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I have a crab apple tree that send up suckers all the time. Will landscape fabric stop these? I tried roundup last year, but I think it hurt the tree. They just come right up through mulch, no matter how thick it is. Any ideas? In the mean time, I keep having to prune them.
<font color="blue"> Will landscape fabric stop these? I tried roundup last year, but I think it hurt the tree. They just come right up through mulch, no matter how thick it is. Any ideas? In the mean time, I keep having to prune them. </font color>
Ah, I have them too - I have plums and pears and the main root stock is very agressive at sending out suckers. Bane of my existance. Well, one of 'em [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]...
Landscape fabric won't work. I've tried it - the suckers will come right through it after a surprisingly short time. And then you'll have scraps of torn fabric wandering around for years.
Your right about the Roundup, too. I've tried that as well - and it definately kills trees. Lost a few that way [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img]. Plenty more where they came from, though [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]...
What we do is to just prune 'em off once a year. That isn't often enough to keep them gone all year, but it is such a hassle to do and hard to do it often enough to keep up. The "best practice" is to pull 'em off when they're still really small, but like I said, keeping up is more work than we have time for (got lots of trees). But for the few we have in the yard I try to pull off (or up, as the case may be) suckers when they are as small as possible - I generally do it each time I mow. That works best.
Any better ideas would be appreciated - this is one of my least favorite activities [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img].
Pruning is your best bet. The roots are just doing what comes natural to them.
I've found that if you twist the suckers off, it inhibits the roots ability to grow another at that sight. Yes, a clean cut is best, but I use a pair of pliers, and just grab and twist. They come right off and I've have yet to have a problem with injury to the trees.