how do you kill a buddlea bush

[angel111]

I know that isn't what most people want to be doing but it is covering my windows in this new flat and as you know it gets more and more vigourous as you chop it. Any ideas?

[The Smoking Gun!]

The common name for this is butterfly bush, with that in mind why would you want it completely removed? They are attractive in them selves add the butterflies and humming birds and and you have a beautiful sight, and many photographic opportunities.

Just trim it down each fall and keep the spent flowers from dropping seeds that can germinate, and if need be give it a light trim again in august if it gets too big, by taking off the top you will cause denser side growth so instead of it growing above the front of your window, you can get it to fill in wider under the window this way!

TSG!

[angel111]

ooh oohh suitably chastised LOL yes you are right, I love butterfly bushes but this one is like a triffid, it completely obliterates the window which is floor to ceiling. what I might try is keeping the side at the window trimmed back. I am the world's worst person at trimming shrubs, I always feel so guilty because they have taken all that trouble to grow and here I am, cutting them back.

[dobbie82]

Stubborn little (or big) things aren't they? My father's neighbour decided that after 40 odd years the Budlea was on his land (was at least a foot inside our land (he is in his 70's and has lived there all his life so knows the tree was planted by my late grandfather) and decided to hack it down, it grew back stronger than ever, so he set fire to it, and it grew back lol, just as well he was too old to dig its roots

sadly though as he has stopped attacking it (due to his poor health) its got tall and gangly, guess i had better start chopping eh?

[angel111]

oh dobbie, you just created the most wonderful image of an old man's stubborn battle with a buddlea. thanks. yes time to 'retrain' it I think. angel x

[The Smoking Gun!]

You know Angel, I can relate to how you feel about pruning back, but in all honesty, having felt the same for the longest time, working in a garden nursery that is also a farm for many of the species we sell, I have had to do some major hacking and learned that the more you do it the better the plant looks, and the healthier it becomes, so do the major end of season trim back, and occasional mid season light trimming when needed! Try to keep it at a minimum when temperatures exceed 90 degrees, it then just becomes too stressful!
TSG!

[angel111]

Originally Posted by The Smoking Gun! You know Angel, I can relate to how you feel about pruning back, but in all honesty, having felt the same for the longest time, working in a garden nursery that is also a farm for many of the species we sell, I have had to do some major hacking and learned that the more you do it the better the plant looks, and the healthier it becomes, so do the major end of season trim back, and occasional mid season light trimming when needed! Try to keep it at a minimum when temperatures exceed 90 degrees, it then just becomes too stressful! TSG!

ROFL exceeed 90 degrees? This is Scotland - we could number those days on one hand ROFL

do you tell your shrubs the day beforehand that you are coming with the pruners? My friend swears it gives them time to take their life force from the bits concerned.... but then we are both confirmed tree huggers too...

[The Smoking Gun!]

Well in all honesty that's perfectly fine by me, who am I to disregard the possibility that plants can make self preserving acts. After all every other living thing on the planet can, and they do respond to attention, so you go ahead and give them a heads up that tomorrow is heads off LOL!

I have seen the spectrometer show an electro magnetic "aura" of a fern leaf after being partially removed, it shows the outline of a whole leaf, as does our bodies after an amputation, for us it can be a projection of the mind's conception that it is still there, but how does a plant do it?

TSG!

[electronicsseller]

why don't ask a profesional worker to help you,or you can di it all by yourself,it's also a kind of enjoyment

[Vicstar]

Hi - ages ago you asked how to killo a buddleia plant: I like the idea of keeping it myself, but sometimes you can have too much of a good thing: also, Bhuddleias are well known for their ability to root practically anywhere (hence one sees them on building sites and growing out of the walls of houses even at roof level!) No doubt if the roots are potentially growing in under the house they may possibly even be destructive to the fabric of the house itself.
In my experience there is a very simple way to kill any small shrub or tree - it is an old fashioned technique which my mother taught me. I have used it successfully but would have no idea whether there are any health and safety issues other than the obvious ones! Basically, I was told to simply drill holes into the main stem of the plant (possibly chopping back growth insofar as this is possible) and then to flood parrafin into the holes. [Obviously you do not want to set your house on fire, so you would have to interpret this with common sense knowing your own situation - so I take absolutely no responsibility for this advice!] I can, however, say that in my experience the effect is brilliant: once the holes are drilled and the parafin "injected" into them, the plant simply "gives up". Don't try to remove the root - just let it rot away, to avoid any physical damage from forcibly removing it.