I want to remove a holly tree. I want to kill it first. Don’t care if it takes a year to die, just want it dead, roots and all before cutting. Girdling doesn’t work, shoots come up from roots. Tried drilling and using roundup, didn’t work. I don’t want to fight the roots sprouting. Will the old “drive in a copper rod” work on a holly?

Last one I cut down, dug out around stump several feet deep. Cut some of the roots and used a truck a chain to remove stump. Damned thing was still sending up shoots 10 years later. I want to avoid that.