How to manage suckering plants in the garden: the three things you need to know!

[@Craddmeister]

Another very useful video, thanks both

[@thehorti-culturalists]

Thanks for watching!

[@solangeunzurrunzaga3816]

thank you to the horti culturalists for another interesting episode!

[@thehorti-culturalists]

Our pleasure! Regards Stephen

[@johnm6011]

Thank you.

[@thehorti-culturalists]

Thanks for watching!

[@Stettafire]

A lovely gardening video. I've found out the unidentified bulb in my garden is either British or Spanish Bluebell. It's spread like a weed while the garden was abandoned for two years but I love it. I have other wildflowers (weeds) growing in my garden too. I'd say it's 95% weeds with pretty flowers. I've got no knotweed, couch or any of the big bads. Though do need to pull up grass and dandelions occasionally. I've known about suckering plants for a while. Though didn't realise they could become a nuscience

[@thehorti-culturalists]

Thanks for watching!

[@paigeturner165]

I have a huge Spanish bluebell issue too 😕

[@mathewhalpin]

Could you please do an episode on the house and how it relates to the garden. It looks charming.

[@thehorti-culturalists]

We will think about it as it could make an interesting story. Few houses do in fact sit comfortably in a landscape. Regards Stephen

[@stevedotson8207]

Rhus glabra native to NW Florida panhandle on more clay soils well drained.I have it. Colors nice in fall. About 15 to 20 feer tall. Suckers but I like it in drifts . Gardening here not like most of Florida.

[@thehorti-culturalists]

Interesting local information. Thanks. Regards Stephen

[@hannelorerack3785]

My neighbour has a prunus growing on the fenceline and it has suckered all over my garden and I have found the roots on the opposite side of my yard when digging. Is there some way of killing them? I don't think he would care as he is a truckie and never does anything in the garden.

[@thehorti-culturalists]

the only way to stop this is to cut the suckers and as you cut one paint the cut with neat roundup. This must be done as you go and if you kill enough of them you could kill the parent tree. Regards Stephen

[@jenjoy4353]

Do you have any suggestions for reducing the amount of suckers under my old crabapple trees?

[@Stettafire]

Do crab apple trees sucker? I had no idea! I imagine that could be managed through pruning. Though my own crab apple tree is very young and so far hasn't suckered at all

[@thehorti-culturalists]

The only thing you can do is keep pulling them out as once a grafted tree starts to sucker it usually can't be stopped, only controlled. Regards Stephen

[@VelvetandToads]

SOS! I could really use some help dealing with another suckering thug: silver wattle! I’ve been wrestling for the past year with a thicket of it at a place I recently bought in the south of France where it’s considered invasive (even though the next town over is named after it and has a yearly festival celebrating it!) The previous owner cut down the few existing trees before selling, and the roots went into panic mode, suckering over the entire property! I keep cutting it back but it grows really fast, won’t shred and it’s costing me a fortune to have it hauled away each time 😅 Help!

[@thehorti-culturalists]

The only way to deal with this is to cut stems near ground level and immediately paint the cut with neat Glyphosate if it is still available where you live. Painting as you go means the poison is sucked into the roots and you don't miss any. Hope this is a help, I am not usually prone to recommend poisons but I don't see any alternative. Regards Stephen

[@VelvetandToads]

Yikes, I was afraid of that. But thanks for giving it to me straight! 😂

[@jenjoy4353]

Do you have any suggestions for reducing the amount of suckers under my old crab apple trees?

[@thehorti-culturalists]

Once they start to sucker they usually keep doing it and there isn’t any way to stop it. complete removal back to the trunk or root can help but it will just become a regular chore no matter what you do. Regards Stephen

[@ugtitto2654]

I grow such suckering shrubs/trees ike Tiger Eye sumac and Clerodendrum trichotomum but they are not even close to a mere yellow raspberry variety called Golden Everest in terms of spreading all over the garden. I keep pulling out its suckers every 3-4 days throughout the summer. Other raspberry varieties I grow are much more well-behaved. So, never leave out Golden Everest raspberry when you talk about suckering thugs ))

[@thehorti-culturalists]

We don't have this cultivar in Australia as far as I know which sounds like it could be a good thing! Regards Stephen