How can I kill Bradford pear roots/stump of a cut down tree?

Hi Annette besides just digging it all up out of your whole yard it sounds like you may need to move on to harsher chemicals than the natural stuff we all normally like to use. I know roundup makes a specific high potency formula for killing trees, it will kill anything near it as well.

Hello Annette,

You will need to bore a hole in the stump (many holes) and pour Root Rotter in them and wait.

Annette...Can you chop them out with an ax?

Round-Up on it, is only way. Round-up.....it's absorbed thru plant leaves then into stem/stalk then root system killing plant. you need to add food coloring so you can tell where you are spraying ,hold sprayer down on plant leaves you are spraying,don't spray in wind/slightest breeze,don't get in wet solution(it dries quickly),wear disposable gloves.....follow the safety instructions on bottle it has always said "hazardous" & the safety instructions have always been on containers. Buying concentrate & mixing yourself is best mix it stronger than directions say. Respray asap if you see any new growth and do not let plants spread even more. the more you kill just the tops the more the roots/rhizomes spread underground. just look for new plants starting and spray it before it gets out of control.get a good 2 gallon pump sprayer and not a back pack,because if it leaks on you well you could be joining all the civil suits of people who did not heed hazardous warnings.it only kills what you spray it on,and works best when plant is in full growth cycle so it is absorbed into plant fast.Bradford pears are highly invasive, causing massive agriculture problems and should not be planted in the U.S.Bradford pear trees are growing like weeds, spreading into forests and crowding out native trees in some places, the commission says. When these trees grow in natural forests, they create dense thickets, replete with sharp thorns, that make walking through the woods difficult. The thorns are so sharp and sturdy that they can puncture tractor tires.

More importantly, Bradford pears threaten native species and the quality of wood that might be harvested for paper and wood production, according to the Forestry Commission.

The trees also are brittle and spindly, meaning their branches easily break during high winds and storms, leaving cities littered with woody debris. The trees can even smell bad at times, according to the Forestry Commission. Some reports have likened the smell to that of dead fish.

“We are saying cut them down when possible,’’ Forestry Commission spokesman Doug Wood said. “It is just generally a nuisance tree.’’

Introduced in the U.S. from Asia, these pear trees became a landscaping tree of choice beginning in the 1960s and lasting through the early 2000s.

The trees were thought to be sterile so they would not spread and cause problems for native trees. But that hasn’t proven to be true. Beginning in the late 1990s, Bradford pears began producing fruit. Birds that eat the fruit of Bradford pears spread the seeds in their droppings, leading to stands of Bradford pears in forests, Wood and commission officials said.

Bradford pears are among scores of invasive plant species that are causing problems in U.S..