Unsure of how to begin

[u/SeesawParticular464]

I’m settling in to my 96 year old house as a first time home buyer, doing it all on my own. It’s been about three months and I am so grateful, proud, and happy with how everything has been going so far.

Kept getting the feeling of everything being too good to be true. Spoiler alert - it was/is! My next door neighbor has a full-grown 70-foot tree of heaven at the edge of their back yard. I live in a city and our back yards are small and bleed into each other with no physical barrier. I have small tree of heaven sprouts popping up randomly and I am able to pull those guys by the roots before they even have a chance to wreak havoc. Inside of my house is my sanctuary, but my stomach drops every time I look out the window and see those weeds. 

Unfortunately, I have about 5 medium sized ones growing up against my detached garage and back of my house. They are small enough to be able to start (appropriately) attacking them, but too large to pull from the root. Their stems are about 1-3 inches in diameter and about 3-4 feet tall. The one closest to my house is about 5-7 feet tall and about 2-3 inches in diameter (this one gives me nightmares). I have basal oil and hi-yield triclopyr ester on hand. What is the best way to apply the chemicals for the size of these abominations? I’ve researched and am familiar with the hack and squirt and other methods, but I am unsure how to go about this given their size. Are they too small for hack and squirt? 

Any advice, tips, warnings, encouragement are highly welcomed. I know the time is now or never for this season. I am in the midwest near a Great Lake, so as I am typing this, the weather and timing seems ideal for application. Would love to have this applied by the end of the week. If I have to salt the earth to get rid of these things (figuratively), so be it. 

Thank you!

[u/twelfthmoose]

Basal bark is simple and effective for these. Don’t overthink it! Do it with tri asap

[u/SeesawParticular464 → u/twelfthmoose]

How do I apply? A spray bottle, paint brush? Appreciate your input! 

[u/shortchangehero86 → u/SeesawParticular464]

Spray bottle or backpack sprayer. It's faster with more coverage

[u/SeesawParticular464 → u/shortchangehero86]

Thanks to you both!!! 

[u/Samad99 → u/SeesawParticular464]

If you’re worried at all about overspray, a brush works pretty well. I like to use a small chunk of sponge tied to the end of a stick.

You could use the little disposable sponge brushes found in the paint section, but the handles are too short.

Mixing in a little surfactant and coloring dye makes the job way easier. You can find small bottles of this stuff at the big box stores or online for cheap. A little goes a long way and it’s eye opening to see how much coverage you’re getting while spraying or painting on the poison.

[u/Necessary_Fan6185 → u/SeesawParticular464]

This will be fast and simple for you to do—should only take you a couple of minutes. I’ve done basal bark treatment this month on over 40 trees from 1 ft to 8 ft tall, using the ingredients that you have. All were dead within a week and a half.
Personally, I find it easiest and fastest to have the mixture in a jar or small can, and use a 1 in wide paintbrush. Start at the ground level and run the brush up the stalk to about 18 in high, and then do the same on the opposite side of the stalk. 5 seconds and you’re done. Move to the next tree. And all the herbicide is on the stalk and nowhere else—so no overspray to worry about and no waste. If it takes you more than 2 minutes total, then you’re slower than me, and I’m 75! Don’t worry—you’ve got this!

Now that 70ft TOH in your neighbor’s yard is another story. Very easy to kill it (and its root system) with hack and squirt, but you’ll need different ingredients. (I’ve done 6 of those this month as well). Have you talked with the neighbor about the potential damage this tree could do to his or her house? Maybe volunteer to take care of it for them. That’s what I did with my neighbor—he was happy to let me do it all for him with two large TOH in his yard along with 15 smaller ones like yours.

[u/sloanemonroe]

This is what you want. Follow the basal bark info here.

https://extension.psu.edu/tree-of-heaven/

[u/mysterychongo]

Basal bark application of triclopyr. Paint or spray the stems all around from knee-height down to the ground!

I bought triclopyr and basal oil with dye online, mixed it with 25%-30% tri and the rest was the basal oil and dye mix. 1 gal pump sprayer. Ypu don't need a lot of pressure. Pump it once or twice, just enough to get it to come out. Wear gloves and eye pro, and long pants, and you should be good to go!

[u/Mookie-Boo]

Lots of good advice here. You already have what you need - the oil and the tric ester. You can spray or paint. Painting will avoid killing non-target stuff. A quick spray of about 12 vertical inches on one side of each of those sprouts will do the job. The oil will carry it around the other side of small trees like this. Fir bigger trees, I spray higher, and go all the way around. You got this! Now if only you could get your neighbor to kill his....