Poison Sumac Control: How To Get Rid of Poison Sumac

There are weeds that can be concerning because they are unsightly or grow out of control, and then there are woody weeds that are a concern because of the allergic reactions that they cause to anyone who comes in contact with it, like Poison Sumac. Poison Sumac is a notorious plant due to the rashes they form but most people don't know much else about them.

Poison Sumac is poisonous all year round and at every phase of growth. All parts of the plant aside from the pollen contains urushiol, a toxin that is also found in Poison Oak and Poison Ivy. This toxin causes irritation and blistering of the skin. Urishiol can easily come off of the plant and come into contact with skin either by touching the plant or indirectly touching things which has come into contact with Poison sumac (clothing, tools, animals, firewood).

If there's Poison Sumac on your property and you want it gone, we can help. Our lawn care experts have compiled a DIY poison sumac treatment guide which will show you, step-by-step, exactly how to kill poison sumac effectively using our professional-grade herbicide products.

Identification

Before you can carry out a control program for Poison Sumac, it's important to know what Poison Sumac looks like and to confirm that it is indeed the plant you are encountering. Careless identification can lead to using the wrong treatment methods, which in turn will lead to a waste of time and money. Here are traits to observe when identifying Poison Sumac:

• Poison Sumac can either be a large shrub or small tree which can reach mature heights of up to 20 feet, but usually tops out at 5 or 6 feet.
• The stems are smooth and red and the leaves are arranged in 7 to 13 pairs of glossy green leaflets, often with pale green undersides and rounded edges. The leaf stems are always red.
• The bark is gray and smooth. Poison sumac has small yellowish-green flowers that produce grayish-white colored berries arranged in thin drooping clusters where the leaf stems meet with the branches.
• Poison sumac trees like to grow in wet swampy areas or along shorelines. The plant is mostly found most commonly around the Great Lakes and coastal plains, but they have also reached areas far West past Texas.
• There are types of Sumac that look similar to Poison Sumac but are actually harmless. These varieties are known as Smooth Sumac, Staghorn Sumac, and Dwarf Sumac. These species are found in drier conditions than where poison sumac likes to grow which is in more swampy wet soils. All three of these harmless species bear red fruits that together form a unique terminal seed head.
• The dead giveaway that you are dealing with Poison Sumac, however, is when touched, Poison Sumac will cause a painfully itchy allergic reaction to the skin due to the oily resin called urushiol.

Use the image and the description above to help you in identifying Poison Sumac on your property. If you are not sure whether you have Poison Sumac or not, contact us and we will help you properly ID the plant and offer herbicide recommendations for control.

Inspection

Once you have confirmed that you are dealing with Poison Sumac, you can proceed with inspection. During this phase, you will locate the areas where Poison Sumac is growing and the conditions of the area that are allowing the weed to thrive. This will help you to determine where to focus your herbicide applications.

Where to Inspect

Inspect the area to see just how big of an outbreak you have of this plant. Poison Sumac can grow anywhere but thrives in conditions where the soil is moist and is most commonly prevalent near swamps, marshes, and along river and pond shorelines.

What To Look For

Poison Sumac stems along the leaflets are red and the leaves can have a reddish hue to them, particularly at the top of the plant. New bark for a Poison Sumac tree is a light gray, and as the bark ages, it becomes darker. Poison Sumac has greenish flowers that grow in loose panicles and bare a creamy white fruit that's part of a cluster.

Treatment

Before you proceed with control methods of eliminating Poison Sumac, be sure that you are first properly geared up for the occasion. We recommend that you wear long pants, long sleeves, gloves, and boots, covering as much skin as possible because you not only do not want poison sumac on your skin, you don't want to accidentally get chemicals on you either.

We recommend using a non-selective herbicide like Glyphosate 4 Plus Weed Killer Concentrate which will easily kill Poison Sumac. You can cut the plant back to a foot or so above ground level and apply a generous amount of the chemical for the best results.

Step 1: Mix and Apply Glyphosate

Determine how much Glyphosate 4 you will need by calculating the square footage of the treatment area. You can do this by measuring and then multiplying the length and width (length X width = square footage). The label states that for poison sumac, you will need to apply a 1 to 2% solution (2 to 4 quarts) per acre in a water volume between 3 to 40 gallons. 

Prepare a herbicide spray mix of the appropriate amount of Glyphosate into a pump sprayer. We also recommend adding a Vison Pro Max spray marking dye to mark plants that have been sprayed and to tell if you are getting a sufficient amount of herbicide on the plant.

Sprays must come into contact with the leaves to be effective. However, care must be exercised when using Glyphosate since most shrubs, garden plants and other desired plants which come in contact with the herbicide will be killed. Glyphosate may not prove total control from just a single treatment so you may need to do follow-up applications until the Poison Sumac is completely gone.

Prevention

Closely monitor your yard to check if Poison Sumac returns. This should especially be done in the spring and summer since that is when Poison Sumac is actively growing. If patches begin to pop up, spray them with Glyphosate or yank them out by hand. Again be careful and use gloves and thoroughly wash the gloves afterward.

Key Takeaways

What is Poison Sumac?

• Poison Sumac is an invasive leafy shrub that likes to grow on moist soils and cause a very irritating rash wherever the leaves touched that can deliver a painful burning sensation that will require medical attention to treat.

How To Get Rid of Poison Sumac

• To treat Poison Sumac, apply a post-emergent treatment of Glyphosate.

Preventing Poison Sumac Reinfestation

• Prevent Poison Sumac from returning by monitoring your yard periodically and killing or pulling out any young poison sumac plants that may start to grow.