Trees are often the most beautiful part of a home's landscape. They draw the eye and provide practical shade and privacy. But sometimes, things happen that can ruin the tree's health and affect its overall aesthetic appeal. One of the most common afflictions for trees is tree suckers that appear near the tree's base or on major branches.
Suckers are hard to control and even harder to fully get rid of. But managing or preventing them is essential for your tree's long-term health and growth patterns. Don't let your tree get overwhelmed by sucker growth - know why suckers appear and what you can do about it.
Why Do Suckers Grow?
Suckers are undesirable on most trees, so why do they grow in the first place? Trees, like any other organism, have the drive to survive. They have several mechanisms in place to continue reproducing. Most trees produce suckers because other parts of the tree are under stress. Drought, infestation, and open wounds to the bark increase stress on the tree, so the tree produces suckers as a way to continue living if the rest of the tree starts to die because of damage or illness.
Why Are Suckers Bad for Trees?
If the tree is working so hard to continue its life cycle, why are suckers so bad? Suckers are not good for your tree because they sap energy away from more essential components, particularly fruit-bearing branches or foliage.
Suckers are fast-growing, which means they require more resources than older, more developed branches. Those branches can begin to suffer if too many suckers steal nutrients away from the rest of the tree. Once suckers become more established, they can also give the tree an unbalanced, overgrown look that is more difficult to correct.
What Can You Do to Prevent Sucker Growth?
When it comes to sucker growth, prevention should be your goal. You can cut away suckers after they appear, but they are more likely to grow back or the tree is more likely to produce more. To prevent suckers from appearing, reduce the risk of stress by:
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Using a professional tree service for pruning and trimming. One of the easiest ways to stress a tree is to over prune it or to cause wounds from pruning incorrectly. You'll often see suckers on trees that have been trimmed too much too often.
- Watering trees that need it. It's good to start with trees that are drought tolerant. Trees that are not getting enough water will produce suckers as a last resort, and they will end up dying more quickly as a result.
- Protecting trees from insect and animal damage. Cover trees with bark protectors to keep rabbits and deer away from the bark since the damage to the bark can stress the tree.
If you do have suckers that appear, cut them off with a pair of sharp tree shears as soon as you notice them. Leave the collar of the sucker (the small bulge where the sucker meets the mother branch) to help the tree heal over the wound and prevent the sucker from growing back.
