Unless you’re trying to convert your pasture land into a forest, pine trees can be quite a nuisance!
They multiply quickly, are prone to diseases, sap all nutrients, and hinder the growth of vegetation cover in the yard. While a few pine trees add the right amount of spark to your land, an increasing number can get impossible to manage. Therefore, eliminating them at the outset is of the utmost importance.
If you notice rampant growth of pine trees in the vicinity, you can secretly kill them without getting into any trouble. Don’t worry! You won’t be breaking any laws since even forest management professionals frequently burn and chemically treat pine trees to mitigate their unbridled expansion.
To make things easier for you, we’ve done our research and compiled this guide that highlights the most effective methods to kill a pine tree.
Please note that in no way this article is meant to encourage killing pine trees, unless the situation requires it, pine trees are exceptional pieces of greenery that should not be tempered with.
So, without any further delay, let’s get started!
How to Kill a Pine Tree
Why Kill Pine Trees?
Before we get into the details, it is important to ask one question – why kill pine trees at all? After all, they lend a Christmas-like vibe to the yard and make it look gorgeous without requiring much maintenance.
Anyone passionate about gardening or the environment despises the idea of killing plants. However, sometimes it becomes essential to eliminate certain trees to allow vegetation to thrive and diversify. Given here are a few ways in which the unchecked growth of pine trees does more harm than good.
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Inhibits The Growth Of Plants
Pine trees take up a lot of space, and plants can seldom survive near or under them. In fact, many landowners often complain about the inability of grass to grow under pine trees. These trees are enormous and form a shade over smaller plants. Thus, they don’t allow enough sunshine or rainfall to get to them, thereby hindering their growth.
Pine trees tend to multiply quickly, and before you know it, they create a miniature forest in the yard. Much like weeds, they absorb all the nutrients, and the other plants do not get enough space or nourishment. Hence, to maintain a balance, the removal of pine trees becomes essential.
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Prone To Pest Infestation
Sometimes, you’ll notice brown needles, oozing sap, and rotting pine branches. These are typical symptoms of a diseased pine tree. Decaying wood attracts pests and varmints that spread to other plants in the yard.
Thus, killing the tree is the best way to keep a pest infestation at bay and your plants healthy.
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Damages The House Foundation
Pine trees have deep roots, and if they are planted close to the house, they can damage the foundation and cost you a fortune in repairs. Even if neighboring houses have an abundance of pine trees, they can still pose a threat to your foundation since their roots are widespread and expand exponentially.
How to Remove a Pine Tree
The good news is that you don’t need professional help to get rid of pine trees. A few simple DIY methods will kill these trees over time and give you a neat yard. Now that we’ve understood the importance of killing pine trees, let’s look at some of the most effective methods of getting rid of them.
Method 1| Killing Through Copper Nails
Copper nails kill the pine trees in your yard without causing any damage to the plants around it. For this method, you’ll need a hammer and a couple of copper nails. Choose nails that are long and broad enough to penetrate deep into the trunk and cover a large surface area.
The first step would be to clear the area around the bottom of the tree and hammer a copper nail at an angle, pointing downwards towards the root. Keep hammering nails at the base, at least ½-inch apart, and form a circle around the tree.
The more the number of nails, the higher the concentration of copper in the tree, and the higher will be the chances of it getting diseased quickly.
A widespread myth is that a single nail is enough to kill a large tree. However, this is far from the truth. A small nail suffices only for a sapling or tiny trees. To kill an enormous tree, you’ll need more nails that’ll oxidize quickly.
After you’ve hammered the nails, cover them with mud or foliage to conceal them. The purpose of this is to protect the look of the lawn and to make the process more subtle.
Method 2| Killing With Salt
Salt has high sodium content that blocks magnesium and potassium flow in a tree, thus hindering chlorophyll production that ultimately kills them. Most people make the mistake of sprinkling salt around the tree without realizing that they are destroying the nearby plants as well.
So, for this method to be effective, you have to target the specific tree. Start by lightly excavating the area around it to expose its roots. Then, drill six ½-inch holes on the trunk, angled downwards towards the base. Make sure that they are at least 3-inches deep to contain the salt solution.
Then, mix 6 cups of Epsom salt with 3 cups of water until the salt dissolves completely, leaving behind a highly concentrated solution. You can alter the amount of solution depending on your needs, but always keep a ratio of two parts salt and one part water.
Now, carefully pour the solution into the holes you’ve created, refilling them as it dissipates. To preserve the appearance of the yard, you can use some soil or foliage to cover the holes in the tree trunk.
Method 3| Using Herbicides
One of the most effective methods of killing a pine tree is through herbicides or chemical fertilizers. If properly applied, they pose no threat to the environment or your plants.
In this method, with the help of a shovel, you lightly excavate the area around the tree to expose its roots.
Then, with the help of a driller, make a couple of holes at the base, angled at 45-degrees. Fill these holes with your choice of herbicide and cover them with foliage or mud.
Remember to allow the tree to absorb the chemical entirely and refill the gaps if necessary. Out here, we’ve listed 3 of the most commonly used herbicides for your convenience.
- Glyphosate
One of the finest chemical pine controllers is glyphosate, and forest managers can vouch for its efficacy. You may use tree injection devices to inject this chemical into the foliar structure of the tree. Alternatively, you can also drill holes on the trunk and pour the glyphosate directly into it.
Although the process is slow, the herbicide manages to penetrate the tree through the drilled holes and kill it. Similar to glyphosate, we have metsulfuron that kills off the pine much quicker than its counterpart.
- Nitrogen Fertilizer
One of the safest chemical treatments out there, this method takes longer but is non-toxic. In this, holes are drilled around the trunk and then filled with nitrogen fertilizer. With the help of a spray bottle, you’ve to keep the holes moist, and then the nitrogen compound will lead to the growth of fungi that’ll decompose the wood and hinder the tree’s development.
This method can also kill other types of trees, but the only disadvantage is that it takes time to work.
- Imazapyr
Another fantastic tree-killing chemical, Imazapyr, can work separately or be combined with glysophate for faster results.
It moves through the length of the plant tissue and kills them by blocking the production of specific amino acids required for their development. This method is mainly used to kill large trees in forests that hinder the growth of other plants.
Method 4| Drilling A Hole
One of the most effective ways of killing a pine tree is through the drilling and filling method. You’ll need tools such as a pair of gloves, a face mask, a herbicide, and a drilling machine for this.
First and foremost, mix the herbicide and pour it into a squeeze bottle for ease of application. Then, drill deep holes, angled at 45 degrees, towards the roots of the pine tree. Make sure the holes go beyond the cambium layer and are deep enough to hold the herbicide.
The next step would be to fill the holes with the chemical and spray whatever is left on the leaves. However, remember not to let it come in contact with other plants in your yard.
It is recommended that you do this in pleasant weather, where rain or wind doesn’t scatter the chemicals or wash them away.
Method 5| Use Homemade Tree Killers
If you prefer organic gardening and do not want to use any chemicals, then the ingredients in your pantry will come in handy. Out here, we’ve listed some popular homemade tree killers.
- Killing With Vinegar
Regular white vinegar contains acetic acid that burns the leaves and prevents them from photosynthesizing. This, in turn, doesn’t let carbohydrates and other nutrients get to the root of the tree and slowly kills it.
To hasten the process, drill holes in the tree trunk and fill it with vinegar. Keep refilling as the tree absorbs the vinegar, and it’ll die within a month or so. Combine this with the salt treatment, and you can get rid of pine trees even quicker.
- Caustic Soda
Cut the tree with the help of a handsaw or chainsaw, leaving behind the stump. Then, mix one part of caustic soda with two parts water and pour the mixture over the tree stump.
Once the entire length of the tree has been saturated, the caustic soda will start working by traveling down to the roots and poisoning it. Monitor the tree for a while and check for any new signs of life. Repeat this method if necessary.
- Mulch
You’ve heard about the numerous benefits of mulch for plant growth. But excess of anything is overkill, and that’s precisely how you’re going to use this method to kill pine trees.
Spread a 10-inch thick layer of mulch around the trunk. This will attract insects and lead to an infestation. The insects and varmints are eventually going to make their way through the mulch and start consuming the tree trunk, thus weakening its roots.
Although this method can take quite some time, it is entirely non-toxic and pretty effective.
Method 6| Girdling
In girdling, a strip of bark from around the trunk is removed. This disrupts the transfer of nutrients and moisture from the roots to the leaves and vice versa.
To do this, make use of a saw to cut a deep strip and mark the area from which you want to remove the outer bark and the cambium layer. This area can be 3 inches for smaller trees, and for more giant trees, the girdle should be at least 8 inches wide.
With the help of an ax or chisel, remove the bark and expose the plant to desiccation. After a few days, you’ll notice leaves and twigs falling off the tree, owing to starvation, and thus, the plant will be rendered useless.
Method 7| Soil Treatment
If the situation in your land has gotten out of control, and several pine trees have sprung up, soil treatment is the last resort.
In this, you lace the soil with a concentrated solution, applying them evenly and waiting for it to attack the roots and kill the pine trees in the yard in one go.
Method 8| Cut It Down
If everything else fails, then cutting down the tree is the only way to go. With the help of a chainsaw, cut the tree right through the center. If you are not equipped to do this yourself, get a professional’s help.
However, in most cases, cutting might not be enough, and the tree continues to grow. Thus, the best way to avoid this is by immediately applying herbicide on the surface of the cut tree. This prevents sprouting by suffocating the roots and ensures that the tree doesn’t grow back.
Conclusion
With that, we come to the end of this guide. When it comes to killing a pine tree, you have several options to choose from, depending on the urgency and efficacy.
Although cutting or killing trees is always discouraged, if they begin to grow in inappropriate places and hinder the growth of other plants, then such a drastic action becomes a necessity. However, be careful not to damage the other crops in the yard in this process and always sleep on your decision.
Do you really need to eliminate this tree?
It is time for us to take our leave, but we hope you found this guide informative. If you have any other ideas for killing a pine tree discreetly, do let us know in the comments below.
Until next time, take care!
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