i dont think the copper thing works ....

make fresh cuts.. and properly apply a stump killer ...

most shrubs and trees.. dont die.. just from cutting them back ...

ken

Well of course, there is the...don't let any sprouts live strategy (stay on TOP of it) and in a year or two, it'll all be dead from lack of photosynthesis.

true.. if you have the attention span to do that ....

the idea is.. all plants have stored energy ... replenished by sunshine ... and green leaves ...

so if you keep removing leaves... eventually use up the stored energy.. and it dies ...

but lose track for a few months... and its back storing energy.. etc ...

ken

Yes Ken, it depends on how much you want it gone vs your ADD :)

I needed to get rid of 1 that had been in for some 20 years. It appears others had, in the past, attempted to eradicate it by hacking down and/or spraying with garden strength Roundup.

My solution?

Cut it back to about 6" (15cm); got battery drill, and drilled multiple holes from all direrctions.

Filled all holes with Glyphosate 360 using a syringe. Covered the stump faces with cotton wool soaked in Glyphosate and wrapped each trunk with gaffer tape.

Exit 1 Sumac!

Fof

Thanks for your responses. I will try the cutting it back over and over until it dies. I try to stay away from chemical products if at all possible.

This is beside the point, but I like sumac (staghorn). Very pretty in every season

But Lane, as much as I love natives, with the quickly spreading ones, siting is important. And sumac often is very aggressively clumping...it's scary in the wrong place.

Corinne

I am with you 100% where synthetic chemical are involved, but I decided to take that path with the Sumac, as I found it was sending up suckers, from the roots, in other beds and it was even coming up through the footpath of the road outside the house.

As I said in another thread, Glyphosate is, to me, the "tool of last resort".

Fof