Sunday, October 05, 2014

Hellish Sumac roots and suckers. I will defeat them!!!



Who would think that something so pretty could be so evil. Sumac Trees are very invasive. The first thing I did when we took over the house was to cut down the sumac and wage a losing battle with the suckers ever since. I have read constantly looking for tips to get rid of them. I would NEVER use Roundup, but even that doesn't really work. They are working their way into my gardens and I'm panicking a bit. There was even a small two foot sumac tree in the shed!! So last night I hit Google again and started reading about the much hated sumac. I hit the mother lode. Well for heaven's sake. The suckers come up from horizontal thick woody roots called rhizomes. And they run under the soil at about four to six inches. Mark already used the bobcat to dig out the sumac stump and yank out whatever roots he could grab. Here is the spot where it was. I've started tidying it up a bit.


Today I started pulling and digging with my pitchfork. This is a spot I was able to literally tear a big rhizome / root right up and out of the ground. Got about three feet intact. Little sucker shoots all over it. It's no wonder you can't win without digging the root. The little baby's are forming the whole length of the root. 


So it will be a pain but whenever I get a sucker, I am going to follow the roots as far as I can with the pitchfork and yank those monsters right out of the ground!! 

                                              I WILL TRIUMPH!!!

1 comment:

Pam's English Garden said...

Wow! I don't have this problem with my sumac, Erin, and love the way it looks in fall. Good luck with your battle. P. x