I planted about 14 acres of Loblolly pines to help with bedding habitat and sprayed them in May. We have had so much rain that they need to be sprayed again. The company that planted the trees sprayed the first time and now I want to do it going forward. There is a product called Arsenal you can spray right over the trees without hurting them but it is extremely expensive. Does anyone know of another method or product that has a better cost to do the same thing. Thanks in advance.

If you are trying to achieve bedding don’t spray them.

What are you trying to kill? Herbaceous, yaupon, hardwood....?

For sure. Leave em as is. That’s the whole point, you want it thick.

I planted the trees for future investment as well but the undergrowth will kill the new trees. Just need them to get above the undergrowth then after the first year of growth should be okay. Make sense? Just need advice on Herbicide options vs. Arsenal. Planted in an old Hay Field.

You shouldn't need that much Arsenal. If the pasture is clean, you would save money on chemical by doing it with a backpack versus doing it aerially.

Unless you’re overrun with sweetgum then I wouldn’t worry about spraying again. The stuff your about to kill is most likely the very stuff you want to be growing for deer right now. There’s plenty of loblolly grown every year that doesn’t get sprayed clean. Don’t get me wrong, it’ll definitely help the trees get a jump start to kill of the other stuff….but it’s not really the trees that are providing your deer with cover and food right now….it’s the other stuff. Those loblolly will be over head high in a couple years even if you don’t spray….they aren’t gonna get choked out.

If you're in a hay field and grass is your competition check out Oust. Band spray w/ 4 wheeler or backpack spot spray will cut down the amount of herbicide needed and leave some grass in between for cover. It's all expensive.

Hopefully it got scalped and Subsoiled. If it’s just grass you could hit it with Arsenal but I’d just let the trees out run the grass and save some coins.

If you want to clean up stand I’d apply 6-8 oz Arsenal ($7-8/ac) plus 2 oz Oust Extra ($8/ac). Could get by cheaper with 24D or Atrazine but these will knock out lots of the broad leaf plants that deer love. Arsenal alone is a great option but the Oust will make a noticeable difference. Whatever you spray, do not add any surfactant. Or like others have suggested, leave it alone and the pines will quickly outgrow competition

Polaris AC is generic arsenal and it's cheap. Use it like TC said and band spray or grasses and briars can be rough on seedling pines trying to get established esp with all this rain this year

Thank you guys for the input. Going to go with the Polaris AC and band spray with atv. It will hurt my cover this year but that will come back next year and will give me a higher success rate on the seedling pines. It may be fine to not spray but do not want to take a chance and they will perform better this first year with less competition.