Originally posted by Norman Brown
Over the past several years, I have gotten several sprouts from the roots from my nectarine tree. I have cut the small ones, only to have more come out. I now have several sizable ones and I am wondering what is the best/safest-to-the-tree way of removing these pesky growths AND prevent them from spouting up in the first place. Any help would be appreciated.
We often miss the likelyhood that a tree puts out watersprouts (on the limbs and trunk) and suckers (new trees starting from the ground) in an attempt to respond to problems. At this time in the tree world, we have all sorts of conditioned reflexes that keep us from seeing an underlying cause and instead send us scurrying off to "fix" a symptom.
There are products, and there is always a saw, but suckering can indicate that there is some defeciency in the root system that is not being solved by the usual crown to root relationships, and so the roots send up a new little tree in compensation.
The flurry of growth associated with pruning cuts is much the same thing. There used to be a limb that provided sugars from its leaves--and now it's gone--so the local "starving area" puts together a new source of sugars. That's not only logical, it's expectable. What else does a tree have as a response to a loss?
Go out and look at the tree again, not just as a creature with pesky insolences, but as a main player with sucker growth popping up around it that might have a pattern if you relax and let the intuitive part of you consider another perspective.
Maybe, it won't make a difference to you as to the whys, and you're free to hack away or pour high-priced bubblies on tiny stumps. But you may also see something that's reflective of the tree and garden, and their problems.
The common advice in this business is that some species sucker more than others. I submit that they are likely species that have a lower trigger level for supply deficiencies and are quicker to resort to the few solutions available to trees.
If we think of this suckering only as unwanted behavior that we should stifle or kill, we get you writing in for referals to products. If we take a bit of time to think, perhaps we can help your tree solve its problems from the other end.
In any case, the choices are yours; it's your tree and your time. I have two audiences here, you and the other authors who consider themselves professional. Thinking aloud in front of both has a definite value, but then again, its a holiday, and the computer screens all should be dead.
Good luck,
Bob Wulkowicz
