Stags Horn Sumach needs help

poppy

My Stags Horn tree (Rhus typhina) is about 30 years or so old and quite gnarled, a few patches of 'resin' and splits on the bark. It is quite large and until this year has had masses of leaves and fruits. It has the usual number of fruits but the leaves are very few and not large. It seems to be sending out slightly more suckers than usual. Has it come to the end of its lifespan or could it be diseased? The leaves are already turning red in some cases, 2 months too soon. Could I rejuvenate it by cutting back or would that make things worse? The only other difference here this year is that it has been raining non stop the whole of June and July and it was a wet winter whereas two years previously there have been bans on water hose use due to dry winters and summers - I know they dislike water logged soil, although the drainage is good. If it is an overwater problem would that suggest it will be ok next year if left (and the weather returns to normal). Many thanks for any help or suggestions. poppyx

Sean Freeman

Hi poppy, a 30yr old Rhus typhina with the original main stem, wow you have done well, would love to see some pics...would help ith the accuracy of the recommendations to.....what have you been doing to control the large number of suckers this species produces ever year, just pulling them out?
Staghorn sumac is another one of those shrubs that has tree envy, although it is very attractive when it fruits and the autumn colours are beautiful. Many growers in the US control the sucjering habit by enclosing the plant inside a strong root barrier and this eventually leads its decline assuming this is not the case for you though. Many plants in the US do fall prey to Verticillium wilt but you wouild have to suspect this is as a result of declining health and vigor in the plant itself...the description of the kino weeping through cracks sounds like a symptom of Verticillium wilt.
The wet weather you've been having shouldn't have resulted in the demise of your plant since they are very, very tough groing in both arid and wet conditions...their natural habitat includes stream and creek banks as well as scree slopes...very broad!

I would suspect that the plant is losing vigor and as a result becoming more and more susceptable to environmental pressures. My advice would be to start taking suckers as new plants pot them up, or place them a little distance from the existing plant.

Some growers do cut back their plants very hard to just above the ground every 2/3yrs and enjoy the cycle of coppiced regrowth together with the suckering spreading habit.....but I suspect that you have not been doing this and are very happy with your little tree.

Removing large volumes of live tissue from your plant now will force it to commit massive amounts of stored carbohydrate to the effort to reproduce its canopy futher denuding the already low levels of energy for tissue maintenance and defence...ie the result would imo be the more rapid demise of the plant.

If there are clearly dead or diseased branches remove them and do not leave such material on the ground around the base of your plant. You could try, once the weather dries up a little, applying a dilute solution of seaweed extract 40ml in 20lts twice a week over the root plate. Beyond that without photos of the plant there's little more I can usefully suggest.

__________________
Sean

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.
- Kahlil Gibran

poppy

Sean, thanks so much for the advice, I will cut back the deadword and apply the seaweed spray but it seems this tree is nearing the end of a normal lifespan which I hadn't appreciated. I will therefore also cultivate some of the suckers. However, I didn't say but this tree is in my small backgarden in London which also contains several other trees including a Eucalyptus and Horse Chestnut as well as shrubs, flowers, patio and a small 'lawn' - so we have have to cut back the larger trees every couple of years! There isn't another position I can put a new tree so may have to replant in the same location if my present one dies. I don't have any problem controlling the suckers, I just treat that job as I would the dead-heading on the roses. Whenever I do a bit of gardening I cut the suckers down. They mainly come up in the small lawn area so get taken care of by the mower... Thanks again for the advice. Poppy

mdvaden

I don't remember ever seeing one over 30 to 40 years old.

Seems to have a rather short life span in cultivation.

We got about 25 years from ours.

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Grove of Redwood TITANS

Oregon BIGOOT trap

treeseer

are the euc and horsechestnut shading out this shade-intolerant sumac?

sure would like to see a picture; it's such an attractive species.

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Guy Meilleur | Forensic Arborist | Better Tree Care

poppy

The euc which I planted 20 years ago is enormous but is cut back regularly and the two have lived side by side for many years, plenty of sun gets to the stags horn as it is a south facing garden. Pictures attached, the garden is no more than 60 feet at the longest point, you can see the horse chestnut in the back ground and a large conifer, the euc and the stags horn. The little tree infront of it is an ancient pear tree - with lovely pears on it at the moment. What you can't see are the Indian Bean tree, Japanese maple etc. around the corner (we like our trees in London). As you can see the SHS is still holding her own but prior to this year you couldn't see daylight through the leaves unless the wind blew so this is a very poor show - still we all have to go sometime I guess! Many thanks for your interest. poppy

Attached Images

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