How do I remove this stupid bush?

[dragonjaze]

Hello all! I am trying to get rid of this idiot bush in my backyard. I've cut it down to the ground 3 different times, and it's still here.

I cut it down again, and now I'm trying to get the roots out. I've bent two shovels already on it, and have made no progress.

It's a mass of little stems. Here are my limitations:
1. No heavy equipment available
2. No burning
3. No chemicals

I'm a wimpy person, but I gave it my best try for digging it out and made absolutely no dent in it.

Any special techniques?

[Ozarks Tom]

I had a couple of the same bush looks like. Cut it low as possible, paint the cut ends with Tordon (stump killer) give it a couple months to kill out the root, and take an ax to it. Cover it with topsoil.

I know you said no chemicals, but Tordon stays within the root system and you're only painting the cut ends.

[fordy]

.............I'd use a narrow shovel and start digging out around the perimeter a little every day ! If, you can enlarge the diameter of the hole and get it deep enough to get to the root structure , I'd mix up a strong dose of roundup and pour into the hole and over several days monitor it's growth , if any . After a week or so , you can use a steel bar to start separating the main grouping of the individual shoots into smaller groups and remove them from the main growth . , fordy

[fordy]

...............Looks like Wisteria to me ! , fordy

[7thswan]

Dig enough to attach a chain, yank out with truck. Put large bag of salt in hole.

[Kasota]

Pick-ax.

[where I want to]

Sometimes you just fight a war of attrition. Eventually, if you keep cutting it short enough to keep it from leafing out, it will just run out of energy. You might try dousing it with boiling water to help but that will not reach the deeper roots, just give a bit longer between cutting back.
You could try covering it with a section of heavy landscaping material, then put heavy weights like pavers on top. But expect to leave it like that for a whole year or even two. You need to make sure to cover a bit around tge shrub too.

[dizzy]

Wait until fall, then put a super saturated solution of salt water on it.

[WoolyBear]

Tell the bush it's your most favorite plant in the whole world. That you couldn't live without it, if it should die. Baby it, love it, nurture it. I can absolutely guarantee that bad boy will be dead inside of 2 weeks. At least that's how it always seems to work for me.

[MichaelZ]

Do not let it green up. Keep trimming. And perhaps cover the whole thing with something. As mentioned, if you deprive it of energy long enough, it will use up what it has stored up in its roots and then die. But if you let it green up at all, it starts storing up energy again.

[o&itw]

All useful answers. If you are not going to plant something else there right away, cut it to the ground, cover it with a piece of plastic or old tarp or feedbag, throw a few shovels of dirt on top to hold everything down and wait for a few months.

You could also spray it with a vinegar salt mixture every couple of weeks for a month or so, but cutting it flush and covering it with plastic and dirt will do best.

[RedDirt Cowgirl]

Sit yourself down next to the bush with your hand pruners and start from the outside, removing everything you can. Cover it with a metal bucket or tub tight to the ground, & rest up. Repeat until dead. Hopefully the bush, not you. Boiling hot vinegar if it resprouts more than you can cut. Keep the area as dry as possible so the roots can't make a living in the meantime.

[secuono]

Can you cover it in a barrel so it gets no sun and try to kill it off that way?
Or dig further out from it to get under.

[Gravytrain]

Do you have an old push lawnmower? I'd mow the soft shoots on top and repeat a couple times a week. I've done this with stumps that had been cut but had shoots clinging to life. The mower eventually became a death sentence to them.

[oldasrocks]

Roundup only kills what it touches green so pouring it in the hole won't do any good. Spritz the green growing on it a couple times with Roundup. Yes Roundup is a chemical but won't hurt anything else.

[urban gleaner]

Try a spade, not a shovel. And make sure it's good and sharp. That way you might have a chance of cutting through the root matt. Then a mattock. Again, make sure it's also sharp.

[myheaven]

Salt will kill it. But you will have town the soil sit for a season.

[bjgarlich]

We had buckthorn that wouldn't be killed...I cut it as low as possible and taped heavy black plastic over anything left above ground. That worked!

[ddow]

The black plastic cover would be the way I'd go. Keep it wet underneath and steam the plant to death.

[AngieM2]

I'm reading this with interest. I have 3 of those things. I've had them as tall as me, and to the ground and they just don't want to be dead. I'm going to have to try some of these solutions.