Weeds retard the growth of trees in a forest the same way that they retard growth of crops in the garden hence need to be controlled.
Weeds in the forest can be controlled by a number of techniques which include; the scrape and paint where a knife or a scraper tool is used to scrape around the bark of the tree and then a gel is painted/ smeared at the part of the tree that has been scrapped.
Other control measures
Ringbark and paint method. In this method, the bark of the tree is peeled around in a ring form and then a gel painted on the part of the tree where the bark has been peeled. You can also decide to cut a ring around the bark instead of peeling and then smear with a gel after.
Cut and paint. In this method, the entire tree is cut down to the floor and gel painted on the upper part of the stump but concentrating most on the edge of the stamp.
Cut and spray. After cutting the tree, spray a herbicide on the upper part of the tree stamp. This helps ensure that no new shoot develops again from the stamp.
Frill and paint. This is where notches are made around the tree and then gel smeared into the dents created or herbicide sprayed in the dents created.
