Sumac control

[desertdog71]

So I bought some acreage and have several large areas of woody type trees, shrubs, weeds, whatever you want to call them. After a few hours of digging around the interwebs I am 90% sure what they are is Sumac. It's winter so they are bare except for the blossoms are dried out and still on most of the plants. A bush hogged a bunch of them and have plenty more to do. Does anyone know of any effective ways to get rid of them and keep them in check? This areas are thick with them, you can barely push your way through them on foot, so I need to do something about them. Thanks

 

[old and tired]

Mowing is fine but it will not control it, but in the spring when they leaf out and start to grow, spray Garlon 3A or Garlon 4. Make sure you know how to calibrate a sprayer and put out the correct amount. It's not cheap. You will likely have more sprouts later in the season... plan on spraying again (and next spring). Hopefully, you'll get to the point where you can spot spray. Which reminds me, I'll need to look for some sprouts this spring, too...

Anything under the sumac that is growing in the soil, like grass?

 

[desertdog71]

Mostly clear under them, I've not seen them in other seasons but I imagine they throw a lot of shade and keep other things from growing under them.

I have all the fun stuff growing there, Cedar, Sumac, and Locust. Plus some red razor wire type thing that I haven't identified yet. The sumac stands are a good 7-8 feet tall, about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick at the bases, so I can cut them. Would treating the freshly cut stems with herbicide possibly do the trick? Sounds like a have a long battle ahead of me.

 

[ericm979]

25% Garlon 4 in diesel works great for treating stumps. It's also good for spraying on the bark. The diesel helps it stick and get absorbed. It does not take much. I use it to kill poison oak vines that extend up to 40-50 feet up into a tree. You only need to spray a foot or 18" of the vine to kill the whole plant. It does not take much. (cutting the vine just encourages the root stock to grow faster)

Garlon 4 kills just broad leaf plants, not everything like roundup. It also degrades faster in the soil than roundup. It's less toxic than many other herbicides.

If you spray foliage with it you can use a 1-2% mix. I buy it in gallons of 66%. Two ounces of that per gallon works out to 1%. If you buy bulk Garlon 4 like that you also need to add a surfactant so it sticks to the leaves. The problem with foliar application is that you need to spray all the leaves to kill the plant. And plants with waxy leaves tend to resist foliar application so you need to spray them harder.

Garlon 4 works when the plant is growing. When the plant is dormant it's not effective. So you need to spray in the spring or summer. It takes three weeks or so to see results. I'd like to see the poison oak I spray be a smoking crater the next day but it's not that fast.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

25% Garlon 4 in diesel works great for treating stumps. It's also good for spraying on the bark. The diesel helps it stick and get absorbed. It does not take much. I use it to kill poison oak vines that extend up to 40-50 feet up into a tree. You only need to spray a foot or 18" of the vine to kill the whole plant. It does not take much. (cutting the vine just encourages the root stock to grow faster)

Garlon 4 kills just broad leaf plants, not everything like roundup. It also degrades faster in the soil than roundup. It's less toxic than many other herbicides.

If you spray foliage with it you can use a 1-2% mix. I buy it in gallons of 66%. Two ounces of that per gallon works out to 1%. If you buy bulk Garlon 4 like that you also need to add a surfactant so it sticks to the leaves. The problem with foliar application is that you need to spray all the leaves to kill the plant. And plants with waxy leaves tend to resist foliar application so you need to spray them harder.

Garlon 4 works when the plant is growing. When the plant is dormant it's not effective. So you need to spray in the spring or summer. It takes three weeks or so to see results. I'd like to see the poison oak I spray be a smoking crater the next day but it's not that fast.

Thanks for the information.

 

[Diggin It]

Once you get the area cut down, mow it, mow it and keep mowing it. After a few years, there won't be any more shoots sprouting. No spraying required.


Been there. Done it. Got the the shirt AND the ball cap.

 

[Oaktree]

Once you get the area cut down, mow it, mow it and keep mowing it. After a few years, there won't be any more shoots sprouting. No spraying required.

I had quite the infestation of it here when I bought the place, and that's what I did too. Well, I also tilled it up to break up the roots and pulled out what I could. It's been close to 15 years now, and still clear, but then again I keep it mowed.

I try to avoid herbicides whenever I can. Yeah, yeah the manufacturers say they're safe, but they say a lot of things that aren't true.

 

[Tonyinohio]

Once you get the area cut down, mow it, mow it and keep mowing it. After a few years, there won't be any more shoots sprouting. No spraying required.


Been there. Done it. Got the the shirt AND the ball cap.

I bought my place and one fence row was overgrown 20-50 feet x 1000+ length with everything you can think of. I used the tractor to jerk out as much as possible and flush cut the big stuff. Chipped it all and blew it over the same area then mowed it weekly and its now the alley way for the cattle to reach the paddocks. No woody growth.

 

[desertdog71]

I think I'll just try the mowing for now and see how it goes. I already planned to bushhog a few times a year anyways. If that doesn't at least make them more manageable then I'll defoliate them. I have bigger projects in the short term anyways.