removing small trees so they don't grow back

[cbc58]

Our lot has numerous small trees that have grown up over the years -- most range between 2" to 6" in diameter.   We want to thin them out and make sure they don't grow back.

Other than pulling up the stumps/roots, what is the best way to eliminate them for good?   

[upa]

Anything up to 2 inches I just use a brush mower, larger gets a chainsaw as low as it will go, remnants, stumps generally rot within a couple of years. Otherwise I would hire a bulldozer if I had lots to remove.

[Don_P]

"Hack and squirt"
If you take a hatchet or machete and cut through the bark then squirt the cambium with roundup or similar it'll kill the entire plant. With that method give the herbicide time to translocate and kill the entire plant, wait for the entire plant to die before mowing or removing. Follow label mix rates, more is not better. Another way is to cut it down to a stump and squirt the stump. When you cut a tree down there is a short window of a few minutes where there is suction in those vessels before they do damage control and seal, this is the most effective time to squirt with either method especially if they are invasives. Non chemically, keep mowing and don't let them leaf out, you'll eventually wear out the root reserves and they will die.

Howcome if it's a tree you want it'll die if you look at it cross eyed 

[cbc58]

Tks Mtn. Don -- that is likely what we will do.   Our lot is very rocky so that is probably our best option.

[Dave Sparks]

It really never ends you know?

We have a few different buck brush shrubs and Oaks that can get really big. In the winter and spring we use loppers and cut them and spray. We do this out 200+ feet into the Oak forest. We weed eat 100 feet out from the house. If you weed eat every year nothing will get established. We then lopper out 200+ feet every 3 years to prevent the new growth from getting too thick for loppers.

Some just grow back no matter what you do and so that is why you need to do this every 3 years. The 200 feet clearance is for 30% slopes to protect from wildfire.

[OzarkRalph]

What is your soil like? We have an 80 acre farm in Missouri with 1/2 open, 1/2 wooded. When we bought it there were ton's of oak saplings growing in the fields (2 inches to 4 feet in height). We brushed hogged them down, lost several shear pins doing so. But what really helped was to lime our fields. Changing the pH level has cut down on the tree's growing back. It will take about 2 years for the lime to take full effect.

[Dave Sparks]

Clay soil here in the Sierra that when wet is messy and when dry is like cement. I may try your lime suggestion in a test field. I use lime for the mountain lion deer kills we get. Usually the vultures get them but sometimes they are busy somewhere else.