crops for Marginal Farmland
- Virginia Cooperative Extension: Tree Crops for Marginal Farmland: Loblolly Pine
- South Carolina News: SC DNR Report: Prescribed Fires can Benefit South Carolina Pine Forests
Tips
- Consider purchasing a hypo-hatchet. This is a hatchet that injects herbicide into the tree every time you strike the tree. These come in handy when multiple trees need to be killed.
Warnings
- Keep the herbicide off desirable plants. The herbicide will kill all plants it comes in contact with. If you accidentally get some on a desirable plant, wash it off completely before the herbicide has a chance to dry.
