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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 January 2025
Reduced hack and squirt (RHS) is an herbicide injection technique that controls woody species with a limited number of hacks. When used with aminopyralid or aminocyclopyrachlor, the technique controls multi-stem shrubs such as Schinus terebinthifolia Raddi and Eugenia uniflora L. However, additional data is needed to compare its effectiveness on other woody invasive species against standard individual plant treatment techniques. We compared RHS with aminocyclopyrachlor or aminopyralid administered with 0.5 ml of undiluted concentrate (240 g L-1) against traditional basal bark and cut stump techniques using triclopyr at 96 and 120 g L-1 respectively, on six invasive trees in Florida, USA. For all species tested, the RHS technique with aminocyclopyrachlor was not different or was more effective than basal bark or cut stump treatment with triclopyr. The RHS technique with aminopyralid was effective on certain species but did not control as many species as RHS with aminocyclopyrachlor or cut stump treatment with triclopyr. The RHS technique required significantly less time than cut stump treatment but was not different than basal bark treatment. Across all species, when compared to basal bark and cut stump treatment with triclopyr, the RHS approach resulted in reductions of average total herbicide mix applied by 98 and 89%, respectively. For herbicide active ingredient, when compared to basal bark and cut stump treatment with triclopyr, RHS resulted in reductions of 95 and 86%, respectively. These results indicate that when compared to conventional individual plant treatment (IPT) approaches with triclopyr, the RHS approach yielded a high level of target efficacy on a broad spectrum of species, comparable or shorter application times, and substantial reductions in herbicide mix and active ingredient applied. Future research should seek a continued refinement of this technique for woody plant control on other troublesome invaders.