Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Dewberries,

the scrourge of the earth! I have been cleaning up my dam on both sides over the past few years, but these darn things won't let me sleep at night. Cutting them only fires their resolve.

Has anyone used Roundup or Spike on them w/success? I am desperate.

I use Remedy and spray the leaves. I believe the mix is 200:1 with water. You would probably have to hit it several times. best time is in the Spring when it is rapidly growing.

I'll give it a go, thanks. I assume you have these things as well?

No dewberries but I kill everything that is wood or woody stemmed with Remedy. This includes trees, briars, poison ivy, blackberries, etc.

This year "hot and dry" has obliterated most of that stuff.

You might have to spray some stuff like oaks several times. Or mix 3:1 with diesel and spray trunks. I have found that all woody stemmed plants can be very tenacious of life.

I don't remember what surfactant I used but it made a huge difference when used as a foliar.

I have noticed that Remedy is ultra-effective this year due the drought. I have killed off lots of pesky things that would have been tough during a normal "healthy" season. Fence rows and trails look better than ever at the places I maintain.

I have been looking to pick something up to clear off fence rows and along creeks etc.

Would Remedy be a good one to use if runoff is a concern?

Where can I pick this up at?

Would something else be a better option?

I've sprayed a willow that was mostly in the water with it. I never noticed a problem. However, I'm certainly no expert. I believe that it dries almost on contact.

I think I bought my last batch at Tractor Supply.

I use a combination of Eraser and Remedy. Both are available at your local feed store. I know you can sometimes get it at "big box" stores but I support my local feed store as they supply my livestock needs.

Dave - as a rule, ester formulations of anything should never be applied to aquatic sites. You probably won't notice any problems, unless you have a microscope handy.


Ouch! Have some pity.

A large portion of Remedy Ultra's "inert" is a paraffinic oil, while the inert component in the original Remedy was basically karosene. In either case, the product's inert-ingredients AND its triclopyr ester "active" causes rapid tissue-damage to treated broadleaf foilage (leaves) - usually producing overnight browned-out in hot weather conditions. Glyphosate (Eraser and others) doesn't work nearly so fast since it has a completely different mode of action. In short, tank-mixing triclopyr and glyphosate is not recommended UNLESS you're treating both broadleaf and grassy-weeds (the later of which Remedy/triclopyr has little or no activity).

Kelly, what surfactant would be best for Remedy?

Kelly, very interesting information. Normally I am "mixing" the two because I am trying to kill everything -- broadleafs and grasses. There are times I am simply applying one or the other, but in some cases I do mix. I have seen the rapid effect of Remedy to brown-out leaves and the slow effect of the Eraser. Thanks for the post!!

I'm not a huge fan of REMEDY for foliar treatments due to its rapid brown-out effect - especially on brush/woody-plants - often producing erratic "root-kill". But, REMEDY (aka GARLON 4) is commonly used for this purpose, and most folks like its napalm-like results, not to mention its lack of impact on most native grasses. I'd suggest using no more than a 1/2%vv solution of REMEMDY, along with a "quality surfactant" (usually 1/4%vv); which, nowadays, might cost more per gallon than many herbicides. I'd probably loose my credibility by naming the surfactant brands I carry, and I can't bear to name my competitors' brands - so I'll do neither. Suffice to say that every distributor has their own "proprietary" line of surfactants. Some are cheap and some are quality; none are both (IMO).

That's a good approach due to the flexibility offered by the two components - although a higher rate of glyphosate usually provides non-selective control of both broadleaf and grassy plants by itself (just a slower effect). For non-selective control of grasses and broadleaf plants with extended residual control of their seeds (soil-activity), you might consider using imazapyr. BUT, don't use it within or near the root-zone of desirable trees or shrubs, since root-absorption of imazapyr is very possible.

So then, what would you recommend for shrubs/woody plants on the BACK of the dam?

Kelly, how about bringing it down to the stupid level. What does 1/2%vv mean?

REMEDY ULTRA is fine; but I'd mix it (per label) with diesel or a mineral oil carrier and apply the solution to the woody plants' trunk (called a "basal-bark application") instead of its foilage. Such applications may be conducted at any time of the year - but preferably in the absence of snow and when the bark is not wet from dew or rainfall. The mixture is absorbed through the bark and into the underlying cambium layer, where it will translocate (infiltrate and move) throughout the plant's vascular system.


Sorry! "v/v" simply means volume-to-volume. It now appears on many pesticide labels - presumably to differentiate (or further confuse!) the "% of product-volume to diluent-volume" from the "mass of a product added per unit of diluent". I'm guessing this clarification was required by regulatory oversight requirements.
Basically, a .25% v/v mixture translates to mixing .32 oz of fluid product per gal of water.

Learned something new there. I think I will try the basal-bark application from now on for some pesky elm and cottonwood that doesn't want to die. When I try the foliar application, it just usually kills off the leaves and sometimes the tree comes back.

That works a lot better. However, it takes several applications on some type of trees. Killing oaks is tough. On cedars you only have to cut them down.

Actually, most oaks tend to be fairly sensitive to ester triclopyr (Remedy's active-ingredient). But, when conducting basal-bark applications on larger trees (>4-6") - and especially if they have thicker/rough bark - one should inflict downward-angled cuts spaced evenly every 2" around the tree's perimeter and near the base (the "root crown") before making an application.
Without these cuts, the herbicide/oil mixture will have a more difficult time penetrating thicker layers of bark and reaching the underlying cambium layer - which contains the tree's vascular system.

Aha, thanks for that.