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Cherry tree shoots all over the garden

irinamonkirinamonk Posts: 2
in Problem solving
We had two cherry trees for 10 years and two years ago both started giving many many shoots all over the garden... At first we would just mow the lawn and the shoots will be gone out of sight for several days, but then they became bigger and stronger, so we started cutting them out of the root, often together with some length of the root. This year the shoots were so strong and so many, we also found that little cherry trees were hiding in the bushes like blackcurrets and so on. We decided to get rid of the trees and sawed them both off. Then we tried to cut as many roots out as we could, but suddenly realised, that some roots are simply too deep and unreachable and some are possibly aren't found by us. We are very upset , because the work has been going on for two weeks now and we haven't yet finished yet. I am so warn out that am thinking of moving home... Please anyone rescue us with a good advice. We have other berries in the garden, so we are not keen to use chemicals. Having read a lot of information online over this week we suddenly got a message that next year the shoots will come back with a vengeance...

Posts

  • StephenSouthwestStephenSouthwest Posts: 635
    Firstly, don't worry too much - no tree is going to survive having all the shoots removed repeatedly. If all you do is remove shoots and leave the roots in place, the trees will die.

    Secondly, the worst case scenario is that you will have a few shoots that you won't notice for a while, and then when you do notice them you, you'll remove them. So you can relax. Do not make the mistake of thinking that your world will be taken over by cherry trees, it will not.
  • Mike AllenMike Allen Posts: 208
    The 'root cause' of these new shoots, commonly known as, suckers.  These are being produced by the rootstock.  Now understand this.  Most if not all trees especially are now produced by grafting  a paricular variety onto a selected rootstock.  Typical example.  Roses.  These are budded/grafted onto a different rootstock.  So the rootstock throws ups suckers.  You cut them off with the mower.  There is a practical process here.  At the point on the root where the sucker is growing from.  At this point, the sucker should be torn off thus removing the scion and the original bud.  Simply chopping off the extended growth will simply encourage it to grow again.  During this and susequent regrowings, the joined area will grow in size so much so as to form  a knuckle type growth..  This can continue and in fact as many historical features of ancient trees prove.  The suckers can outlive the the grafeted specimen.
  • irinamonkirinamonk Posts: 2
    edited September 2020
    Thank you both, we are grateful for advice. I was reading about this problem online and apparently what we did (removed the stumps and the surface roots together with the suckers) can encourrage the deep roots to give suckers in revenge... Many people say in Forums like this one, that stumps shoul not be removed but treated with a chemical. But it was too late for us to find that advice as we'd removed stumps and roots, apart from the deep ones, which we just couldn't reach. That's why we panicked.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I would just keep mowing ... as the trees are gone the roots will die eventually if they have no green leaves to feed them. That’s why you have to mow the ones in the lawn and chop any in the borders off at the base as soon as they appear ... so the leaves on the suckers aren’t feeding the roots. 
    Good luck ... you will win 👍 

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





  • ian.mcgregorLDbdnx--ian.mcgregorLDbdnx-- Posts: 1
    Roots from neighbours very large and very old cherry tree are producing shoots through patios, walls, paths and 'trees' growing under garden house as well as lawns. Seems impractical to break off roots without major disruption. Any other solutions?
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