how to prevent these?

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lumangoy
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how to prevent these?

Post by lumangoy » July 31st, 2010, 6:46 pm

The previous owner said that the tree is a Bradford Pear, is that right?

How do I prevent the things that grow from the roots? This year, I noticed that it's been growing a lot and I've been cutting them.


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MorpheusPA
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Re: how to prevent these?

Post by MorpheusPA » July 31st, 2010, 7:14 pm

You don't; those are suckers off the roots. The only thing you can do is cut them.

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Re: how to prevent these?

Post by cuffs » July 31st, 2010, 7:55 pm

+1 Morph
I had four Bradford Pears when I lived in NC and I was cutting the suckers more often than I cut the grass!

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Re: how to prevent these?

Post by lumangoy » July 31st, 2010, 11:28 pm

Great!

Will a KBG mix do well in that area?

I haven't renovated the back of my house.

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MorpheusPA
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Re: how to prevent these?

Post by MorpheusPA » August 1st, 2010, 12:10 am

Sorry for the negative answer, but I've never found anything that works. Even cutting down the tree doesn't stop the durned things, they still sprout for a year or so until the roots finally die. For that reason, among so many others, I don't use Bradfords. They're just not very good trees.

KBG should do fine in that area. Bradfords don't have a wide spread or a very tight canopy--my KBG does just fine underneath a Cleveland pear, which has a wider spread and denser canopy.


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Re: how to prevent these?

Post by bpgreen » August 1st, 2010, 1:05 am

MorpheusPA wrote:Sorry for the negative answer, but I've never found anything that works. Even cutting down the tree doesn't stop the durned things, they still sprout for a year or so until the roots finally die. For that reason, among so many others, I don't use Bradfords. They're just not very good trees.

KBG should do fine in that area. Bradfords don't have a wide spread or a very tight canopy--my KBG does just fine underneath a Cleveland pear, which has a wider spread and denser canopy.
I don't think Bradford pears grow around here, but I hear about them sometimes when people discuss aspens ("In the east, they have bradford pears, we have aspens). I don't know if they'd react the same, but something I heard on a radio show was that if you cut down an aspen, you'll actually increase the sucker production because it's sort of a self defense mechanism. The suggestion was to make several cuts around the trunk at a slight downward angle and carefully pour glyphosate in those cuts (so you don't kill the lawn, just the tree). The tree will take in the glyphosate and translocate to the roots. Repeat this as often as necessary until the tree is dead and ONLY when it is completely dead should you cut it down.

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Re: how to prevent these?

Post by MorpheusPA » August 1st, 2010, 9:52 am

I never thought about that, but it makes perfect sense. Dead roots aren't going to send suckers. :-)

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Re: how to prevent these?

Post by clay&crabgrass » August 1st, 2010, 10:14 am

great back yard. lost the neighbors to the rear with the tree line. don't change a thing. well, maybe some bird feeders.

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Re: how to prevent these?

Post by MorpheusPA » August 1st, 2010, 10:25 am

Agreed with C&C...it's a nice tree and a beautiful back yard. Bradfords have short lifespans and tend to break badly in ice storms or very heavy wind, ultimately killing the tree. But if you treat it well, there's no reason you can't get 20 years out of the tree easily.

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Re: how to prevent these?

Post by lumangoy » August 1st, 2010, 2:27 pm

thanks!

I don't intend to kill the tree, I just wanted to know what my options are for the suckers. Looks like I don't have any options! haha.

behind where the swingset is, there are a lot of small plants that the previous owner plants. What a pain maintaining it is because I have to cut the dried leaves out every spring. I will post a picture later.

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Re: how to prevent these?

Post by bpgreen » August 2nd, 2010, 12:05 am

If you don't want to kill the tree, your options on the suckers are to ignore them or to mow them when they appear.

Whatever you do, don't spray the suckers. They're still part of the main tree, so if you spray them, you can damage the tree.

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Re: how to prevent these?

Post by lumangoy » August 2nd, 2010, 1:51 pm

bpgreen wrote:Whatever you do, don't spray the suckers. They're still part of the main tree, so if you spray them, you can damage the tree.
thanks! I was going to ask if it was ok to spray with RU so no suckers grow....

I guess I'll just ignore it...

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