As the time for summer pruning of apricots and cherry trees comes to an end, we thought we’d share with you a tip about one of the most important jobs to do when pruning – regardless of the time of year you do it.
It’s really important to remove any suckers that are growing on your tree (that’s shoots coming up from below the graft union, or directly from the roots coming up through the soil).
Here’s the first reason why this is so important:
This is a little plum tree with two suckers coming up from the roots. Notice how they’re pretty much the same diameter as the original tree, and both are much taller?
Just imagine, for a minute, what this scenario would look like in another year, or two, if the suckers were left intact.
Within a very short space of time it would be increasingly difficult to tell which was the original grafted tree, and in fact there would be a good chance the original tree would be out-competed and die anyway. If you have a multi-trunked fruit tree in your garden, this is one of the common explanations for how it got there!
Here’s another example which shows just how much stronger suckers often are than the grafted tree:
That brings us to the second reason for getting this technique right.
When you’re removing suckers, make sure you take them off as close to the trunk or the ground as you possible can – if you leave a stub, you’re just asking for trouble because it’s likely to turn into a forest of suckers next year!
The third excellent reason to remove suckers is because they can be dangerous!
Many rootstocks are quite thorny, and because they grow so vigorously, the thorns can quickly become quite strong and vicious. Here’s a close-up to drive the point home…
The one we’ve photographed here had grown about 2 metres tall in just one season, right up through the middle of the tree, which not only takes much-needed vigour away from the tree, but provides a potentially painful hazard when you’re picking.
When you remove these thorny suckers, make sure you put them out of harm’s way, don’t leave them where they can be driven over because they can puncture even a tractor tyre (and yes, that’s the voice of experience!)
We’re all about making pruning as easy as possible, because we know it’s one of the topics that really befuddles a lot of fruit growers. Removing suckers is just one of the techniques we teach in our Pruning Mature Fruit Trees short course (as well as our other pruning courses), because it really can make a huge difference to your trees.
Good tip
Thanks Cathy, glad you’re finding our info useful!
So I didn’t remove the suckers (right away) from a potted apple and last season when I repotted the plant ended up with several suckers with roots, so pruned them off and repotted them just to see how they do. They’ve now been going strong all summer. Now I have some practice specimens this winter for learning to graft!
That’s so great Kelly, what a great thing to do with suckers – talk about not letting anything go to waste (plus, you’re getting free fruit trees!). Excellent job.
Very good post! We are linking to this particularly great article on our site.
Keep up the great writing.
great tips! thank you!
Are you able to replant the suckers straight away or do you need to grow new roots?
Great question Bec – if you’re lucky enough to be able to cut the suckers off with some roots, go ahead and plant them. If not and you want to use it to create new rootstocks, you’re better to remove the sucker in winter while it is dormant, cut it into 15-20 cm lengths, and store them with the bottom 1/3 in damp sand until spring. Then check whether they’ve developed a callus on the bottom – if so, this is a good indication they’ll grow roots, and you can go ahead and plant them in a pot or the garden.
Thanks for your email with good info, I have two potted cumquats, one is constantly sending up suckers one doesn’t. I also have a lime tree that has a tendency to really fast growing super thorny suckers.
I have an unrelated question, I have a miniature nectarine, planted about seven/eight years ago. It’s given virtually no fruit, maybe a couple of miserable looking small nectarines over the years. It hasn’t grown much, it’s about a metre high, gnarled, looks more like a Japanese bonsai.
I’m tossing up whether to just pull it up and toss it or whether there’s something else that I can do.
Can you give me an idea of what you would do
Love your newsletters
Ann
Hi Ann, your nectarine doesn’t sound very happy! It always worth trying to improve the soil to see if you can get a recalcitrant tree growing – aeration, good quality compost and some worm castings. Also a vigorous prune may stimulate it to start growing. Good luck!