Wood carving and Remedy .

I'm in the process of ridding my land of black locust trees . I like Remedy since it kills the tree and discourages the spreading that occurs when you cut them down .

I plan on using the wood for walking sticks , staffs (maybe a few breaking sticks or jig poles) and for garden trellises .

Question is : will the chemicals in Remedy stay in the wood and perhaps leach out to the soil or users' hands ?

I decided to spray my fence lines with Remedy a few months ago. I was concerned about it leaching into the soil. Triclopyr the active ingredient in Remedy is not residual in the soil. I forgot most I what I read when I was looking into it, but it seemed to be a pretty mild chemical as far as that goes.

Thanks . I like using it because you don't have to spray the entire tree (just part of the trunk) .

Guess my real concern is the amount left in the wood after it dies . I'd hate to sell someone a walking stick that could possibly make their hand rot off .

Might be a little more work, but could you cut what you wanted first, then spray?

I've tried that and it's not any more work than the other method . Just seems like (IME) that they tend to spread less if you kill before cutting . I'll try using more Remedy on the stump and see if that works .

Locusts are a beach but they're a really hard wood ( like Bois d'arc) useful for fence posts , furniture , etc. Have to be careful and let 'em dry out for a couple of years when using on a fence , though . A "fresh" post can sprout a new tree .

I would think spraying them first would be fine. The amount of chemical that actually gets into the tree is very small. Then it is trsnslocated all through the tree and the roots. It will also be mostly in the cambium layer just under the bark which you are probably going to sand off. The only problem I see is if you don't let the brush completely die before you cut it down it will still come back. It takes about a year for the chemical to fully translocate through and kill it. It may look dead pretty quick but actually takes a long time.