Good Method To Kill Privet Hedge?

Q: Is there a good method to kill privet hedge? It has taken over a portion of my backyard fence. 

A: It’s a tough plant! I spent much of my childhood and young teen years trying to control privet on my family‘s farm. My father and I pulled hundreds of head-high plants using a small tractor and a chain. However, I would have to admit that there is just as much privet on the property now as there was fifty years ago. If you don’t have a tractor or a teenager, the easiest control is to spray the green leaves with triclopyr (Brush Killer). If the lower trunk of the privet is more than an inch in diameter, chop into the base with a small hatchet and spray herbicide into the fresh cut. Do this before the leaves drop in fall and you won’t have to deal with this nuisance plant a half-century later.