# Fence line brush control



## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

For years, I have been spraying my fence lines with brush killer to keep the brush from growing up through the fence. I get a lot of brush hereabouts--much of my pastures are bounded by woods.

Two years ago, my neighbor planted peach trees on their land right next to one of my more difficult pastures to control brush growth. Peach trees are planted about 25' from the fence line. Now, I know peach trees are tremendously susceptible to 2,4D and the likes. (BTW, the recommended set back for planting peach trees is 60'.)

I need to control the brush growth in this pasture but am very worried about damaging their trees.

Have any of you used Spike 20 or something similar?

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Ralph


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

I use a combination of crossbow and gly with low pressure and one of the firehose nozzles from paulbparts. works great and I have no drift issues. I have funny neighbors so have to be careful. been using if for about 7 years. Now it does nuke every thing I spray, weeds, osage orange, honey locust and privit, but that is the whole point. Have a cropcare atv 40 in the back of my Kubota rtv500, really handy.


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## StxPecans (Mar 3, 2018)

Vista kills most anything and we had a peach orchard and used it all the time.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

StxPecans said:


> Vista kills most anything and we had a peach orchard and used it all the time.


How close were you to the peach trees? Any problems with drift, temperature inversion, volatility, etc.?

$250/gal is kinda pricey.

Ralph


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## StxPecans (Mar 3, 2018)

Directly under trees. No drift issues just use common sense. That stuff kills poison ivy, briars, macartney rose, prickly pair cactus, dew berries, mesquite, toothache tree, huisache, and alot more. 
I think my dad even said he had sprayed it on the trunk before. 
We started using a product called pasterguard that one of the active ingredients is vista. Works well in the pastures. Cant remember the other product in it its a common one. And i spray that under pecans no issues.

Vista works. Always added a good surfactant.

We spot sprayed in the peach orchard.
Not sure what the new vista formulation is but i just used the last 2.5 gallon jug we had. It must have been 15 years old and worked good. 250 a gallon is high... But i will buy more.
I know they changed the formulation a bit probably for the better.


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## StxPecans (Mar 3, 2018)

Fyi I can get pastureguard for $101gal. Maybe that would be cheaper? Have not priced vista.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Anyone used Spike?

Reading the label, they advise to be careful where it can be carried in runoff. I like the fact that it can be broadcast which means I can apply it very specifically to the fence line, but they don't mention anything about volatility or drift through the soil.

If so, do you have any idea how far it can travel laterally? I'm thinking that if I apply a swath 2-3' wide under my fence, will it reach my neighbor's trees that are 25' away?

Ralph


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## Troy Farmer (Jul 31, 2011)

It has been my experience with spike that it depends a lot on rainfall and runoff. If you get a heavy rain soon after you apply and the water runs towards your neighbor look out. If runoff is not a concern you should be ok. Spike works well! I used to work in the utility industry and we used spike for fences. If the fence line is near the woods I would not advise using spike. If a tree has a root near by it's toast.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

You might look into using Sahara Ralph. It works well, doesn't seem to runoff(stays put) nearly as much as others and works about a year with our Eastern rainfall.

Regards, Mike


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## pede58 (Oct 27, 2015)

I use to use a lot of cross bow with mixed results, I've switched to surmount and it seems to be better. A couple things of note, use a surfactant it'll help it stick and most brush killers work best in a foliar application anything that comes in contact with roots or bark needs to have a cut to get into the tree so runoff shouldn't be a problem unless you got a grass killer mixed in. Now just some advice when it comes to experimenting with different products and sketchy label items, if you want to kill it won't and if you don't want to it will.


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

pede58 said:


> I use to use a lot of cross bow with mixed results, I've switched to surmount and it seems to be better. A couple things of note, use a surfactant it'll help it stick and most brush killers work best in a foliar application anything that comes in contact with roots or bark needs to have a cut to get into the tree so runoff shouldn't be a problem unless you got a grass killer mixed in. Now just some advice when it comes to experimenting with different products and sketchy label items, if you want to kill it won't and if you don't want to it will.


I like Surmount but don't have a license. Never had a problem with crossbow and gly with surfactant not killing woody stuff. I have killed privit and osage orange that was over 15' tall with it. foliar only.


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## PaMike (Dec 7, 2013)

Crossbow will kill any woody stuff I have...


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## KYhaymaker (Jun 7, 2018)

Chaparral is good on woody stuff. I dont like total kill down on fencerows like gly. It makes the weeds worse in the fencerows since they always come back faster than the grass, and causes erosion on the slopes. I use a broadleaf killer only.


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