Not a fan of live oak.....
Jun. 3rd, 2019 12:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osodecanelaLive oak is native to this area. Once you have it, it’s not easy to get rid of. Left unchecked, It will take over your property.
When we first moved up here I thought the stuff was holly with pointy, intensely green leaves that stuck you if you want to close, or didn’t handle the plant with leather work gloves. I only found out months later that I was doing battle with live oak. Young seedlings are everywhere on this property. Get to them when they’re very young, and pulling them is no problem. Unfortunately, if you have established roots & all you do is cut down the new growth, new growth will come right back. Digging out the root ball is the only way, short of strong herbicides (which I will NOT use) to get rid of the live oak for good.
After finishing watering this morning, I headed out to the back meadow. With the intention of attacking two patches of live oak out near the barn. I wound up attacking three small stumps closer to the house, at the side of the grape arbor instead. I succeeded in evicting two of them, in the space of an hour and a half & settled for trimming back the last, as it is too close to both the grapes & the roses to dig out comfortably. Besides, an hour and a half of digging is enough for one day.
Last week when I was by the tractor supply, I saw a couple of small garden back hoes for sale, and thought it odd. Who would choose to buy one? How soon I forget! Today’s digging was far from my first tangle with live oak, not to mention other root balls like an oleander I cut down in 2017, I’d like to see gone.
It’s musings like this, that get my cousin in Greenwich Village to ask, “who are you and what have you done with my cousin?”
When we first moved up here I thought the stuff was holly with pointy, intensely green leaves that stuck you if you want to close, or didn’t handle the plant with leather work gloves. I only found out months later that I was doing battle with live oak. Young seedlings are everywhere on this property. Get to them when they’re very young, and pulling them is no problem. Unfortunately, if you have established roots & all you do is cut down the new growth, new growth will come right back. Digging out the root ball is the only way, short of strong herbicides (which I will NOT use) to get rid of the live oak for good.
After finishing watering this morning, I headed out to the back meadow. With the intention of attacking two patches of live oak out near the barn. I wound up attacking three small stumps closer to the house, at the side of the grape arbor instead. I succeeded in evicting two of them, in the space of an hour and a half & settled for trimming back the last, as it is too close to both the grapes & the roses to dig out comfortably. Besides, an hour and a half of digging is enough for one day.
Last week when I was by the tractor supply, I saw a couple of small garden back hoes for sale, and thought it odd. Who would choose to buy one? How soon I forget! Today’s digging was far from my first tangle with live oak, not to mention other root balls like an oleander I cut down in 2017, I’d like to see gone.
It’s musings like this, that get my cousin in Greenwich Village to ask, “who are you and what have you done with my cousin?”
no subject
Date: 2019-06-03 09:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-04 02:34 am (UTC)I would happily consider goats, were is not for a couple of concerns.
Goats will eat just about anything they can and there is a lot of stuff I don’t want them consuming, like all the food crops. Also with the neighbor spraying round up near the property line, I don’t want them eating the stuff along the property line.
Last, Arjuna is a wonderful creature, but has definitely looked at deer as an invitation to lunch. I had to pull him off of one that bounded into the yard last year. The bleating sound the deer made, as Arjuna decided he was a mighty hunter was just God-awful. With me holding Arjuna by his collar, the deer escaped, bloodied and limping, but alive.
Aaron, God rest his soul, looked at sheep the way Arjuna looks at deer. A dozen years ago ,when one of the neighbor’s hens wandered up our drive way, Aaron dispatched the bird and had it buried, before I could get close. So I guess for now at least, I’m stuck digging.
From: blktalon - DW Comment [mailto:dw_null@dreamwidth.org] Sent: Monday, June 3, 2019 2:59 PM To: snmnbear@sonic.net Subject: Reply to your entry. [ osodecanela - 535869 ]
blktalon: (Default) https://v.dreamwidth.org/900842/907529
blktalon https://blktalon.dreamwidth.org/profile replied to your Dreamwidth entry https://osodecanela.dreamwidth.org/535869.html "Not a fan of live oak....." in which you said:
Live oak is native to this area. Once you have it, it’s not easy to get rid of. Left unchecked, It will take over your property.
When we first moved up here I thought the stuff was holly with pointy, intensely green leaves that stuck you if you want to close, or didn’t handle the plant with leather work gloves. I only found out months later that I was doing battle with live oak. Young seedlings are everywhere on this property. Get to them when they’re very young, and pulling them is no problem. Unfortunately, if you have established roots & all you do is cut down the new growth, new growth will come right back. Digging out the root ball is the only way, short of strong herbicides (which I will NOT use) to get rid of the live oak for good.
After finishing watering this morning, I headed out to the back meadow. With the intention of attacking two patches of live oak out near the barn. I wound up attacking three small stumps closer to the house, at the side of the grape arbor instead. I succeeded in evicting two of them, in the space of an hour and a half & settled for trimming back the last, as it is too close to both the grapes & the roses to dig out comfortably. Besides, an hour and a half of digging is enough for one day.
Last week when I was by the tractor supply, I saw a couple of small garden back hoes for sale, and thought it odd. Who would choose to buy one? How soon I forget! Today’s digging was far from my first tangle with live oak, not to mention other root balls like an oleander I cut down in 2017, I’d like to see gone.
It’s musings like this, that get my cousin in Greenwich Village to ask, “who are you and what have you done with my cousin?”
The reply was:
Time for goats, if I remember livel oak doesn't bother them
From here you can:
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no subject
Date: 2019-06-04 02:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-03 11:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-04 11:50 pm (UTC)