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.
Tungoil tree [Vernicia fordii (Hemsl.) Airy-Shaw] is a deciduous tree that grows rapidly in moist and well-drained soils, forming dense stands. Trees grow to 40 feet (12 m) in height and have rounded crowns with many alternate branches and basal sprouts. Leaves are heart-shaped, some with rounded sinuses (mittenlike), and long petioles with a pair of conspicuous dark glands at the juncture with the blade. Sap is milky white. Clusters of showy, white, trumpet flowers with orange throats in early spring yield large spherical “nuts” in the fall. Viable seed can be produced at 3 years. Still sparingly planted as an ornamental.
Management strategies
- Do not plant. Remove prior plantings, and control sprouts and seedlings. Bag and dispose of fruit in a dumpster or burn.
- Treat when new plants are young to prevent seed formation.
- Cut, mulch, and bulldoze when fruit 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
Large trees and saplings. Make stem injections using undiluted Garlon 3A (June through September) when safety to surrounding vegetation is desired or Vanquish* as a 75-percent solution (9 quarts per 3-gallon mix) with water (June through October) in cut-spacings specified on the herbicide label. For stems too tall for foliar sprays, cut and immediately treat the stump tops with one of the following herbicides: Garlon 4 as a 25- to 50-percent solution (3 to 6 quarts per 3-gallon mix) or Garlon 3A as a 30-percent solution (7 pints per 3-gallon mix). 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. When safety to surrounding vegetation is desired, apply a basal spray of Pathfinder II undiluted. Otherwise, use 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). 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 or mineral oil with a penetrant, or fuel oil or diesel fuel (where permitted).
Seedlings and saplings. Wet all leaves on young trees < 10 feet (3 m) tall using one of the following herbicides in water with a surfactant: Garlon 3A as a 2-percent solution (8 ounces per 3-gallon mix), a glyphosate herbicide as a 2- to 3-percent solution (8 to 12 ounces per 3-gallon mix) when safety to surrounding vegetation is desired, Chopper Gen2* as a 1-percent solution (4 ounces per 3-gallon mix), or Arsenal AC* as a 0.5-percent solution (2 ounces per 3-gallon mix).
* Nontarget plants may be killed or injured by root uptake.
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