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Bay tree suckers, not my tree.
Sueps
Posts: 6
Hi, I wonder if anyone can offer some advice please.
There is a council owned grass verge on the other side of my front fence with a large bay tree (about 12ft high and the same wide) growing just a few feet from the fence. I can put up with the lack of light (just about!) but it keeps throwing suckers up on my side of the fence. The more I cut them off the more they grow, and they are invading my herbaceous border. Is there any weed killer I can put on them which will kill them but not the main tree? Or anything else I can do?
Do I have any legal rights regarding this invasion?
Thanks in advance.
0
Posts
I find that the more you disturb the roots the more prone they are to throwing up suckers ... as you have a cultivated border the roots have felt disturbed from time to time and are reacting.
I would dig a trench along the inside of your boundary fence, cutting through the roots, and install a heavy duty root barrier membrane, like this http://www.green-tech.co.uk/rootbarrier_bamboo (other brands are available).
Any suckers that appear in your border after that will be from old roots which are no longer connected to the tree, and can be treated with a Brushwood killer or similar if you choose, or you can just pull them up until the roots give up and die.
Good luck
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Hi Dove, thanks for the suggestion. If that stuff will keep bamboo confined it should work for anything!