Sumac is a tree which is very resilient and grows in clusters and not just as one tree. If you ever let one sumac tree flourish, its going to give birth to hundreds of little sumac trees which are constantly growing and also invading your garden. Though the berries on top of sumac trees look pretty, it can often cause a problem for your other plants.
Since sumac is so very resilient, it is also not easy to get rid of it. A sumac tree grow well in moist and well drained soils and are often very hard to get rid off because its pretty adaptable to its surroundings and therefore pretty hard to exterminate. However with help of the following tips you can easily get rid of sumac
• Make sure to spray the leaves of a sumac trees with herbicides containing triclopyr or dicamba through out the summer months. Make sure to spray the leaves effectively and do it diligently to get the maximum results.
• It’s always better to kill the trees off during the summer rather then in any other season because, these trees do not respond well to herbicides during the autumn season because, of the drought.
• Make sure that you cut off the dead branches and trees soon enough to prevent reproduction again.
• A glyphosate herbicide or a foliar herbicide will do just as well. All you have to do is to make sure that the spraying is done often enough and on a regular basis to get the maximum effect.
• Sumac is very resilient and some larger trees may not respond well to any of the above tips, the best thing to do is to spray these larger sumac trees with picloram and bromacil mixed with an ester which is not very volatile. This procedure must be carried out throughout spring to fall to obtain maximum results.
• Also make sure to spray the bark of the tree with this solution, also take precautionary measure of wearing a mask when using this particular spray mixture
• If your place is infested with poison sumac, it is essential that you use a foliar spray on it.
• Do not ever try to burn a poison sumac tree, this will cause the tree to release toxic fumes in the air and cause a very severe kind of lung irritation.
• Also make sure to keep children and pets away from the poisonous sumac tree, because if its oil ever rubs on to the skin might cause server irritation and allergic reaction.
• If all else fails, try to contaminate the soil by adding lime sulphur and even bleach. Though this might affect other plants as well but it is often the last resort to get rid of sumac.
• You may also try digging a trench around the sumac growth; fill the trench with foliar spray or chlorine bleach, just about anything which would cause the tree to stop growing.
• Once the leaves start falling off, make sure to cut down till the roots of the tree, just make sure you don’t come in direct contact with the tree or you will break out in severe rashes.
Instead of trying to kill it, harvest the red heads of berries and make a tea full of Vitamin C from them. Or grind the berries up and use them as a spice. There are many posts online and videos on YouTube that explain these uses.
Don’t do this if you have already sprayed poison on it.
Gail, that is all well and good but I don’t want to be overrun with Sumac trees.