I had a 30ft (9m) chinaberry (Melia azedarach) removed that the previous owner left for me, four months ago. It had multiple split trunks at the bottom that made every arborist that looked at it concerned, and it was positioned close to the front of the house, so a storm could easily knock one of the major trunks onto the house. The tree removal people cut it down to an inch from the ground. I left an option open to have the stump ground down but didn't have that done.
Now, I haven't been making it a priority to remove it, but I just noticed what looks like chinaberry sprouts coming from the edge between the bark and the wood. As I have read online so far, this sounds bad because I didn't apply an herbicide to prevent this from happening. So, now I am wondering how to best proceed with killing off the chinaberry for good.
Apparently, since it was a four months ago, applying glyphosate to the stump won't help to kill off the roots. Is that right? Should I apply glyphosate to kill the sprouts and possible future sprouting? I already have some potassium nitrate (stump removal chemical) that I was thinking about applying inside the stump.
Also, from what I've read from other chinaberry sufferers is that they have roots all over the place. However, I don't seem to have roots from the chinaberry exposed anywhere.
My gut is telling me to apply glyphosate and then drill holes into the stump and apply the potassium nitrate. But, I also want avoid a dead lawn where I can't grow anything to replace it. There are two live oaks near it that were being dominated by the much taller chinaberry that need help growing especially in the central Texas climate.