How to Identify and Remove Sucker Growth

[@ponygirl1073]

I’m grateful for this one. Although I’ve been growing citrus for years, it’s my first yr with mulberry & figs. Now I know I can either leave the suckers on my fig or use those cuttings for new ones.☺️Now I just need to learn how to root my fig cuttings.😆 I love the end blooper. You two are so fun & glad I found you, 😉👩‍🌾🍊🐍🌳🙋‍♀️

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Congrats on those new figs and mulberries, you're going to love those trees. They are super productive and handle our weather really well!

[@kylanve]

I must be a sucker... I keep coming back for every video!!! 😂

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

I think we're all in that same boat with KZbin, especially channels that feed the need to grow something!

[@chancepaladin]

thank you, you're the only one I could find that covered this, thank you thank you thank you

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you enjoyed this one and found it useful. This is a constant battle for us during the growing season with certain root stocks!

[@2RDHEDZ]

Great minds think alike 🤣. I was just out taking care of suckers this morning!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Ah yes, it's definitely that time of year, especially with all this wonderful rain and cooler weather!

[@theorangetreehomestead6660]

I had just taken out a giant 6' sucker out of the middle of my Hass Avocado on Saturday. It was very interesting I had never seen an avocado sucker before. The leaves were a lot different than the Hass leaves. Good call keeping those citrus trees clear at the base, my mother-in-law got a nasty rattlesnake bite in her orchard last summer.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Sean. That is one heck of a sucker from your avo tree. They're tough to grow out here, so I don't have any experience with them. I know a lot of folks have tried growing them from seed, but it sounds like root stocks are also an option from what you're describing. Did your mother-in-law have any lasting injuries from her bite?

[@deecooper1567]

Very informative & just what I needed. Thank you 👵🏻👩‍🌾❣️

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Thanks Dee, glad it was helpful!

[@kwesty1]

Thank you so much!! I have several Fig trees and my Kadota has a ton of sucker growth from the ground. I was debating on cutting them. This was very helpful.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you found this one useful!

[@danielfisch655]

Thank you for sharing, I’m going to go out tomorrow and prune any suckers I see.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Daniel! With the monsoons we've had this season, I'm guessing you'll have a successful hunt!

[@mesutozsen903]

eline emeğine sağlık bu güzel vlog için kolay gelsin hayırlı işler👍👍👍👍

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Tekrar teşekkürler Mesut!

[@neurocognitive]

I have a lot of grafted fig trees. I usually use Brown Turkey as my rootstock, and trim any suckers that may develop below the graft point. However, I know a lot of fig folks will graft multiple varieties onto different branches of the same fig tree in order to expand the number of varieties they can grow, and also to safe on space by not having to plant a tree of that variety. Of course, the risk in using rootstock is when you get a longer than usual freeze, and the variety you've grafted dies back down to the rootstock, and you have to re-graft. I live in Zone 10a, so it's not much of a problem in most locations here in SoCal.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Fig trees are such amazing trees. They can be grown in most of the US and the fact that you can simply start them from a cutting always amazes me. Howdy in SoCal btw, I (Duane) was born and raised in Gardena.

[@neurocognitive]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm I totally agree. Anyone can have reasonable success with fig cuttings for a good experience and some tasty treats. So you must have gone to Gardena High School. I was raised in Beverly Glen Canyon, but now live in Studio City. Keep up the great work and posts Duane!! Michael

[@SimpleEarthSelfReliance]

I had a tonne of issues with these on the olive plantation. At some point it becomes too hard to manage, and we had the goats clean them up for us. Win win. Now, I will probably see this on the almonds, too. The "waste" material is great for the rabbits/goats/compost! Thanks for the informative stuff.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

I suppose goats would really love to clean that up, especially for apple trees which ours seem to go crazy for!

[@marschlosser4540]

Watching it again! There were a few suckers on the kumquat, but the tangerine is loaded every spring. Gonna get an everbearing mulberry! While I like the Pakistan, even green berries drop like flies in the wind. The citrus suckers are trifolate orange. Figs do best for us if only 1 stem is allowed.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Martin! It's amazing to see how quickly the suckers come in, especially with this monsoon season being so good for us. We're right there with you on the figs. We prefer a single trunk as well, so those suckers will be removed this Winter for cuttings.

[@marschlosser4540]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm I had stuck 3 pieces of the Brown Turkey fig in good soil. All three sprouted and were doing well with nothing special, no wraps or covers, exposed to the elements. Then we were hit by that hasil storm (we got 3.5 inches of water out of it). Bam, no more cuttings. The garden is recovering fast, thanks to more t-storms. But, we lost most unripe fruit. hasta, kids!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@marschlosser4540 wow, 3.5 inches is no joke! I think the most we've seen in any one storm so far this year is about 1/2". Just a bummer to lose that fruit though!

[@LuckyFigFarm]

Your trees are looking great

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Thank you, it is really cool to see them all growing and filling in!

[@lindawoody8501]

The vegetable seeds I planted 2 months ago just have sprouted as we have had nearly 14 days of rain off and on with some of that heavy. No problems at all with it and the veggies are very happy. Surprisingly I also have volunteer veggies coming up from 3 years ago former owner and from bird seed (my offering last Winter to the songbirds). Black Oil Sunflowers and some Dent type Corn probably. I am up in Mohave County, AZ.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Linda! Isn't it cool to get all of those volunteers coming up? We're seeing the same here, but haven't seen the rainfall a lot of folks like you are seeing. Just a few brief downpours, but no more than about 1/2" at any given time.

[@hummingbirdheightsfarm]

Hi Linda we are Mohave County too, above Lake Havasu. Where are you licated?

[@lindawoody8501]

@@hummingbirdheightsfarm We are In a suburban older working class neighborhood that is quiet and cheap. Way up the hill from your area. I love your area and wish - other than Summer temps (cooler up here).

[@AbidAli-bv2gl]

Excellent another video. Lot to learn , When will you sell jujube seeds?This is session we learnt how to remove suckers

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey there Abid. When you get to AZ we'll be sure to get you some fruit and seeds!

[@AbidAli-bv2gl]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm ,Appreciated,

[@AbidAli-bv2gl]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Appreciated for your kind reply

[@Reciprocity_Soils]

Clear helpful content. Question: aside from aesthetics, why not chop & drop and leave your cuttings right there with the wood chips? What do you do with those suckers?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you enjoyed this one Sean. The main reason we don't chop and drop the cuttings is for aesthetics. Lori is very particular when it comes to having clean lines and not too much clutter, so my compromise is chipping them all and adding them around the trees that way. For very small suckers that will break down quickly we do keep them around the tree with the woodchips.

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Thanks! 🌞🏜️

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you enjoyed this one!

[@LtBRS]

Really helpful information. Thanks!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you enjoyed this one. Sorry, no bunny references in this one, but it is one of the reasons those citrus trunks are painted!

[@LtBRS]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm The other day I saw a documentary on the wild bunny problem in Australia. Holy smokes! It's unfathomable. It's too bad they haven't figured-out a way to somehow flip it and make them a national resource as-opposed-to a burdensome pest.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@LtBRS I remember reading about that some years ago as well and I think there's another island nation that has a large bunny issue as well.

[@oldhamegg]

This was very good.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you enjoyed this one. We get questions on this all the time.

[@xunheilvsnipezx3324]

Howdy howdy from Tucson! I literally just got done doing this, 😁

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey there down in Tucson! It's definitely the time of year for these, especially with this cooler weather and some rainfall!

[@lauraeldridge6899]

I have a Meyer lemon tree that is 2 years old, 7 ft tall and the trunk is 2 in diameter. There are two branches that are one inch in diameter that split into a 'Y', 7" from the trunk. Both branches look the same so I think they are above the rootstock. Is it best to cut one branch off or leave it? Since the branches are so close to the base I don't know if it will split when it gets larger. Thank you for the excellent video!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Laura. This one is really up to you. Citrus trees technically don't need to be pruned as they grow like a bush and can be kept that way with no issues. That Y can be an issue as the tree gets older, so you'll want to keep an eye on it if you decide to keep it intact.

[@MWinklerBooks]

Really good info. Sadly I didn't know this needed to be done, so I'm gonna take care of our citrus today. Are Citrus and the couple other trees you mentioned, the only ones this needs to be done for? For instance: I have a couple young Pomegranate trees. Would cutting their suckers only be for ornamental reasons? Like if I wanted a tree rather than a bush.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Great question! Pomegranates are also grown from cuttings, so much like figs and mulberries, you don't need to remove them if you don't want to (but you can still prune to a tree shape if you wanted to). Grafted trees are the problem and those are typically found in stone fruit, pome fruit and citrus trees as general categories.

[@MWinklerBooks]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Awesome, thanks so much

[@davidmathibe9220]

Can you make sucker growth as a rootstock and graft onto it?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

You probably could!

[@catbee1452]

question...I have a plum tree that has what appears to have root suckers springing up all around the tree, as much as 3-4' beyond the trunk. They can not be dug out so I'm assuming they are growing from the root system? How do I get rid of these? They are taking over the planter area and I need them gone so I can plant flowers, etc. Please advise:) Thank you for your video here; I'm new to your channel.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Much like you're seeing us do here, you want to get as close to the place they're sprouting from as you can. They can come up from shallow roots like it sounds like is happening with yours. If possible, I would try to remove them below the surface of the soil. However, it's not uncommon for folks to simply mow or weed eat them down when this happens. The key is not allowing them to get too big and steal nutrients away from the grafted variety.

[@Anthonyvelez13]

On the video I seen you had your root flare under the mulch is that ok??? Mines a little down neath my mulch??? I'm sorry for all the questions. I'm new to this n planted my first 8 fruit trees last week.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Great question Anthony. Here in Arizona it's ok to have the mulch up against the trunk, especially during the drier months. The important thing is to keep irrigation away from the trunk, so you're not creating an environment for mold or other diseases to take hold and potentially damage the trunk. Either way, we usually pull all the mulch back during the Winter to make sure the Flare is still exposed under the mulch.

[@Anthonyvelez13]

@Edge of Nowhere Farm ok awesome. I just hand water my trees which I've barely done since we got rain last week n looks like we might again this coming Wednesday.

[@tonisee2]

With apple trees there is one trick with suckers - when they are still green you can pull them off by hand. There is some period of time in the summer when they are already strong enough and not yet too woody and not too strongly attached to the tree/branches. In my northern climate, is about between midsummer eve and end of July. Pulling suckers off by hand sounds like pointless thing to do, but during that specific period, they come entirely out of the bark, letting just a little hole there. That hole heals by autumn and there will be no further suckers coming from that place. If you cut suckers out, those places are usually the starting points of new ones. Sometimes already during the same year. I don't know if it works like this with any other fruit trees. I'm interested if those rootstock suckers can be used as a propagation material for new rootstock? I.e. growing your own rootstock and later grafting them with your own varieties. I have never tried that, but as always, the description of the process sounds like a no-brainer (which they in practice rarely are...) ;-)

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Great notes here Tonis. We usually do the same with early season suckers, or if we catch them small enough. By this time of year they're pretty tough little guys. I would imagine you probably could root out the suckers. At least it would be worth a shot. Since our nurseryman won't tell us what he uses for his root stock, maybe we should give it a shot!!

[@tonisee2]

When you prune trees, do you get later many suckers on branches as well? My apples, plumbs, and sour cherries generally have a lot of them, but I suspect it may be because of typical non-dwarfing rootstocks used in my country decades ago.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@tonisee2 The only thing we do see here is some excessive, non-fruiting wood on our apple trees as they tend to grow very rapidly. It's one of the reasons we are so heavy with pruning them when they're young to induce fruiting spur development.

[@victorialg1270]

Can you give the trimmings to the goats?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Victoria! We do give the apple leaves to the goats, but we haven't tried the citrus.

[@valerieburchett8951]

Ewww Ratter Snakes that is natural for AZ. Hi from Mesa AZ

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Valerie! Yes, rattles snakes are a natural occurrence for us here in AZ!

[@jasontoolan3816]

Thank you for the pruning tips. Hello, my name is Jason any my main focus is to empower and evolve our citizens and our City’s into the future. In the effort to supply local and national farms the missing tools there soils need to grow resilient crops. To help insure our fragile future food recourse. This is part of my National Biodiverse Compost initiative. Biodiverse Compost is a required ingredient in creating resilient soil life and crops. According to Dr Elaine Ingam, founder of Soil food Web. Our Nations farms need more than money. They need local made Biodiverse Compost. They need instructional videos on aerated composting methods.? I can offer all the info needed.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

You definitely are a big fan of Elaine and her methods!

[@jasontoolan3816]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm yeah, sorry. It’s what she says about our nations farmland soils. We have 4-6 years of life and carbon left. Guess, what happens if we do nothing about that.