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Can someone please tell me what this is?!

johndcall18johndcall18 Posts: 6
in Problem solving
Currently several popping up over my garden. I've previously tried to pull them up and they have a very long tough white root that runs along the garden and pulls up turf. Any help or advice identifying and eradicating would be great appreciated.

Thanks

John

«13

Posts

  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I don't recognise the leaf but it sounds like suckers from a tree or shrub.  Are the long roots all heading in the same direction when you pull them up?.  Is there anything with a similar leaf growing nearby? Or something that's been cut down but the roots left behind?
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • johndcall18johndcall18 Posts: 6
    Thanks for helping, there are about 6-7 popping up in the garden and the roots seem to all link together. So if I pull one up, I then have to get a pair of pliers to pull up the root, which then pulls up like a long white piece of string, and leads me to the next plant (ripping up a line in my turf in the process!)
  • Ladybird4Ladybird4 Posts: 37,906
    edited June 2019
    Those look like shoots of a shrub/tree called Rhus typhina or Staghorn sumach. It could possibly be in a neighbour's garden if you don't have it in yours and is notorious for sending out suckers.
    Image result for rhus typhina staghorn sumac free images
    p.s. what you have been doing is the best way to deal with it.






    Cacoethes: An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
  • johndcall18johndcall18 Posts: 6
    Thanks Ladybird4. Any idea what I should do to try and get rid of them once and for all? Every time I pull them up they come back! I've left them now to grow a bit so I at least know where they all are. 
  • Ladybird4Ladybird4 Posts: 37,906
    Can you find the tree they are coming from John? If you can track them back to the point of origin you can cut them off there and then remove the suckers from your lawn. Unfortunately it cannot guarantee that you won't get more.
    Cacoethes: An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
  • AmethystFallsAmethystFalls Posts: 13
    It's a Sorbus and reproduces by root so you will eventually have a collection! They have attractive foliage, red/yellowy green & produce white feathery white and feathery fronds. Take care if you want to dig it up the roots are longer than you think or will be attached to another Sorbus plant.
    Worth having, almost a dwarf plant.
    Amethyst Falls
  • johndcall18johndcall18 Posts: 6
    AmethystFalls said:
    It's a Sorbus and reproduces by root so you will eventually have a collection! They have attractive foliage, red/yellowy green & produce white feathery white and feathery fronds. Take care if you want to dig it up the roots are longer than you think or will be attached to another Sorbus plant.
    Worth having, almost a dwarf plant.
    Thanks for helping AmethystFalls, is there a way I can get rid of them? Will I have to dig up the garden?
  • AmethystFallsAmethystFalls Posts: 13
    I have had a look at your second photo. It looks very different on that. So it could be a tree shoot from a Sumac tree. This isn't invasive but strange you found it in your lawn, unless you have a Sumac tree in your garden. These grow to 50' ! but don't spread. If it is Sorbus it's definitely the miniature version I have got. I can only find the 30-50' versions, which are American Ash or Korean Ash ,both of which are known as Rowans. In this country Rowans are known as Mountain Ash.
    Get your spade out!!if you decide it's a miniature Sorbus.
    Amethyst Falls
  • Ladybird4Ladybird4 Posts: 37,906
    Sorry Amethyst falls but Sumach is an invasive suckering tree.







    Cacoethes: An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Absolutely agree @Ladybird4 ... Rhus typhinus aka Stags Horn Sumach suckers prolifically and can be really invasive. They seem quite innocuous for quite some time until they are pruned or even if a branch is damaged inadvertently ... they will then act as if they are under attack and will replicate themselves by throwing up suckers from their spreading root system ... and they spread and spread and spread ... 🙄 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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