# Whats the best way to kill an oleander bush? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 12, 2003, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-kill-an-oleander-bush/148046 "2003-01-12T00:40:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hermann\_Cheruscan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b782af/32.png) [@Hermann\_Cheruscan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermann_Cheruscan)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-kill-an-oleander-bush/148046/1 "2003-01-12T00:40:09Z")
I’ve got an oleander bush that I’d like to get rid off. I stopped watering it a couple years ago, and still it lives. I trimmed the branches down to nothing last year, but they grew back. I’ve even poured small amounts of gasoline around the base, just to try to kill it, but nothing works. Does anyone know if I could get something at a garden center to poison this thing. I know I could just dig it up and hack at the roots, but that would take all day. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-kill-an-oleander-bush/148046/2 "2003-01-12T00:43:21Z")
You could try a Total Vegetation Killer. Otherwise I would suggest larger amounts of gas. I dumped out about a gallon of gas in some grass one day about 3 years ago and theres still a dead spot about a foot in diameter there. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-kill-an-oleander-bush/148046/3 "2003-01-12T00:54:29Z")
I would not suggest eating it. ---
**Author:** ![Hermann\_Cheruscan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b782af/32.png) [@Hermann\_Cheruscan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermann_Cheruscan)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-kill-an-oleander-bush/148046/4 "2003-01-12T01:04:08Z")
> [@](#): > > I would not suggest eating it. You got that right. When I was cutting the branches off last year, there was a lot of smoke from the cut branches(I used a chainsaw), and dust in the air. I inhaled a lot of it, and I remember my heart racing for several hours after the job. So I think I got mildly poisoned by it. ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-kill-an-oleander-bush/148046/5 "2003-01-12T02:41:40Z")
It’s probably illegal to pour gasoline on the ground where you live and if it isn’t it should be. And if you poured gasoline around it and lit it, the smoke could seriously harm anyone who inhaled it. So do the right thing, either dig up the plant including its roots or go to the local garden center and get something like glyphosphate (e.g., Roundup) and use it according to the label. (Generally, you can either cut the plant down to near the ground and then spray the new growth when it starts to grow vigorously or you can cut the plant down to the ground and apply the concentrated product to the stump[s].) ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-kill-an-oleander-bush/148046/6 "2003-01-12T02:51:33Z")
I would not suggest pouring gas on it. Cut off as much vegetation a possible and paint the fresh cuts with a commercial vegetation killer such as Roundup is usually pretty effective method. I have been using this method on some ivy and morning glory in my backyard and have been making progress. I would also bet someone at the [International Oleander Society’s Web Site](http://oleander.org/) would know. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-way-to-kill-an-oleander-bush/148046/7 "2003-01-12T03:14:23Z")
Tell it that its wife is having a lesbian affair, its tech stocks all tanked and the cops found his secret stash of child pornography. That should kill it.