What should I do?

Probably not feasible for huge areas at a time but you could lay black plastic / weed barrier down for areas you intend to use come next season.

In the short term (winter) they will probably be protective against frost for the negative plants, but once the sun starts getting stronger it should cook everything beneath.

With proper perimeter management of the areas covered, you can then reclaim those spots for your orchards, and move the weed barrier / black plastic of death to the next area over and continue the process.

It is a multi season process, but fully using natural processes instead of poisons (if it works how I assume it could)
 
If you don't have heavy equipment, herbicides will be your best bet. When applied responsibly, most are not too terrible and breakdown faster than most people think. As much as I hate glyphosate, it actually breaks down rather quickly in the grand scheme of things and is not a terrible option. Crossbow from Southern ag (2,4d and triclopyr) is a reasonably priced woody shrub killer that I've had good success with. My father has lots of brush filled with deer ticks and it did a great job of knocking the brush back enough to keep the critters further away from where he needs to get. Unfortunately most herbicides require active growth for uptake so this time of year is not ideal.

Definitely never burn any of the urushiol producing plants (poison ivy, oak, sumac). When I was 15 my best friend's younger brother cleared a lot of property, burned it and apparently sat down wind. 2/3 of his body was covered in a ridiculous, itchy,swollen rash, not what you would get from merely touching it, but worse. He had to wear gym shorts for a week because he had what amounted to a large, itchy, grapefruit hanging around in the worst possible place...
 
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Lots of good options and things to consider. It might be a combination of things I use. I unfortunately already have poison ivy or something. Had it most of this year it seems like….lol. Soon as I get it gone I go back and end up getting it again no matter how hard I try not to. By the way if one doesn’t know, cedar trees can also give you a rash.
 
I would not use a 2,4-D herbicide where I planned to plant fig trees (or anything near-term that wasn't a grain/grass). It's a hormone-based chemical and a tiny amount can negatively affect growth.

I have read papers on it's degradation and theoretically, it should be fine - but I've also heard some horror stories, anecdotal I know, but enough to give me pause.

I would be OK with spot treating like bushdoctor outlined. If you could combine the chipping and cardboard ideas that would be a lot of work, but that's a more permanent solution (heavy chip mulching around your young trees will help retain moisture, reduce weeds and last several years).
 
hambones said:
If you don't have heavy equipment, herbicides will be your best bet. When applied responsibly, most are not too terrible and breakdown faster than most people think. As much as I hate glyphosate, it actually breaks down rather quickly in the grand scheme of things and is not a terrible option. Crossbow from Southern ag (2,4d and triclopyr) is a reasonably priced woody shrub killer that I've had good success with. My father has lots of brush filled with deer ticks and it did a great job of knocking the brush back enough to keep the critters further away from where he needs to get. Unfortunately most herbicides require active growth for uptake so this time of year is not ideal.

Definitely never burn any of the urushiol producing plants (poison ivy, oak, sumac). When I was 15 my best friend's younger brother cleared a lot of property, burned it and apparently sat down wind. 2/3 of his body was covered in a ridiculous, itchy,swollen rash, not what you would get from merely touching it, but worse. He had to wear gym shorts for a week because he had what amounted to a large, itchy, grapefruit hanging around in the worst possible place...
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Yea you can even breathe in poison and get it on your lungs. I worked for a tree care company one summer during college where we cleared right of ways for the power company. I don’t think I went 10 days without poison.
 
superdave336 said:
Lots of good options and things to consider. It might be a combination of things I use. I unfortunately already have poison ivy or something. Had it most of this year it seems like….lol. Soon as I get it gone I go back and end up getting it again no matter how hard I try not to. By the way if one doesn’t know, cedar trees can also give you a rash.
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So can walnuts
 
Tecnu and the other special soaps/solvents do a good job of removing the poison oil. I'd get some and use it anywhere you have a rash or think you've been exposed. Well worth the $15-20. Calamine lotion also works, but takes longer to dry up the rashes in my experience, I keep both on hand actually.


superdave336 said:
Lots of good options and things to consider. It might be a combination of things I use. I unfortunately already have poison ivy or something. Had it most of this year it seems like….lol. Soon as I get it gone I go back and end up getting it again no matter how hard I try not to. By the way if one doesn’t know, cedar trees can also give you a rash
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PapaFig said:
Tecnu and the other special soaps/solvents do a good job of removing the poison oil. I'd get some and use it anywhere you have a rash or think you've been exposed. Well worth the $15-20. Calamine lotion also works, but takes longer to dry up the rashes in my experience, I keep both on hand actually.
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I use dawn to wash with asap and have Zanfel if needed but it's expensive!!! If I know I've been exposed I usually have orange hand scrub and dawn to wash with in the field. I have Calamine lotion but hate the mess.
 
My orchard is about 1/2 acre. I have all my trees in rows, with the rows all about 20ft apart. I have each row fully mulched, so a solid mulch bed from the 1st tree to the last in that row. That makes it easy to take a couple of trips up and down with my lawn mower for maintaining the paths in between the rows. The mulch keeps the weeds down pretty well with a little maintenance.

As far as the prep went, I used glyph to kill off everything in the areas that were going to become the rows about a month before planting, and then mulched after planting. I didn't lose any trees. Glyph doesn't last long in the soil. For the space between my rows, it was mostly just weeds that I was mowing with my mower already anyway, so I didn't really need to do any prep work for it.

If you have a riding mower, I feel like this set up works well once you have it established.

--As a side note, I started my orchard spring of 2023. With a bunch of 2.5yr old trees, I feel like I've wasted space and could have put the rows closer together. It takes me 4 trips with my mower (2 up, 2 back) to mow the paths. Not sure how I'll feel in a few years as the trees grow.
 
superdave336 said:
I did not know this. We have lots of black walnuts tree I’m going to be clearing. Thanks for sharing
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You won’t find many blackberries or poison ivy under black walnuts as the roots, nut hulls, leaves, etc contain juglone which is a selective herbicide that permits some grasses to grow, but kills almost everything else.
 
bushdoctor82 said:
It worked almost 100% for wisteria - a few times during this Summer I had to pull small shoots that popped back up in the grass, but it wasn’t a big deal. The effectiveness may go down if sprayed and chances of drift will increase opposed to cut and brush. I’m not familiar with the ingredients on the posted label though.
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Thanks, I have a neighbor with wisteria that has 20’ vines snaking under our fence!
 
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