poison sumac


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Old 10-08-04, 08:57 AM
hmedler
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Question poison sumac

I have several poison shoemack trees that are about 1-2 inches in diameter and range about 8-9feet tall. We have burned them several times, but they continue to come back. What can I use or do to them to make them go away? Thanks for any advice.
Marcie
 
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Old 10-08-04, 01:28 PM
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From: http://landscaping.about.com/cs/land.../a/sumac_2.htm

"First some identification is in order. It is easy to distinguish poison sumac plants from their non-poison sumac relatives, if you pick the right time of year. The time to make the identification is in the fall, when the berries have ripened to maturity. Poison sumac tree's mature berries are a greenish-white color and hang down. Non-poison sumac trees bear red berries in the autumn, and their berries grow upright. In addition, poison sumac plants grow in swamps, whereas non-poison sumac plants prefer precisely the opposite habitat -- soils that are well-drained. If you don't hang around swamps much, your chances of encountering poison sumac are pretty slim. It should be noted that by "non-poison" I allude to an absence of skin irritation from contact with the plant; but no part of the sumac plant should be ingested by anyone not thoroughly informed on the subject."

Generally, girdling a tree will kill it. Cut through the bark and remove a strip near the ground. You can cut the tree down and keep removing any new growth or spray the new growth with a non-selective herbicide such as Round Up and kill it. You could cut the tree down and remove the stump, then keep after any sprouts with round up until they cease to sprout.

Hope this helps.
 
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Old 10-09-04, 07:08 PM
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When you cut down a tree paint the stump with Round-Up Ultra or Glyfoss syrup (not the diluted for spraying form) immediatley after cutting down the tree. You can also drill several holes in the fresh stump and fill them with Round-Up or Glyfoss.
 
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Old 10-14-04, 04:35 AM
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Hello hmedler

I have a concern with buring poison sumac, poison ivy or poison oak - the irritant / poison that they all have is an oil that they produce. Burning will volitize this oil and if breathed in, could do a lot of internal damage to anyone in the path of the smoke.

As suggested above, RoundUp (Glyphosate) should kill it (Killex - 2,4-D, Mecoprop & Dicamba - should work equally well) - spray to the point of run-off. My experience with it is that while painting open cuts might work, you'll get a lot more active ingredient translocated into the roots by applying to the foliage as it will be absorbed in greater quantity from the larger surface area.

Hope this helps

Howie
 
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Old 10-14-04, 03:35 PM
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I've gotten poison ivy in the winter from burning wood that had a piece of the plant on it. You do not want to get poison ivy by inhalation. It's not like getting a few spots where you touch the plant. It showed up first between my fingers & toes and then every day or so it appeared on a new part until it went all over. A fun two weeks... After that, I became a big fan of herbicide.
 
 

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