Mimosa is difficult to manually saw through compared to other trees. I normally cut them down to a stump then paint the stump with a product similar to Brush B Gone. You can use other stump killers just make sure it has triclopyr in the ingredients. One time I was trying to cut one down and couldn't but I made a few slices in the trunk then dribble the herbicide in the wounds. It appeared to have died on a subsequent visit.

Yes, cutting into the bark and dribbling herbicide (preferably brush killer) into the wound is actually a technique. It is used when removal of the tree itself might be difficult or unnecessary.

You would want to cut down to a stump and apply the herbicide; be sure to get the herbicide on the cambium layer, that is the thin layer between the bark and the wood. That is the actively growing area of the tree.

I have removed mimosa before; yes it may sprout back a few times, even from the length of a large root. Just cut down every sprout as soon as you see it and it will run out of energy after a while. You can dab a bit of brush killer on each sprout that you cut, that will help.

Good luck, it's a worthy cause. And it makes room for the plants that YOU want.

I plan to have dh take the chain saw to it as I know how hard it was to cut through some smaller ones last year with the hand saw.

esh that is particularly helpful about the cambium layer. Once I apply the herbicide to the stump how long should I leave it before I try to dig out the roots or should I try and dig out all the roots and then only apply the herbicide to what eventually sprouts? Which do you think would be more effective? Maybe I can sneak a cut into the one behind the fence and apply some herbicide? I don't think they would really notice/care, but going over there with my chain saw and cutting it down outright might get their attention. It is also only about 3-4 years old. These all started sprouting the same year in this one strip where the woods were cleared to install the sewer line, then they left them to fill in with Mimosa, wild raspberries, privet and Jap Honeysuckle. Quite a lovely mess as you can imagine, especially since they never really leveled the fill dirt.

Also esh, you probably know this, or does anyone know what might be growing in this same area that gets small orange flowers in summer? They are somewhat tubular flowers and the leaves are fairly oval, in fact when they first came up I thought the whole area was filling in with young honeysuckle seedlings but they are not a vine, and may actually be some sort of reseeding annual, although I don't know that for sure. I haven't figured out what they are. The area is fairly wet and sunny and becomes obstructed by thorny raspberry bushes so I haven't really examined them that closely too often. They seem pretty though.

I have killed them by drilling holes into the stump and pouring killer into fresh wounds. Cover the stump with plastic or tin foil to keep water out. We have cut down a lot of small trees in this manner. The mimosa finally went after two treatments of hole drilling.

GGG

Once I apply the herbicide to the stump how long should I leave it before I try to dig out the roots or should I try and dig out all the roots and then only apply the herbicide to what eventually sprouts? Which do you think would be more effective?

Mimosa doesn't normally break dormancy until April (even May) so it will be a while before you can tell if it died.

If the tree is small enough to dig most of it out, I would go with that approach and just treat the sprouts. The sprouts will have limited energy and the herbicide should be pretty effective. Besides, that allows you to visually free up the space and perhaps even start planting there. That's what I did with the foundation hollies that I ripped out. There were only minimal sprouts and they didn't last more than a year.

Not sure about that orange flower. Post a picture when they come up again this year.