Demonic Staghorn Sumac Infestation

[The Funktopus]

Anyone had any joy in battling one of these absolute ballaches? We have a planter in the front garden that when we moved in, had a mature staghorn sumac in it, alongside a couple of small conifers. The sumac soon killed off the conifers however, as it sapped all the nutrients and prevented them getting sunlight.

I’ve since cutdown both the dead conifers and the sumac tree, drilling holes into the stumps and pouring in SBK tree stump killer, and driving in copper nails for good measure. Cutting the sumac tree down though seems to have been a mistake, as it’s now gone ******* nuts, just exploding everywhere, popping up all over the front garden and even in the pavement, which is on the other side of a brick wall. I’ve been ripping up new growths with their roots where I can, while spraying more mature plants, initially with SBK Brushwood Killer that’s worked really well against the Mare’s Tail infestation I’m also battling, but doesn’t seem to do much against the sumac. I’ve since switched to Weedol, which contains glyphosate that should target the sumac more effectively, but does anybody have any advice as to how I can get rid of this absolute pain?

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Staghorn Tree | Weed Control | Gardening Information | Thompson & Morgan

This page provides advice on how to get rid of an invasive staghorn (sumach). Sounds as though your Staghorn tree (Sumach) is taking over! Unfortunately this is a common problem with Sumachs as they respond by profuse suckering when the main stem is removed.

www.thompson-morgan.com

These sorts of plant/weed are all the same.
Keep knocking them back and eventually you will win.
Make it a weekly job to go round, pull up anything you can.
You need to always win the battle of it having expended more energy to grow new parts than it manages to get back before you wipe them out.

Sounds like you really need to dig the stump out of if you can.

If your really struggling to get the root out you could try burning it out.
Use charcoal basically and just keep feeding a small amount in to keep it going. Slowly you will burn your way down.

If you can get decently down, drill an air hole into the middle, a hole down the middle and get the fire inside, burn it from the inside out.

Best bet with this sort of stuff however is to always remove as much as possible at the start.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

To add.

When using SBK etc you can often achieve better results if you can isolate the area being sprayed and keep it contained, such as a plastic bag etc
That way you stand more chance of it pulling more in before it dries out.

I find the problem with all the very tough plants/weeds is that you don't get the weedkiller far enough into the main plants as it dries out too quickly.

I have seen people if they can put more weedkiller in a bag with the end of the thing they are trying to kill in the bag, and seal it up.
Hopefully it draws far more that way and it really works its way back down into the plant.

 

[The Funktopus]

The switch to Roundup seems to be working, plus I have been putting bags over the more mature plants as suggested, and it seems to be making a difference. The amount of plants growing back each time seems to be lessening thankfully.