Help! Neighbours Sumac

[GeneralMusings]

Hello!

Our neighbours have planted a (very pretty) sumac next to our fence. It's probably a couple of years old now and looking lovely, taller than the fence etc.

However we're trying to get into gardening now and our flowerbed is our side of the fence.

Its suckering! I think it's the roots thst grow that sprout mini sumac from the root.

What do we do?

We pulled up and chopped a root that went the whole length of the flowerbed (couple meters maybe) with 2 of these on. But presumably it will just send out more?

We don't want to kill their tree by accident chopping roots but we don't want to be constantly fighting suckers. Will it be a few a year or more than that?

Is pulling the whole root correct as we won't be able to do that if we plant?

Will the suckers push out plants if I plant? Or can I just plant it up?

Help!

Sumac is the very devil for suckering. Just keep ripping them up with as much root as you can get. And speak to the neighbour as it will be suckering all over their garden soon. They really are a nuisance.

Would putting in a root barrier along the length of your fence help?

Speaking to the neighbour is... Difficult. They have fake grass/ gravel so presumably won't be bothered like we are. They will be cross if we kill it though 😬.

Root barrier. How deep would it need to be and how difficult would this be to do? Just dig and place? Will they go under it?
We've got some plants but haven't planted yet so now might be the time I guess. We were just trying to clear what was there hence finding these roots!

Would they continue to sucker if we just cut them off at the ground when they pop up. I think I know the answer to that 😬

Does pulling roots just encourage the tree to send out more?

How many am I likely to get a year?

Meh, if the roots are in your garden and you cut them off and it dies then it’s on them

This is me as well. Neighbours have one that has started to send suckers into my lawn. I pulled up 4 last weekend and then found another 6. I did read that weedkiller containing Triclopyr (SBK brushwood killer) will kill the suckers but not the parent plant but there was another site that said it will kill the parent so I'm a bit stuck. I don't want to kill their plant, it is lovely, but at the same time I don't want it in my lawn.

My parents have a Sumac tree - beautiful, but a bugger for suckering (and seeding). They just pull the suckers out/chop them off whenever they spot one - doesn't bother the parent tree at all. Plants around it don't seem to mind the disturbance either. But there are a lot. It's not just a handful a year, it's scores of them.

I'd definitely put in a root barrier if possible.

It's an allelopathic plant, so it'll poison a lot of the plants around it. If you're going to use a barrier make sure it's sturdy, our neighbour's sumac lifted up their patio slabs.

If you google root barrier for bamboo this should answer your questions
From memory about 60cm down and if it stops bamboo I would think it would stop this

What?! It poisons the plants nearby 😱😭.

Its my only South facing fence and I have such a small house and garden I want to Grow Things.

Will have to talk to husband about a barrier which will be a bigger job than me just planting pretty things but sounds like we need it 😬😬😬.

Kab - eek that's a lot more than I was thinking of the token one or two to deal with.

It must grow like lightening.

They don’t poison the plants nearby here. Just dig trench and put a couple of cheap pavers in standing up

If the suckers grow in grass you can just mow them off. So if you have room just to have a bit of grass there then put the barrier in you could try that.

I bought bamboo barrier on line - it's relatively easy to put in, just dig a spade's depth down and put it along the boundary. In my case it's my lovely neighbour's over enthusiastic spiraea - which isn't quite so troublesome.

I know it isn't nice of me but I am rather enjoying the thought of suckers pushing up under the fake grass 😝

Ha I wonder if they will. They had it professionally done so no idea how it works or if they've got layers of gravel or stone or. Something underneath.

We can't put grass there as it's about half a meter of flower bed and we want plants. The small patch of grass is in the middle then a small bed the other side too. I don't think I'm explaining well but it's the along the side of our garden next to the grass so we were hoping to put a mixture of shrubs and flowers there to look pretty!

From the RSH website.

• Suckers: Remove suckers as close as possible to the point of origin on the root, scraping away soil to reach the base if necessary. Tear, rather than cut away, the shoot so that the majority of dormant basal buds are removed, thus reducing the possibility of regrowth. In grassed areas where roots are surfacing, strip off the turf and raise the soil by 5-7.5cm (2-3in) before replacing the turf in late autumn or early spring

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/types/trees/removing-suckers-trees-shrubs

There's nothing of note growing near next door's line of sumac and their patio slabs have lifted. It is an established clump of sumac though, at least 20 years old.

I have had a Sumac for many years. I have always put weedkiller on any suckers as they appear, and there are lots, it hasn't affected the main Sumac at all.

Can you tell me what weedkiller do you use? I think I may have to go down the weedkiller route. It's becoming like that wack-a-mole game from the 70's and they are starting to spread further into the lawn.

I'm not adverse to the odd weedkiller moment I general but I really don't want to be responsible for killing their tree 😬.

@BigDahliaFan thanks for this I don't quite understand it. Why year them out rather than snip it out? We were pulling the whole root and cutting with secateurs... And if we can't get to the whole root once planted I don't quite get the tearing.

It seems to suggest removing from the root rather than snipping the whole root?

I'd dig a trench down the side of the fence cutting through all the roots coming through to your side. At least 2' deep. Put a length of fabric weed barrier along the length of the trench on the side by the fence, then stand-up a line of paving slabs against the fabric before filling in the trench again - taking the opportunity to get some compost/muck in the bottom of the trench.

Tbh I think that advice is more if it’s your try. The advice above about the trench and paving stones is good.

My dad had a beautiful Sumac that he adored. When we had to sell his house, we brought a cutting home in a pot and put it on a paving slab on the border of our garden, thinking that would keep it relatively restrained. Ha! It physically broke through the bottom of the pot and down the back of the paving slab without us realising, and it now gets stupidly tall if we don't hack bits off it, but every time we do chop a bit, it protests by sending up a load of suckers. I don't think it's got under the wall to next door's immaculate tile-and-astroturf garden, but if it did and they weedkiller-ed it, I would not blame them in the slightest. There's an enormous one behind the houses as well, which the council chopped down a few years back, and it's now ten times the width because it immediately threw up dozens of suckers and spread like mad. They are very pretty trees, especially in Autumn, but they're so invasive.

@kab89 I use Roundup weedkiller. I just put it on the shoots as they appear and they shrivel. The Sumac is over 40 years old and I've been doing it for years. It got quite tall, but the bottoms of the trunks sort of rotted and broke off and now it is smaller . It has never shown any signs of being bothered by the weedkiller.

I have roundup but as it's my neighbours tree I'm a bit nervous of killing it... Especially as we aren't particularly on good terms!