OT Trifoliate Orange Question

Goats

Mike L

they will eat anything right down to the roots. I think some places are using them for kudzu control.

I had two of them penned up in a blackberry patch. After a week or so no more Blackberrys.

Not sure if this will do it for you but it worked for me.

Re: OT  Trifoliate Orange Question

1 Keith Newton

Barry, before you destroy it you might want to harvest the bounty of the fruits. Here is a little something to help you along with that.

“The fruit, though fragrant and citrusy, contain little pulp but instead are chock full of seeds. What pulp is produced is exceedingly sour. Don Shadow, a nurseryman in Tennessee, has a recipe for poncirus-aide. Take a barrel of water, a barrel of sugar and add one sour fruit. The fruit can also be made into marmalade and the rinds candied.”

There's industrial equipment for this...

John in NM

Assuming of course that the chips left behind decompose rather than re-seed the problem. Some plants root from cuttings, in which case you would not want to hire a large scale chipper.

Out here they use this equipment for in situ shredding of thinned forest. On occasion the work has been known to start the forest fire they were trying to avoid in the first place. Ironic

A guy I know in MO has one on a bobcat skidsteer. Presumably there will be similar owners & contractors in your area, that is what I would look for. Eight six acres strikes me as a reasonable size job for a contractor and a pretty big one for DIY. Someone more familiar with the work could confirm or correct that take.

Alternatively, rent yourself one of those cool mini-excavators and make manageable burn piles. I'm always looking for an excuse to rent one of those things

Re: OT  Trifoliate Orange Question

John K Jordan

I have those on my property. I encourage them. Some fall I'll dig them up by the roots with the excavator and replant them along a property line or two. With those thorns they make a nearly impenetrable barrier to the casual trespasser or wandering livestock.

I've used pieces with the thorns for a few things, might make interesting art combined with wood. I made a "crown of thorns" for our church for an Easter presentation.

I haven't used the fruit other than giving it to others for potpourri.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_orange

To find what will best kill it you can ask at your local farmer's co-op, call the county agent, or check with a forester. I found all to be very helpful. The problem with spraying with broad spectrum herbicide is it will kill everything else the dispersed droplets touch. Broadleaf herbicides like 2,4-d might not be too effective. Herbicides that are ground "sterilizers" might inhibit other things from growing there. Depending on the root system, even killing off the plant above ground might not kill all the roots and it will come back. A forester introduced me to Garlon which is excellent - it can be brushed directly on the bark or dribbled into incisions cut into the bark. (Problem with that might be getting close enough for!) I used Garlon to like that to kill off some persistent invasive Ailanthus (Tree of Heaven) saplings that kept coming back. In two days the leaves were drying up. Later, the saplings are dead, dead.

By far the most effective way I've found to remove unwanted invasive plants is pull them up, roots and all. I used to dig them out with a small backhoe but my excavator with a thumb and a 12" bucket is amazing. I have cleared several acres of the dreaded privet and the terrible bush honeysuckle. None has come back. I pile everything up then haul it to a burn pit. Might be worth while to rent an small excavator for a week and clear those plants and anything else around your property - fallen trees, worthless live trees, unwanted saplings.

JKJ

Re: OT  Trifoliate Orange Question

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

Find a product that is "trichlopyr" and it will kill any woody plant. It has come off patent so now it is $80 gallon not $250.

Add dye and cambium

Tom Dunlap

Be to add the appropriate dye to the herbicide so that you can see what you've treated.

On larger diameter stumps its only necessary to treat the outer ring, the cambium, and not the whole stump/cut surface.

Where proper PPE and follow label descriptions with attention to weather conditions beyond just rain.

Re: OT  Trifoliate Orange Question

William Duffield

It's great for mojo criollo (Cuban marinade/BBQ sauce), too.

I've made a couple of tool handles from it, for a slick and a large chisel. It is dense, strong and finishes nicely.

I don't envy you harvesting/clearing it though. It knows how to defend itself.

Re: There's industrial equipment for this...

William Duffield

They do come back from the roots and do reseed themselves here in southern NJ, which is not a lot different climate-wise from coastal plain VA.

yeah...

John in NM

With what John K was saying below just the seeds would make shredding a problem if there was viable fruit when done. I like the sound of using them as a fence though, I could use those out here!

Re: Good Fences Make Good Neighbors?

William Duffield

The first time I "ran into" a Poncirus trifoliata I misidentified it as an Osage orange (a.k.a. Hedge"). That's how I learned it makes good tool handles. I have since decided it would make an even more effective hedge than Macclura pomifera.

Invasive? I looked it up, and it is listed as an invasive in AL, GA, SC, MD and here in NJ. It is originally from China.

Re: OT  Trifoliate Orange Question

Dale Stansbery

Are they single trunk, or multi-stem? If you can chain saw them I'd bet treating the stump with Tordon would be effective. Or if multi stem, you may be able to rent a small track excavator and uproot them. I once let a few acres on my farm get over run with multiflora rose and they got huge. The thorns will riddle a front tractor tire, so I ended up with a small bulldozer and dozed them out.

I am Impressed with WC Again...

Barry Irby

The range of knowledge here is always impressive, Thanks to everyone who answered.

This is an interesting problem. I think my Grandmother precipitated this by planting a few of these beside her flower garden. She had an interesting and impressive garden of about five acres. My recollection is that she thought they were some type of lemon. My father and his brother were both farmers, farming about a thousand acres between them and and both were county Soil Conservation Agents. They were interested in all things farm related and tried Multiflora Roses as hedges, deciding they were too large and spread far into the fields taking up too much space. They may have tried Trifoliate Oranges also, but I think these are escapees from my Grandmother's plants. My cousin tells me that in later years her father searched hard for a way to rid his farm of the Oranges. I am late to the game. I am thinking I will plant my piece in pines and hope they will shade out the oranges. I may also try to rip out and poison as many as I can to give the pines a leg up.

Re: I am Impressed with WC Again...

John K Jordan

>>> ...late to the game. I am thinking I will plant my piece in pines and hope they will shade out the oranges....

I've have some growing in shade under trees.

Re: I am Impressed with WC Again...

William Duffield

My FIL was also a soil conservationist and agent for the USDA. He had also recommended multifloral roses to the farmers. Years later, he said it was the worst mistake he ever made. I've finally gotten most of them out of my fields and woods. I carry an adz hoe on my garden cart, so I can give them a few whacks whenever I see them.