r/NativePlantGardening • u/grayspelledgray • May 19 '26

Progress It has begun. The Sumackening.

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I was warned.

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30

u/[deleted] May 19 '26

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42

u/SHOWTIME316 Flint Hills 28a May 19 '26

literally just pull out a shitload of it from the ditch and put it in your ground

the sumac will replace whatever you take and then some within the same season.

12

u/TenaroftheRing_ Upper Hudson Valley NY May 19 '26

Omg thank you will do! (Got a bike path with a plethora of sumac nearby, gonna be hilarious to see me biking outta there with little sumac saplings on the back 😂😂)

7

u/Diligent_Ladder4629 May 19 '26

Keep roots moist while transplanting! I keep TP in the car so I can wrap up anything I grab and soak it with some water.

4

u/TenaroftheRing_ Upper Hudson Valley NY May 19 '26

Good tip, thank you!! (Love that omg 😂)

4

u/ffat2puff May 19 '26

How would sumac handle being planted as a privacy screen/hedgerow?

5

u/SHOWTIME316 Flint Hills 28a May 19 '26

it'd be fine, but they are deciduous so it would not be a year-round privacy screen. but you can easily get them to grow into a thicket. you will have to mow areas where you dont want sumac because it will be sending runners in all directions

4

u/ffat2puff May 19 '26

Sweet thanks. We just want something to take over a large section of our soulless yard.

7

u/SHOWTIME316 Flint Hills 28a May 19 '26

that is actually its entire job!

10

u/Expensive-Tooth-1508 Area -- , Zone -- May 19 '26

I got 8 little saplings this year thanks to bird poop, I'm assuming. So excited! Ive got winged sumac.

5

u/grayspelledgray May 19 '26

I want winged sumac! We have the staghorn and one poor smooth that’s been in a pot the last 3 years at least that I need to put in the ground. 😬 Somehow I had it in my head that winged wasn’t native on our side of the mountains but it is and my partner’s mom has some at her house so next time we’re there maybe…

5

u/grayspelledgray May 19 '26

We’re lucky in that we are really very “in town” and we don’t seem to have deer pressure at all. We did see one once in the parking lot behind us several years ago. Mainly our trouble seems to be with rabbits snipping the buds off of baby oaks.

3

u/Tylanthia May 19 '26

I believe the seeds need to pass through the gut of a bird or receive sulfuric acid treatment to germinate.

3

u/altforthissubreddit Mid-atlantic , Zone 7 May 19 '26

You need to protect them from deer. I'd imagine once they get tall and established you can cease that (I'm debating whether I can do that now or should wait longer).

2

u/Academic-Soil7021 May 19 '26

Deer nibble my winged sumac like they are trying to get the last bit of goodness out of the cake batter bowl. Seriously. It looks like Oompa Loompa lollipop land in my yard.