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I guess it depends on the specific type. I'd rather have to remove a bamboo clump than a Thai banana clump (I've done both).



Tree of Heaven is worse still. I tried to clear a small property of it for a couple of seasons, and failed, so I unconsciously take note whenever I see it growing: it's seemingly everywhere.


Never dealt with those, but the worst for me was Brazilian peppertree. I had just one in my backyard and the best I could do over a decade was managing to keep it from spreading.


I have a few that are over a year old now that I noticed and plan to take care of soon.

Can you summarize what you've learned?


The most effective method was to hack into the bark to apply an herbicide, and give it a couple of weeks to make its way into the roots. Dig out as much as you can once the leaves all die. Good luck!


Thanks!


It's more accurately called Tree of Hell that Will Not Die. Toxic sap, spreads wildly, re-sprouts from any root fragments more than about 1cm long.


Please share this story :-)


It's not much of a story - banana plants are ridiculously resilient; so long as it hasn't flowered yet, you can cut off the entire "trunk" and it will have started shooting the new leaves from the stump within a day.

This resilience applies to the part below ground too, and they're full of water, so it's a bit like trying to dig watermelons out of the ground, but if inevitably split one while digging, and you miss a bit it's just going to grow again, and if you take too long between bouts vs the plant (as with bamboo it's unlikely to be a 1-day affair for a reasonable size clump), some of the bits you cut will have broken down and started to rot, so the ground will be soggy and smell horrible.




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