Bullace suckers

[Geoff]

I have a bank with some old bullace trees in it. In the Autumn I had a serious clear out underneath them cutting out all the lower stuff to let in more light. I am getting bluebells, woodruff, brunera, periwinkle, foxgloves and various other ground cover things going underneath to make it more interesting. Now the bullaces are reacting by suckering like mad. Is it possible to weedkiller the suckers without affecting the main trees and, if so, what do I use?

[richard p]

we have a similar problem with wild cherry trees, they are throwing suckers all over the place, often more than twice the height of the tree away from the trunk, I didnt realise that their root systema would extend as far as they appear to.. im wondering about round up on the suckers, in the hopes it would knock back the suckers without being strong enough to actually harm the heart of the tree?. most of our cherry suckers get lopped by the mower, but the odd one escapes and grows to chainsaw size

[Mole]

Hi Folks

Don't use roundup or any translocated chemical (SBK/Rootout etc) - it will always affect the parent to some extent - possibly killing them.

A contact weedkiller can work, but you will need to be careful of surrounding vegetation - try the rubber glove plus woolie glove on top method. Paraquat was used - Weedol is the available to amateurs - it's nasty stuff though.

Try pulling suckers up in july/august - use gloves and jerk them up. Cutting them is fine if it is a permanently mowed area.

I've found that 'Native hedge packs' often contain blackthorn, which suckers in the same way - not a good thing for most gardens - as I found out when I was young and inexperienced...

Mole