No, It reproduces from seed, but it will root from the central roots a bit but right by the plant , not far off . The plant is right by my buildings and I don't want it gone temporarily , I want it gone so I will level it and poison it a couple of times. It has gotten confining here.

I have some Prairie flame sumac elsewhere that spreads quite a bit.

Its not a threatened species. Kill it and just don't think too much while doing the deed. Think of all the trees you've thinned out and put your head in the same place for this. I cut the stems down to a few inches tal and apply herbicide on Privet. It might do the trick. There another big one next door who's days are numbered. Ask me if I feel guilty.

It is the biggest one on the land. Must be that granite sand and compost that I planted the hesperaloes and school house lilies in at it's base that made the difference. HMMM, food for thought there.. There is another somewhat smaller one right behind it.

Its probably the sand. Roots take off in it like a knife through butter. Water goes in deeper too with less run off. The plants growing where I amended with sand grow faster, bigger and healthier than the ones in clay where it dries hard as concrete.

I did the first round of Operation Privet Kill today. Felt good. Got some new nips, they work great. A bottle with a squirt top filled with full strength Brush and Poison Ivy killer for the fresh cut tips, a pair of yellow dishwashing gloves and I think I made a good start. Round 2 is scheduled next week after my trash cans are emptied. I can't even get the lids closed right now.

I guess a treatment out in the wild where I want a larger plant faster would be to dig trenches around a small plant and include a mixture of compost and sand. That would be the deluxe treatment for the chosen few.... When I have time. I have been yanking out cheatgrass in the cactus garden and under my fragrant mimosa. I think I got to most of them before the inflorescence totally developed. I hope the compost pit gets them good. The pile is getting huge with all the weeds this year. I think it came in with some decomposed granite. I think it is better to buy the granite sand. That is decomposed granite that has been washed and sieved down to sand. I have noticed that I will have new weed problems starting in areas that I brought in raw DG .

I hate that stuff. I see it everywhere I look although as far as weedy grasses go, its not as ugly as some, the roadsides are glowing pink with it right now. Bad as it is, dallis grass is worse. its just about taken over the park up the street & it doesn't take long. Every time they mow, they spread new seeds. I don't think there is another grass that produces as many crops of seed per year or as fast.

I don't know if I've got Cheatgrass, but I've got tons of Rescue Grass...wish somebody would rescue me from it, because I never can get it all pulled up. And Dallas Grass is real bad this year also. Then there's Beggar's Ticks, which is out of control. I appreciate all the native grasses, but most are nonnative nowadays.

Dont beat yourself up over a sumac.Just get rid of them all and plant lots of wildlife attractive plants in the new places opened up to the sun.You can always get another sumac if you find you can't live without it.I've done it many times and then remembered why I got rid of them in the first place.Cases in point,Russian sage(not native,sorry),and opuntia.I loved that cactus;but weeds were always growing in it and those small sharp thorns can penetrate leather gloves.The russian sage got too big and scraggly and there's plenty of native mints that are liked more by pollinators.

Linda, My compost heap is huge with pre flowering Beggars ticks and grasses this year. I can't keep up. That is the one good thing about droughts is that one does not have to worry much about weeding but if the land gets too bare, then the wind blown seed sets you up for all sorts of headaches once the rain returns. I never had as many non native grasses before the Big Bad Drought.

I am not beating myself up over it, except it is the nicest Rhus virens on the property.It is turning brown from the Remedy so I am over it.

Don't get rid of them all (I know you won't). Gasp! I love sumac. If I had the space for it, I'd definitely have it growing. Its too bad your best one was growing in the wrong spot.

My two little skunk bushes (I like that name) are coming along finally, its the only sumac I dare grow. One is from Texas down by Austin and the other is from around here, a little seedling I found under a big one. They sat there small for a couple seasons not doing much but this year they've put out some growth.

Seems like when there's bare ground the bad stuff likes to move in but the good stuff never does. Why is that??

The giant privet 'I need to kill' is now cut down, chopped up and disposed of. Stems so big they needed a power saw, privet is usually a lop-job but this one was huge and ugly. It looks so nice & clean back there with the overgrown gangly thing gone and I'm really gonna miss looking at it and pulling the millions of seedlings each year.... I also ripped out a wide strip of tangled, greedy for space Vinca Major--- that heavy rain really made this job easy, although messy, since its shallow rooted. Now I can plant some nice ornamental plants I dug up over on my side that I have waiting in pots. Three Flame Acanthus, three Apache Plume shrubs, Artemisia, Dalea greggi & three non native Russian Sage. They can get as big as they want back there, its not a garden where RS will compete with surrounding plants, I'm just wanting something tough, drought hardy and ornamental for a property line situation along a chain link fence. By the way, my neighbor is real excited to be having this done and I get the benefit of no more vinca to pull on, no more privet seedlings, more sun and best of all, a nice backdrop to look at.

TxR, If it makes you feel any better, Eric , our mutual trading friend in San Antonio had as a young squirt planted a bunch of privet that he ordered off the back page of a newspaper and planted them back in some canyons on his parents ranch. 50+ years later he is still dealing with the multitude of progeny.. He says it is his reminder about the need for education , however it is attained. He grew up to run the wild preserves in San Antonio and made a 300 acre prairie out of a degraded dairy clogged with cedar.

@ Linda... thanks or a pox on you for mentioning Dallisgrass. I have never seen it on the property an now I find it right after you mentioned it and I googled it to remind me what it looks like. AGAIN right up against the shop. It stops all the blowing seed and collects at its foundation? Today is thistle day One problem at a time and golly it is humid and sticky out there today in the hot hot sun.

It is out of there and opens up the space nicely I have freed a nice Hesperaloe funifera, breaking a bloom stalk in the process. But I have also found a nice young and heathy Quercus buckleyi, which is a tree with "conservation concern". It is in the wrong spot an needs to go. This one does hurt to take out. I spend so much time finding and protecting them elsewhere on this land that wantonly killing this tree makes me sad. I have this big that extends between our buildings and it is mostly open to the skies. It is our rainbow, cloud, lightening, oncoming and retreating storm, sunset viewing spot . The crown would cover it in time. I am going to try to move it but now I am not sure if I should do it now or wait till october. It is wet now , god knows what the soil will be like this winter with the strong La Niña threatening to develop. I don't think moving will be successful but I am willing to try since It is dead if I whack it. The tap root is most likely into the rocks below. I will post this dilemma on the tree form for advise.

It was a hot day for a fire but the brush is gone.