Uh oh Sumac

Started a thread early spring looking for a tree id.
Pretty much forgot all about it till tonight. Pans on different fires ya know.
Went out to cut up some more Sass and remembered I had wanted to see the leaves on these trees.
Crap, it’s Sumac. I’m hoping, I’m guessing it’s not the poisonous variety. I’m praying it’s the Chinese variety.
We cut, split and burned the branches early spring. I’m thinking if it was poisonous someone would have figured it out.
I’ve got this stuff in our stacks!!!

Didn’t have the phone for pics. It’s mixed in with some type of hickory along the field edge. I’ll get some pics when the rain stops tomorrow.
These are the trunks from the previous pics. I feel itchy just thinking about it.

 

Around here we have staghorn sumac and it looks nothing like your pics.

 

From what I've read poison sumac only grows in very wet swampy places and is more of a bush than a tree. My brother and I got into poison sumac when we were kids swinging on a rope someone had suspended from a tree and crashing into a bush/tree at the end of the rope's arc. It was growing in a wooded area at the salt marsh edge near the beach in Marion, Ma . We both had to be sedated to stop from scratching our faces and arms and legs. Mostly remember having to eat thru straws due to the swelling. We have several kinds of sumac here that are more plants/small bushes. The only sumac "trees" I've seen only got about 15 feet tall.

 

Ok went out this morn and took some pics. Maybe I’m wrong about the sumac thing. Certainly hope so
Anyone know what this is? It’s the red in the leaves that scares me LOL
Most are the tall trees with dark leaves. Hard to get any decent pics up there. Found a small sapling of that variety and ripped off a branch. You can notice how the “fronds” sprout green from a brown branch. Gives it that dead look in winter.

 

while I’m at it. Here’s some pics of what I’m calling hickory. It’s heavy it’s hard and it splits with lots of strands. Makes the hydro really work

 

The tree you're calling sumac is tree of heaven. I call it sumac too because tree of heaven is an oxymoron.

Second looks like hickory.

 

Ugh, Tree of Heaven is an invasive species and if you cut one down it sends up ten shoots or more from the roots to compensate. It will grow anywhere, even up thru the cracks of pavement, and survive. We had some that grew thru a whole fence line of chain link fence .
It's the tree in the book by Betty Smith: A tree grows in Brooklyn, used as a metaphor for what it can take to survive and even thrive in a less than ideal situation.

Supposedly fairly lousy firewood, too.
We burned the stuff outside in a pile we had but it wasn't any more than ten or 12 feet tall, maybe 4 inches diameter.

 

Thanks Moparguy. I see they’re also called Chinese sumac among other not so pleasant names
Good it’ll burn then. Happy to not have to go through the stacks and weed out this weed.

 

Thanks bill. Yeah I see it’s a nasty customer. That’s ok I battled a large grove of bamboo and won I’ll take this stuff on too. Cut em flush and run over with the lawnmower every two weeks or so.
Interesting after cutting out all these trees quite a few jack in the pulpits came up. Figured the womenfolk would be ecstatic but not so much. Must be a dime a dozen for them. Lady slippers on the other hand still get em to perk up. Go figure.

 

Heh, I had jack-in-the pulpits come up in a flower garden/landscape space under a bird feeder. The bird feeder has moved on but the wild flower comes up every year. Some more have come up near it but they never bloom. Bamboo can be nasty as can wisteria.

 

Tree of Heaven has a horrible stench. You'll know it if you cut into one or smell the end of a freshly broken twig.

 

Meh, my sniffer is just as broken as everything else. ‍ I know it’s doesn’t have a pleasant smell like Sass or cherry but many woods don’t.

 

You want Tordon RTU (ready to use) to apply on the freshly cut stump. Readily available at rural king and tractor supply. Pretty much go to for cut stump application for right of way (row) work. Should kill the roots and prevent future problems with most trees. Its important to note you only need apply to the outer living cambium ring and not the whole stump.

 

Not a Sumac actually. Just called one
Tree-of-Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) | Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group

 

Tree of Heaven is more like the Tree from "the other place". Not many BTUs in a Tree of Heaven. I have cut many down at my fishing club. Many sprouts come back, cut the sprouts down and even more come back.

 

Sounds lovely. I think if you keep it mowed you’ll eventually kill them off. Not weeks, years.
If I had to guess just going by hardness to cut and split I’d say it’s a tad harder than yellow tulip (poplar)
Certainly not a firewood I would go in search of but if I’m cutting up fresh wood it’s going in the stacks
Do have some big punky hollow gnarly maple trunks in my processing pile. Those I may be cutting but I’m not so sure I’m stacking the wood. Sometimes it’s just not worth it.

 

Again Tordon rtu is what you want. Many woody tree like plants behave the same way. Its unfortunate but the only real way to deal with them is chemically.

 

I have no problem cutting them and using them for firewood. The wood isn't that bad, no different than cottonwood or willow in regards to burning. It's one of those trees you don't feel remorse about cutting down. You can treat the sprouts with a herbicide. I plan on cutting down the grove of 12 or so growing near the top of the hill and will thoroughly enjoy that.

 

Sorry Joe, missed this post. The only sumac im familiar with is the skinnier type that doesnt get that tall, bark is kinda fuzzy like a peach from what i remember. Havent seen any in a long time. The poison type is the one with berries???