The reason I ask is I had a mimosa tree volounteer very close to my house. The spot it is growing is a patch of dirt between my concrete driveway and the house.

I think the tree could look really cool here drooping over the driveway, but if it could damage the house or the driveway I want to dig it up now before it gets too big.

Opinions?

Thanks

In addition to tearing up your driveway and foundation, it's about the weediest tree around and at or near the top of most lists of invasive, non-native trees to be eradicated.

I think they're pretty, too -- or I DID until I saw how they sprout up EVERYWHERE and found out all the problems they cause in the environment, not just my own yard. I let a "volunteer" grow up outside my fence over my pond area and now I have to cut that down, even though it looks good there, because I KNOW what it will lead to and I have to "practice what I preach," so to speak.

Responsible Gardening :)
Jeff

The "standard" advice is just to paint the cut trunk with the undiluted glyphosate concentrate, but I find most of those freshly cut trunks tend to "bleed" a bit and anything you put on them runs off fairly easily, so I use a Forstner bit (although a regular drill bit will do, if you don't have Forstner bits) to dig a shallow "well" in that trunk to hold a bit of the glyphosate (Roundup is the main namebrand).

For those of you who garden "organically," GOOD LUCK with permanent elimination of most any aggressive tree or shrub. I've had hollies, oaks, redbuds and a variety of other things come back from fairly VICIOUS cuttings without using this method -- hollies even when the roots were ground by a "professional" to a depth of two feet.

I'm SURE there are "organic" ways to do it. I just don't know what they are.

Merry Mimosa Massacreing! :)
Jeff

As for hollies, YES I also have one that is cut to the ground and it stil comes back every year.

As far as orgamic removal I heard of this method which is elaborate.

Take a Steel Drum cut out of bottom and top to make a "burn barrel) Place the barrel over the offending stump fill with wood and have a long fire. It will burn the stump out of the ground including deep roots.

The Mimosa was pulled up and is now composting!!!!

Die Evil TREE DIE!

Still, you can find mimosa starts at lots of roadside 'garden centers' or at plant swaps. That way you can have it where you want it.

Thanks, Jeff, for the tip about Massacreing Mimosas. I will try it on the little one if the Round-Up didn't kill it...and I suspect it did not.

Do you know I saw a post and someone said the Mimosa was a plant everyone MUST have it their yard?

i get mad every time i see someone selling them. how irresponsible. the only place they are acceptable to me is somewhere you can really keep a tight reign on seedlings. i do have to admit the purple leaved one the arboretum had for a while was drop dead gorgeous. they got rid of it, but i don't know why. tam