I need to kill off my Buddleia tree...

[Johnny Canuck3]

The roots. Think of Buddleja as a pretty triffid.

I think if you bark it, suckers might continue to grow from it, but the original tree is dead. Then you work on the suckers.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Remember that bloke Sisyphus? Or the Hydra?

 

[Pickman's model]

call in a napalm air strike.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Remember that bloke Sisyphus? Or the Hydra?

At least the heads have pretty blossoms instead of snakes...

 

[ericjarvis]

Buddleia grows like crazy pretty much whatever you do to it. Apparently it was pretty much the first plant to colonise bomb sites during the blitz. It's an absolute bugger to kill. The only thing I've found that works effectively is pruning it just before a frost. Even that doesn't work every time.

On the whole I'd fancy my chances more taking on triffids.

 

[TopCat]

I find Sodium Chlorate properly applied will kill buddleia once and for all. be careful using it though, really. You get a splash on your clothes and they will be super flammable for ages afterwards. Most cases of so called spontaneous combustion are down to this stuff.

 

[TopCat]

One of the best organic and ways to remove buddleia is to bruise it all over. This introduces such a high level of infection that the whole plant dies off. This method does not kill all the nearby roots of other plants that Sodium Chlorate will annihilate.

 

[Stevesleaves]

Now how will I get rid of this baby?

 

[Glitter]

I thought madamv was back then

 

[WouldBe]

Now how will I get rid of this baby?

Cut it down.

 

[campanula]

Cutting it back will make no difference, Stevesleaves...although you will have to do so. Having cut the shrub back to the base, you will need a systemic poison such as SBS stumpkiller. Paint this, or any glyphosate based herbicide) across the cut surface, put a plastic bag over the stump and leave for a few months. The roots (the REAL problem with buddlejas) will die back, preventing further top growth. Buddlejas are, imo, noxious destructive weeds, unless well maintained with annual cutbacks, in a garden border. There are some new, dwarf varieties which reputedly do not seed around (but colour me sceptical).

Had a little rolleyes at the mention of sodium chlorate, TopCat. Not even sure if this can be bought anymore. I know glyphosate is not an ideal...but compared to sodium chlorate, it is positively benign.

 

[Callie]

guess who recently planted a buddleia!
Flamethrower at the ready

 

[Sasaferrato]

Are there laws against injecting local wild flora with formaldehyde? what about COSHH?!

You have awakened a nightmare that I thought to be long dead. COSHH. I was COSHH officer for a 640 bed hospital. It just about drove me insane. I finally caved and disrupted my trainees training to help, even so, it took three months to document everything. The heap of forms was a foot high.

 

[gentlegreen]

They seem to self-seed half way down the front paths in my street.
At least one neighbour let theirs grow and sometimes it takes up half the path.
I appear to have acquired another. Doubtless I will feel sorry for it and pot it up ...

 

[campanula]

guess who recently planted a buddleia!

Was it one of the newer 'Buzz' types? There has been a lot of breeding to make these more compact and floriferous. A well grown plant can be a delight if you do a couple of simple things. Firstly, even if the plants are supposed to be sterile, it will do no harm to regularly deadhead the blooms which have gone over. Also, buddlejas will put on a woody framework over time...and will become less and less floriferous and more unwieldy. Like dogwoods, they really benefit from being stooled back hard, every year. Cut them back to the base in spring and loads of fresh, green, flexible flowering branches will appear, just like a tallish perennial. As a back of the border plant, they can be stupendous (I think Hidcote had a red and purple border, with buddlejas, miscanthus, red Bishop of Llandaff dahlias, penstemons and some big-leaved plants such as the abyssinian banana (ensete ventricosum) and cannas. It makes a superb late summer (July/August/September) show.

 

[Callie]

Was it one of the newer 'Buzz' types? There has been a lot of breeding to make these more compact and floriferous. A well grown plant can be a delight if you do a couple of simple things. Firstly, even if the plants are supposed to be sterile, it will do no harm to regularly deadhead the blooms which have gone over. Also, buddlejas will put on a woody framework over time...and will become less and less floriferous and more unwieldy. Like dogwoods, they really benefit from being stooled back hard, every year. Cut them back to the base in spring and loads of fresh, green, flexible flowering branches will appear, just like a tallish perennial. As a back of the border plant, they can be stupendous (I think Hidcote had a red and purple border, with buddlejas, miscanthus, red Bishop of Llandaff dahlias, penstemons and some big-leaved plants such as the abyssinian banana (ensete ventricosum) and cannas. It makes a superb late summer (July/August/September) show.

No Id been thinking about getting one for ages - was going to try to nab a cutting. Then became obsessed with hoverflies (don't ask) and nice plants that pollinators might like and decided I NEEDED a buddleija. Then bought one from B&Q on a whim when buying a piece of wood for the fence replacement I f'd up

I've tucked it center, back and have been wondering about pruning - so many people have them and tbh they look a mess. I wasn't sure if they might HAVE to be kept pruned back to stay attractive and it sounds like they do?

I feel a bit sad at the mo because there was a great rush of flowering things, sunny weather and loads of interesting creatures in the garden and I had time to just sit out there and absorb it. Now lots of the flowering things have gone over, the weathers gone crap and I'm busy at work so not getting to sit in the garden and look at things so much GRUMP

 

[campanula]

I feel a bit sad at the mo because there was a great rush of flowering things, sunny weather and loads of interesting creatures in the garden and I had time to just sit out there and absorb it. Now lots of the flowering things have gone over, the weathers gone crap and I'm busy at work so not getting to sit in the garden and look at things so much GRUMP

O there are months and months to go yet, Callie. We see flowering plants going through to October, November and even later...and your buddleja will be a good plant, if pruned annually, throughout August/September. Pop in an aster or a coupla dahlias and you are sorted for late summer.
This time of the year, we are in a sort of change-over when all the early summer plants such as geums, delphiniums, roses...are all going over and there is a little hiatus during July, when the gardens are just green. As soon as we get to late July, there will be a whole new burst of plants which are either affected by day-length (dahlias) or naturally prefer the latter part of the year - salvias, penstemons, begonias. rudbeckias, sunflowers. July is my laziest month (apart from the eternal weeding and watering).

 

[Callie]

OK, I will stop grumping and be patient! I have dahlias on the go (first year!) and salvias, penstemons, begonias so I will shut up

 

[marty21]

Now how will I get rid of this baby?

We have one of those too have ignored it during the lockdown, will get someone around about it soon...ish

Ist post bumps and revives an 11 year old thread ! Congrats

 

[Artaxerxes]

Cutting it back will make no difference, Stevesleaves...although you will have to do so. Having cut the shrub back to the base, you will need a systemic poison such as SBS stumpkiller. Paint this, or any glyphosate based herbicide) across the cut surface, put a plastic bag over the stump and leave for a few months. The roots (the REAL problem with buddlejas) will die back, preventing further top growth. Buddlejas are, imo, noxious destructive weeds, unless well maintained with annual cutbacks, in a garden border. There are some new, dwarf varieties which reputedly do not seed around (but colour me sceptical).

Had a little rolleyes at the mention of sodium chlorate, TopCat. Not even sure if this can be bought anymore. I know glyphosate is not an ideal...but compared to sodium chlorate, it is positively benign.

The bloke in the next floor flat is horrifically proud of taking a cutting from the neighbours buddleia and appears to have grown another one. Every year the fucking thing grows to a ridiculous size and I hate it.

Fortunately he cuts it back in the winter but its just massive and not even particularly pretty.