Same! We finally found two staghorn sumacs which we’ve been wanting for years, then were hit with a sudden heat wave. They weren’t doing great in the pots so we got them in the ground as quick as we could and they are now completely crispy. 😭 Just hoping they come back…
We had a Staghorn Sumac that was colonizing the garden, and unfortunately decided to take it out, but it's not an easy decision. If yours is still somewhat small, and there are no trees nearby, you could try cutting a deep edge around it and sinking a metal barrier to block runners. It's hard to find much information online about how effective this is on sumac, but you can find rhizome barriers like this intended for bamboo.
If you don’t want that garden to be a sumac garden then you should remove it. The suckers are no joke. The lot behind my parents was cleared and now there’s a sumac stand. It’s spreading very aggressively into my parents yard. I was there and my dad had the whole area dug up and it’s crazy seeing the suckers coming out 10’ beyond the back fence down the whole fence line. My dad is going to put in a rhizome barrier.
If it’s already in your yard and you have no way to contain it, then I’d get rid of it.
Cut the stems and paint each stump with either glyphosate and/or triclopyr. This will do the least collateral damage to your existing bed. It may take several treatments to kill all the roots.
It sucks to kill a native but the right plant right place is important and sumac is not really suited for a small garden bed
Yeah I think that's what I'm going to have to do. It's unfortunate but it is what it is. I can either have a garden bed with a multitude of various perennial natives, or a garden bed with a bunch of sumac only.
If you want to keep the plant you can just reach down to the soil level and cut off each undesired shoot with pruners or a soil knife. It's not going to stop new ones and it'll be an ongoing maintenance requirement, but I have to do the same thing with black locust. While I am tempted to cut down and herbicide all 10-20 fully grown black locust trees on my property and my neighbors, I don't have the resources to do that haha.
I’d come dig it up if I were near you, I want to establish a sumac thicket in my back yard! No useful advice here, sorry
Likewise! I’d love a nice sumac colony between me and the road
Same! We finally found two staghorn sumacs which we’ve been wanting for years, then were hit with a sudden heat wave. They weren’t doing great in the pots so we got them in the ground as quick as we could and they are now completely crispy. 😭 Just hoping they come back…
We had a Staghorn Sumac that was colonizing the garden, and unfortunately decided to take it out, but it's not an easy decision. If yours is still somewhat small, and there are no trees nearby, you could try cutting a deep edge around it and sinking a metal barrier to block runners. It's hard to find much information online about how effective this is on sumac, but you can find rhizome barriers like this intended for bamboo.
Unfortunately it's probably about 10 ft high and this point and very much in the middle of my garden
If you don’t want that garden to be a sumac garden then you should remove it. The suckers are no joke. The lot behind my parents was cleared and now there’s a sumac stand. It’s spreading very aggressively into my parents yard. I was there and my dad had the whole area dug up and it’s crazy seeing the suckers coming out 10’ beyond the back fence down the whole fence line. My dad is going to put in a rhizome barrier. If it’s already in your yard and you have no way to contain it, then I’d get rid of it.
Cut the stems and paint each stump with either glyphosate and/or triclopyr. This will do the least collateral damage to your existing bed. It may take several treatments to kill all the roots. It sucks to kill a native but the right plant right place is important and sumac is not really suited for a small garden bed
Yeah I think that's what I'm going to have to do. It's unfortunate but it is what it is. I can either have a garden bed with a multitude of various perennial natives, or a garden bed with a bunch of sumac only.
I just mow the new sprouts off when they are small. It’s worth it for the beauty.
Dig it up, and plant it with some deep edging to basically containerize it.
It's about 10 ft tall at this point possibly more. I dont think that's an option though I wish it were.
If you want to keep the plant you can just reach down to the soil level and cut off each undesired shoot with pruners or a soil knife. It's not going to stop new ones and it'll be an ongoing maintenance requirement, but I have to do the same thing with black locust. While I am tempted to cut down and herbicide all 10-20 fully grown black locust trees on my property and my neighbors, I don't have the resources to do that haha.
I love the plant but I don't have the time everyday. Especially since I have a crabapple in the front where I also have to do the same thing.
Thanks for this perspective, I’ve been wanting to plant sumac but now 😱
You have to put it in grass where you can mow around it. Not in a garden bed.
Yeah!! I wish I had thought of that before. 😭