No. 128 

1962 

2,4,5 - T Ab1INE NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FRILLTREATING HARDYOOD CULLS IN WEST VIRGINIA 

Cull trees and undesirable species may occupy a high 

percentage of forest growing space. In a managed forest, 

these unwanted individuals must be cut or killed so that 

sound vigorous growing stock of good species can utilize the 

space. The methods most frequently used to eliminate mediumto large-size trees from timber stands are either girdling 

or application of herbicides in notches or in frills. 

Herbicide treatments are preferred for most conditions because subsequent sprouting is less than that after 

girdling, and kills are somewhat better. On the Fernow Experimental Forest in West Virginia, ammate crystals in 

notches have been used with good results. However, fkill 

treatments with 2,4,5-T esters have been widely used elsewhere, and are commonly reported to cost less than the 

ammate-in-notches method. 

Although esters are by far the most commonly used 

chemical form of 2,4,5-T in frill applications, several investigators in recent years have reported good results with 

amines. In California, Leonard (4) found the amines of 

2,4-D and 2,4,5-T to be more effective than the esters of 

2,4,5-T when applied to cut surfaces. For best results he 

recommended using amines in the undiluted form. In West 

Virginia, Carve11 (2) reported the amine of 2,4,5-T to be 

superior to the ester when applied to frills on white oak. 

However, he was comparing undiluted amine with esters diluted in water. Stephenson and Gibbs (6), using full 

strength amine of 2,4-D with the tree injector, achieved 

almost 100-percent kill of pole-size hardwoods in East Texas. 

Peevy (5) reported that dilute amines of 2,4-D in frills 

killed oaks in Louisiana, though not quite so effectively as 

dilute esters. 
Stimulated by the earlier reports on the merits of 

amines, we started a small study in 1958 on the Fernow Forest to determine the efficacy of frill treatment with an 

amine of 2,4,5-T for killing cull hardwoods. 

METHODS 

In this test, dilute amine solution was used in two 

concentrations: 8 and 16 pounds ahg2 in water. Treatments 

were made in May 1958--about a month after the start of the 

growing season. The solutions were sprayed in frills made 

at convenient chopping heights, usually 2% feet above the 

ground. Care was exercised when chopping to overlap all 

cuts. Spray was applied to the point of overflow to insure 

complete coverage of all exposed wood. 

The 8- and 16-pound solutions were applied to 33 and 

34 cull trees respectively. Treated trees included 11 species, and a range from 6 to 34 inches in diameter (table 1). 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 

During the first year after treatment, the kill was 

slightly higher with the 16-pound than with the 8-pound concentration, but the differences became negligible the following year. Kills (complete defoliation) for the 8- and 

16-pound treatments were 70 and 71 percent, respectively, at 

the end of the third growing season. However, the remaining 

trees did not escape damage; an ocular estimate of the live 

trees indicated about 80-percent defoliation. The two treatments can be considered about equally effective. 

We did not make comparative treatments with esters of 

2,4,5-T when this study was made. However, results of such 

a treatment that was tried on the Fernow Forest a year later 

can be cited. A 20-pound ahg solution of 2,4,5-T ester in 

oil was applied to frills on 25 large culls. Sixty-four 

percent of the culls were dead by the end of the second 

growing season and the remaining live crown on the survivors 

was estimated at 10 percent. Two-year figures for the combined amine treatments were 45 percent kill and 35 percent 

live crown on survivors. 

This 2-year comparison suggests that dilute esters of 

2,4,5-T are superior to dilute amines of 2,4, 5-T--or at 

least they act somewhat faster. Moreover, there is considerable evidence in the literature to ihdicate that a kill 

equal to that obtained with the 20-pound ester solution 

'The preparation used was marketed by the Doa Chemical Company 

under the trade name 'Veon 100'; the active ingredient was the 

t rie thylamine salt of 2,4, S-T. 

agh =acid equivalent per 100 gallons of solution. 
Table 1.--Specres d~strabutzon by d~ameter classes of all trees In both treatments 

(Number of trees) 

Species Total 

Black birch -- -- -- -- -- 1 1 -- 1 -------- 3 

Red maple 1111323---- 2 1 -- -- 15 

Sugarmaple -- -- -- -- 22323---- 2 1 15 

Red oak -1 -------------- 1 -- -- -- 2 

White oak - - 1 ...................... 1 

Black cherry -- -- -- -- -- 1 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1 

Hickory -- -- 1 .................... 1 

Beech 53312134--2------ 24 Service berry -- -- -- 1 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1 

Black gum -- 1 ---- 1 ---- 1 ---------- 3 

Cucumber ------- ------- 1 ---------- 1 

Total 6753871084512167 

could have been achieved with a considerably lower concentration of the chemical. 

Greater effectiveness, such as that reported by 

Leonard (4), by Carvell (2), and by Stephenson and Gibbs 

(6), might have been achieved with undiluted amines rather 

than with the dilutions that we used. However, the size of 

many of the culls encountered on the Fernow Forest precludes 

the use of full-strength amine in the manner described by 

Carvell because the cost would be prohibitive.3 Use of 

2,4-D amine instead of 2,4,5-T amine, and treatment with 

small metered dosages in spaced cuts (0.5 to 2.0 ml per 

cut), as suggested by Leonard and by Stephenson and Gibbs, 

would of course reduce costs for the chemical. However, 

evidence that can be gleaned from these workers' reports and 

elsewhere indicates that such treatments would not be effective on large culls of beech, maple, and other hard-tokill species. These considerations, and the relatively poor 

performance of diluted 2,4,5-T amine in the present tests, 

all support the conclusion that no kind or concentration of 

amine is a good choice for use in frill-treating culls of 

the type found in our stands. 

Poor results with frill treatments usually are associated with rough old culls containing infolded bark from 

large seams or basal wounds. Such trees are hard to kill 

because the nature of the defects makes it difficult to cut 

a complete frill. When using diluted esters, complete severance of the cambium is important because the chemical 

'when applied at the same volume rate, use of full-strength 

amine would require about 25 times as much chemical per unit of 

tree circumference as a 2-percent by weight (16 pounds ahg) dilution of ester. Although amine formulations of 2,4,5-T are some- what cheaper than the esters, the cost for chemical per treated 

unit with full-strength amine still would be around 20 times as 

much as with diluted ester. 

3 

Lhameter class in inches 

6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 34 
apparently moves very little laterally. Carnes and Walker 

(1) emphasized that complete frilling is essential for good 

results in hardwood control. Johnson (3)) in the same vein, 

remarked that 2,4,5-T is no substitute for sloppy ax work. 

A segment of intact cambium may enable a tree to survive for 

many years. Nearly all the trees in our study that had live 

foliage after 3 years had some form of infolded bark that 

probably had not been completely cut through. 

Diluted amine, as used in the present study, did not 

seem to move laterally any more effectively than the ester. 

However, Carvell reported good results with spaced cuts on 

white oaks 12 inches d. b. h. and smaller, which implies that 

the chemical moves laterally enough to lessen the importance 

of complete frills on trees in this size range when concentrated amine is used. On larger trees, even with fullstrength amine, he recommends complete frills. 

If many of'the trees to be killed in a stand-improvement operation have defects with infolded bark, herbicide 

treatments that are effective in some sort of spaced cuts 

across all diameter sizes are preferable to those that require a complete frill. On the Fernow Experimental Forest, 

where such trees were common in the unmanaged stands, use 

of ammate crystals in spaced notches has given more satisfactory results than any tested method employing 2,4,5-T. 

LITERATURE CITED 

1. Carnes, E. T., and Walker, L. C. 

1956. Complete frillinll essential for hardwood control. 

Jour. Forestry 54: 340. 

2. Carvell, K. L. 

1959. Com arison of Veon 245 and Esteron 245 for killing 

1 as. Down to Eprth 15 (3): 14-15. 

3. Johnson, R. L. 

1959. Frills must be complete. 

U. S. Forest Serv. South. Forest Expt. Sta., South. 

Forestry Note 119. 1 p. 

4. Leonard, 0. A. 

1955. Some observations on new chemicals for woody plant 

control and some factors with cut-surface treatment for killing trees. Calif. Wood Conf. Proc. 7: 94-100. 

5. Peevy, F. A. 

1956. Methods for controlling hardwoods. 

Forests and People 6 (3): 22-25, 34-35. 

6. Stephenson, G. K., and Gibbs, C. B. 

1959. Selective control of cull hardwoods in East Texas. 

U. S. Forest Serv. South. Forest Expt. Sta. Occas. 

Paper 175. 10 pp. 

Research Forester, Elkins Hesearch Center 

Northeastern Forest Experiment Station 

Forest Service, U. S. Cept. Agriculture 

Elkins, \Y. Va.