I hate my bougainvillea.

[Patrick]

Hi all, 

 

I just cut my bougainvillea to the ground. Anyone have any good recommendations to kill it off for good? I have a lemon and cherry tree nearby. I've used Crossbow but that stuff is NASTY! The surrounding plants suck up the poison. 

 

Physical removal is not an option. I suppose I could just be persistent and not allow anything to grow out of the stump. 

 

Thanks in advance for recommendations on what to do with the stump. 

[Tracy]

4 minutes ago, Patrick said:

Hi all, 

 

I just cut my bougainvillea to the ground. Anyone have any good recommendations to kill it off for good? I have a lemon and cherry tree nearby. I've used Crossbow but that stuff is NASTY! The surrounding plants suck up the poison. 

 

Physical removal is not an option. I suppose I could just be persistent and not allow anything to grow out of the stump. 

 

Thanks in advance for recommendations on what to do with the stump. 

My first thought before you ruled it out was physical removal which is the only sure method I have used with them.  Thorny subject given that you can't use poisons either.   Pun fully intended.   I guess get it as far down physically as you can and stay on top of removal of starts.

[Xerarch]

Best way to kill anything like that for good is to cut the stump down as far as you reasonably can, and come prepared, immediately pour undiluted roundup over the fresh cut, cut has to be fresh so it will absorb. It will kill it, but not anything else around it. 

[Silas_Sancona]

22 minutes ago, Patrick said:

Hi all, 

 

I just cut my bougainvillea to the ground. Anyone have any good recommendations to kill it off for good? I have a lemon and cherry tree nearby. I've used Crossbow but that stuff is NASTY! The surrounding plants suck up the poison. 

 

Physical removal is not an option. I suppose I could just be persistent and not allow anything to grow out of the stump. 

 

Thanks in advance for recommendations on what to do with the stump. 

Physical removal, perhaps w/ a Sawsall and really well wetted soil ...to make the job easier.. Stump and bigger roots n' all.

Only sure way of ridding one's self of that nightmare..  Though starving it can work here w/ no water for 6+ months, our heat / dry air.

Edited April 24, 2023 by Silas_Sancona
edit

[Merlyn]

Yep, sawzall with a carbide tipped blade will help remove the center section of the stump.  You'll destroy a blade fast in rocky dirt, but it may help kill it off.  When I removed my bougainvillea I took out a 1 foot diameter chunk around the center and nothing tried to grow back from the rest of the roots.

[Patrick]

Thanks all. I will dig down lower and get into the roots. I have a Sawzall or two and several blades. That center mass has to go, then! Everything seems easier now that the thorny tentacles have been removed from this beast. A little digging is easy compared to getting a thorn through my foot. I'm used to the latter...

[Silas_Sancona]

4 minutes ago, Patrick said:

Thanks all. I will dig down lower and get into the roots. I have a Sawzall or two and several blades. That center mass has to go, then! Everything seems easier now that the thorny tentacles have been removed from this beast. A little digging is easy compared to getting a thorn through my foot. I'm used to the latter...

Yep... Thorns in foot are the main reason i keep the ones here chopped ..until the day comes they "mysteriously" vanish, lol.. 

[SubTropicRay]

Great plant in someone else's garden.  

[Manalto]

5 hours ago, SubTropicRay said:

Great plant in someone else's garden.  

Here on the Gulf Coast I say the same thing about Magnolia grandiflora. Alternatively, "if you've got an extra acre to play with."

One technique I've found slow but useful is to cut down to a stump and then cover with an overturned light-proof container. If the stump resprouts, growth will be weak because of the lack of light.  The roots will eventually die from lack of photosynthetic activity to support them. (I like this method for low-profile areas because it's easy and doesn't use any herbicides. Also, if there is concern about disturbing the roots of a nearby plant.) I will sometimes follow up by using the same overturned container, this time filled with wet leaves or grass clippings to accelerate the decaying of the dead stump. 

[Merlyn]

On a related note, has anyone tried the "thornless" Bougainvillea hybrid called "Vera White?"  This is apparently patented for being thornless, at least on the stems.  It may or may not have thorns still around the bracts.  I trashed mine because it grew into a 10' diameter 10' tall shrub, bloomed really pretty, and got torched to the ground every year.  And when it's dead those thorns are even more brutal.

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, Merlyn said:

anyone tried the "thornless" Bougainvillea hybrid called "Vera White?"

Looks like a White-flowered version of the standard, mess making varieties.. Bet it isn't actually thorn-less either.  Pass.  Torch Glow, Pixie and  "Sunvillea" types only..

[Rivera]

3 hours ago, Manalto said:

One technique I've found slow but useful is to cut down to a stump and then cover with an overturned light-proof container. If the stump resprouts, growth will be weak because of the lack of light.  The roots will eventually die from lack of photosynthetic activity to support them.

I like this suggestion. After sawing nearly a cubic foot of root mass out of an old Hydrangea macrophylla that I cut to the ground, there are still many root sprouts appearing from whatever I left behind, despite the deep shade they're in.

I've been hand pulling them, but when I have time to dig around more aggressively I will cover the ground afterwards as you suggest.

I don't care for chemical controls, so this sounds like a promising method that spares the surrounding plants and soil (full of mycorrhiza, worms and some sort of dune salamanders - maybe California slender salamander - Batrachoseps attenuatus?).

Thanks Manalto and good luck Patrick 🤙

-Chris

[Darold Petty]

Chris,  I used to encounter this salamander during my construction jobs, typically underneath a board or something on the ground.  I always captured them and transported them for release into my own garden.  I would never see the adults again, however I once moved a saucer and below it there were juveniles !  I am heartened to know that I have added this species to my garden ! 

https://baynature.org/2019/11/27/which-bay-area-salamander-are-you/

 

[Patrick]

10 hours ago, SubTropicRay said:

Great plant in someone else's garden.  

Hahaha! Exactly.

 

I use the same line when it comes to Washingtonias and Phoneix canarensis. Best to enjoy in someone ELSE'S yard. I should have said the ame for the queens, but I needed SOME kind of instant canopy...

[Rivera]

6 hours ago, Darold Petty said:

https://baynature.org/2019/11/27/which-bay-area-salamander-are-you/

Good article Darold. I didn't know their diet before reading this, but it makes sense now, as we have great numbers and varieties of arthropods in every corner of our small garden. These slender almost worm-like salamanders seem to be equally at home in our dune sands as they are in the heavy clay soils of Pacifica.

Years ago, I would feed them to a friend's chickens who regarded the tiny amphibians as an unparalleled treat, but now I'm remorseful. 😔 Sorry bros.

[Merlyn]

On 4/24/2023 at 2:41 PM, Silas_Sancona said:

Looks like a White-flowered version of the standard, mess making varieties.. Bet it isn't actually thorn-less either.  Pass.  Torch Glow, Pixie and  "Sunvillea" types only..

I suspect you are correct!  I decided to buy one anyway, a plug from a random eBay seller.  There's no guarantee it's actually the patented "thornless" variety, and there's 3 thorns on this one already!  I'm going to grow it up a bit anyway, just to see if it turns out "mostly thornless."

I like the Torch Glow for a medium-ish big shrub/small tree type.  Pink Pixie and the Sunvillea dwarf types look good for pots or small spots.

[mnorell]

'Torch Glow' is not thornless, particularly not when it gets mature stems. Most of its thorns are reduced to sharpish nubs that will still tear up your arm or hand if you're not looking where you're reaching or pulling a branch. And there are still some more traditional stabbing thorns/prickles here and there, reduced to small size but just as sharp as ever. And despite advertising to the contrary, it is not a dwarf. It throws out huge, long branches about 10-12' long and is a complete gangly mess if left to its own devices. To grow this one 'properly,' one needs to keep it sheared into a little blob or mini-hedge. Then it's well-behaved and nice to have around. But plant it in the ground and forget about it for a couple of years? That's what I'm dealing with right now and it's a ruddy pain. 

I have always hated the wicked thorns on Bougainvillea, and in rainy or irrigated landscapes I would agree with the comments about enjoying them in everyone else's yard and not your own...but the big plus to them out here in the Low Desert, aside from their beauty in bloom, is that you can literally just about turn off the water once they've established, and they will behave themselves and bloom like crazy for a large portion of the year, in a nice mound or tracing along the top of a wall. And they won't grow much without the extra H2O. 
 

[Merlyn]

@mnorellthanks for the info!  I honestly think that agaves and cacti are easier to prune than bougainvillea.  Cacti you can see all the thorns and they are nice and regularly arranged.  Agaves have an end tip thorn and more thorns on the side of the leaves.  You know exactly where to *not* put your fingers.  Bougainvillea have thorns going all over the place and hidden by leaves, sticking your hand in there might get stabbed from 3 or 4 different directions!

[GeneAZ]

I once got rid of a large oleander by cutting it to the ground and pouring a gallon of pool acid on the stump.  Never grew back.

[rprimbs]

I love bougainvillea, I am fighting with wisteria.

[Silas_Sancona]

5 hours ago, mnorell said:

'Torch Glow' is not thornless, particularly not when it gets mature stems. Most of its thorns are reduced to sharpish nubs that will still tear up your arm or hand if you're not looking where you're reaching or pulling a branch. And there are still some more traditional stabbing thorns/prickles here and there, reduced to small size but just as sharp as ever. And despite advertising to the contrary, it is not a dwarf. It throws out huge, long branches about 10-12' long and is a complete gangly mess if left to its own devices. To grow this one 'properly,' one needs to keep it sheared into a little blob or mini-hedge. Then it's well-behaved and nice to have around. But plant it in the ground and forget about it for a couple of years? That's what I'm dealing with right now and it's a ruddy pain. 

I have always hated the wicked thorns on Bougainvillea, and in rainy or irrigated landscapes I would agree with the comments about enjoying them in everyone else's yard and not your own...but the big plus to them out here in the Low Desert, aside from their beauty in bloom, is that you can literally just about turn off the water once they've established, and they will behave themselves and bloom like crazy for a large portion of the year, in a nice mound or tracing along the top of a wall. And they won't grow much without the extra H2O. 

Not sure what variety you're growing but Torch Glow is pretty much thornless.. aside from some stems which do have stubby prickles on them, Absolutely no thorns on the smaller stems or the trunk ( Pictures 1 and 2 )..






Unlike the old timer Bougs on the opposite side of the yard that have thorns on everything.. ( Picture #3 ) Hard to see but when we moved here, i spent an evening taking all the thorns off the trunks on these, up to 5ft so my 4 legged son did not pop an eye when chasing cats that might try to hide behind these, esp. at night.  I also remember -like it happened yesterday - cleaning up a client's massive old Boug after the '09-'10 freeze in FL.. Most painful landscape maintenance experience i have ever had..  That's saying a lot after being brushed by Cylindropuntia bigelovii - twice here.



Never once have been sliced n' diced when i trim the Torch Glow specimen in a corner of the yard out back ( See picture #4 ).. Always donate blood when trimming the " Old timer " Bougs out there.

As far as a complete, "gangly" mess when not brought into constant submission, in the form of some weird non natural shape? .. Here's the bigger specimen out back ( Picture #4 )..



Plenty of pictures of other tall specimens in the neighborhood  that aren't even close to " gangly growers as well.

" Light, occasional " tip- trimming does shape them up / help them fill in a bit more, but isn't needed near as much as the reg. Bougs.  ...Only tipped the back yard T.G. twice since moving here, mainly recently when the roofers were here.. Only trim the ones out front, ..and ones i planted at the old house... twice a year ( at most ) to keep them moving in the direction i want. 

Nowhere near the slave labor level chore of keeping the the old timers under control,  otherwise it's a day spent cleaning up the 14" accumulated layer of " Magenta Snow " 2 or 3 X's a year that settles below / around them and on cacti / other stuff i have sitting below them. Because of that, they don't get much water.  Highly doubt the city wastes water on the old timers planted all over local highway medians around here either  ...and all still grow faster than anything else, even winter/ spring weeds. 

Far  better options that provide tons of color, which won't need constant babying to look " decent " -at best-. 

As my grandpa said while sending Scarlet O' Hara to the dump,  " That Damn things got to go " Decades later, couldn't agree more.

[mnorell]

Nathan, the 'Torch Glow' I have are the one sold at Home Depot ( I bought mine probably in 2019 or 2020) with big color tags that identify them as such...in the pictures below...and in which you can see both the straight thorns and also in the last picture toward upper left one can spy the wicked little curved thorn (more like a prickle) hiding close to the stem. They can rip you pretty well. Granted they are nothing like our typical Bougainvilleas with their huge spikes, but on the other hand, you can see the danger on the big ones, while the smaller forms may look deceptively non-threatening, so perhaps more dangerous if you are not aware of all the differences (I have certainly learned my lesson!)