Oak suckers

H

Harrison_smith

Location
Memphis
What is the best way to handel oak suckers? The wilowl oak I have been asked to prune has a ton of small suckers. Is there way to prevent their return without harming the tree?
 
Afaik, best to cut them where they emerge from the root, but that may not always be practical. Stubs often resprout into multiple shoots. Less stress on a tree tends to make for fewer suckers, as well as water sprouts.

My take on it from a tree's perspective: "I think something may be trying to kill me, I better activate these dormant buds to make sure I survive."
 
You don’t want to remove all of them. The pruning standards apply to suckers as well. Typically I recommend “selective pruning” of suckers. Like Dan just said, they are often a trees response to stress...maybe as a result of over pruning or a disease such as hypoxylon. You don’t want to strip them and leave a bare branch. You will also not be able to stop the production of them. Like most tree diseases or ailments, there is what we see happening, and there is an underlying cause. What is causing the significant growth of suckers in this tree? Respond appropriately to that.
 
Dan Cobb said:
Afaik, best to cut them where they emerge from the root, but that may not always be practical. Stubs often resprout into multiple shoots. Less stress on a tree tends to make for fewer suckers, as well as water sprouts.

My take on it from a tree's perspective: "I think something may be trying to kill me, I better activate these dormant buds to make sure I survive."
Click to expand...
That is exactly what my 100 or so beech trees are doing this year, as the nematodes work to kill them. I have never seen so many root suckers, most only inches apart from each other--growing almost like bushes!

I came to the same conclusion: These trees are using every trick they have left to survive, including bringing more energy into the system through these suckers. The weirdest part is that, while about 50% of the tree's leaves are diseased, the suckers' leaves look robust, even though they are an entirely different shape and color than normal. They may indeed end up replacing their Moms.
 
Pictures will do wonders here. I’m going to assume you are talking about watersprouts? You can “get away” with selectively removing some and reducing some but not a great choice if you don’t identify the “why” so many sprouts. The more you take, the more they will come back. What is the goal and reasoning? Unsightly or a fear they are bad for the tree?
 
Dan Cobb said:
Afaik, best to cut them where they emerge from the root, but that may not always be practical. Stubs often resprout into multiple shoots. Less stress on a tree tends to make for fewer suckers, as well as water sprouts.

My take on it from a tree's perspective: "I think something may be trying to kill me, I better activate these dormant buds to make sure I survive."
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. What is the difference in water sprouts and suckers?
 
Harrison_smith said:
What is the best way to handel oak suckers? The wilowl oak I have been asked to prune has a ton of small suckers. Is there way to prevent their return without harming the tree?
Click to expand...
Any cutting on trees produces wounds and removing photosynthetic area seems like would produce a net negative for the system given the functions of epicormic shoots, imo.
 
as I recall, it's probably best to leave about 1/3 of them, and to select the best sprout from each node.
As others said, if it's an extreme stress response, maybe err on the side of leaving more than 1/3.
 
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