Dealing with suckers from crepe myrtle

[Raven_Makah]

first a little back ground, we bought our house 3 years ago, the people who lived in it before us did nothing to the yard for 2.5 years, the man who owned it before them was a landscaper, so i am discovering now things in my yard still today.

but this crepe myrtle is making me crazy, it flowers wonderfully, we have researched proper pruning, but the amount of suckers it produces is insane. i have debated putting a weed guard material down around the tree but i'm not sure how effective that would be, my husband wonders if there is a chemical that could be put down, and i have other plants growing very close to the crepe myrtle. (zebra grass, roses, and bulb plants, oh and lemon balm as well) i'd rather not kill off anything if i can help it.

any advice would be appreciated.

thank you

Nalani

 

[Sprig]

I think that maybe a couple of layers of newspaper and a layer of bark mulch on top around the base would probably safely stop sprouting, just a off the hip guess as you don't want to poison anything including the offender.



Serge

 

[Raven_Makah]

thank you

thanks sprig

i kind of figured that would be the case but i just needed some confirmation.
thank you for taking the time to answer my newbie question.

raven