Miller, James H.; Manning, Steven T.; Enloe, Stephen F. 2010. A management guide for invasive plants in southern forests. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS–131. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 120 p.
Silktree or mimosa (Albizia julibrissin Durazz.) is a small legume tree 10 to 50 feet (3 to 15 m) tall that reproduces by abundant seeds and root sprouts. Traditionally planted as an ornamental owing to abundant showy pink and white flowers in spring and throughout summer that yield profuse dangling flat pods that are often retained during winter. It has feathery deciduous leaves and smooth light-brown bark. Seedpods float to spread along waterways and ditches, while seed remain viable for many years.
Management strategies
- Do not plant. Remove prior plantings, and control sprouts and seedlings. Bag and dispose of seed pods in a dumpster or burn.
- Minimize disturbance where this plant occurs.
- Treat when new plants are young to prevent seed formation.
- Cut and bulldoze when seed are not present.
- Manually pull new seedlings and tree wrench saplings when soil is moist, ensuring removal of all roots.
- Burning treatments are suspected of having minimal topkill effect due to scant litter.
Recommended control procedures
Trees. Make stem injections using Arsenal AC* or when safety to surrounding vegetation is desired, Garlon 3A in dilutions as specified on the herbicide label (anytime except March and April). For felled trees, apply the herbicides to stump tops immediately after cutting. ORTHO Brush-B-Gon, Enforcer Brush Killer, and Vine-X are effective undiluted for treating cut-stumps and available in retail garden stores (safe to surrounding plants).
Saplings. Apply a basal spray to young bark using Garlon 4 as a 20-percent solution (5 pints per 3-gallon mix) in a labeled basal oil product, vegetable oil or mineral oil with a penetrant, or fuel oil or diesel fuel (where permitted); or undiluted Pathfinder II. Elsewhere, apply Stalker* as a 6- to 9-percent solution (1.5 to 2 pints per 3-gallon mix) in a labeled basal oil product, vegetable oil, kerosene, or diesel fuel (where permitted).
Resprouts and seedlings. Thoroughly wet all leaves with one of the following herbicides in water with a surfactant:
- From June to August, either Escort XP* at 1 ounce per acre (0.2 ounces per 3-gallon mix) plus a glyphosate herbicide as a 2-percent solution addition (8 ounces per 3-gallon mix) or Milestone VM* at 6 to 9 pints per acre (1.5 to 3 pints per 3-gallon mix and 10 gallons per acre).
- From July to September, Transline* † as a 0.25-percent solution plus Garlon 3A as a 4-percent solution (1 ounce plus 1 pint per 3-gallon mix).
* Nontarget plants may be killed or injured by root uptake.
† Transline controls a narrow spectrum of plant species.
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