What kind of tree does stump suckers give you?

12 years ago

Hi:

Bought a coral bark Japanese maple. Held its ground the first summer, grew very, very well the second summer, but probably too much, since I used some dead fish & Japanese beetle bodies around the base, which may've given too much long, stringy growth that had bad tip die back through the winter.

Last Spring, looked like the tree was coming through, soon to break dormancy, but it never did, turned brown and apparently was very dead.

Later in the year, it sent up suckers. I figured they were probably from below the graft & would be plain old Japanese red maple, but got to say, they're all a nice coral pink.

The original tree before it died:

What it looked like when I photographed it today:

Sooooo...what am I looking at for the future. A 'coral bark' bush?

And since I've got a maybe 20' Yellow Poplar in the backyard that has a severe old trunk injury & might or might not come out of dormancy, but also has a couple of suckers coming from from the base, I'm also curious about the sucker-to-tree question for this reason. I've got a friend who thinks Yellow Poplar trees producing from a sucker on an old stump don't tend to do well over time, but I think he's basing that on short experience.

When somebody prunes a branch, they're supposed to do it near the branch collar, so the tree can make an effective scar and encapsulate the area, from what I understand. Obviously when you've got a sucker growing out the side of a stump, that stump is going going to conveniently be absorbed. Part of the stump is dead, and extends way past the branch collar the sucker comes off of.

So, what comes of this? Would you let the coral bark be, or wait & eventually cut off everything but one 'trunk,' or what?

If you had a Yellow Poplar where the body died but a sucker came off the base, would you replace the tree with, oh, say, a 5 or 6 foot new one, or instead cut off the original tree and lead a stump, and let a sucker try to make a new tree?

Richard.

P.S.: I know some people don't like synthetic tree rings. This is a rental place, and I don't want the riding lawn mower getting to close it to the tree. The ring is not what killed the tree.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (8)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
12 years ago
Sooooo...what am I looking at for the future. A 'coral bark' bush?

===>>> yes.. unless you start removing leaders..

select the best.. and start removing some.. but since every leaf is a food making machine.. i might not take them all at once ...

IMHO.. coral bark is foo foo.. i lost one.. and my best guess is that the red bark cant handle my z5 winter ... something about red bark holding more winter sun generated heat.. as compared to the standard gray ... but that is all in my head ..

as you suspect.. USUALLY understock would be the standard green species ... but it wouldnt surprise me that someone may have come up with 'rooting' maples ... and if so.. then suckers would be true to form ...

i dont know what to tell you on the poplar ... w/o a pic ... another of my unsubstantiated theories.. is that trying to grow a large tree on a rotting wreck of the old tree.. usually leads to the new tree falling down ...

rotting wood needs water, and sucks it up like a sponge .. and steals nitrogen while rotting.. so trying to grow a vigorous plant in the middle of it all may not be the best circumstances for long term success ... [and yeah.. i know weird things happen out in virgin forests .. but they wont kill you when they fall] ...

you said: If you had a Yellow Poplar where the body died but a sucker came off the base, would you replace the tree with, oh, say, a 5 or 6 foot new one,

==>>> no i would get rid of any poplar.. and plant just about ANYTHING ELSE ... and that would include a tulip tree .. which is not really a poplar .... but still has many of the problems of a poplar ...

man you did some stream of consciousness.. lol ... i think i got most of the questions ...

i would take at least two of the trunks off the maple now.. and maybe another in fall ... and there is no real reason you might not like a multi-trunked plant.. rather than a single trunk ... but too many would not be pleasing to the eye.. IMHO ...

ken
drrich2
Original Author
12 years ago
Quick note as I'm in a hurry: Yellow Poplar IS Tulip Tree. If that thing were a cottonwood, for example, it'd already be gone!

Richard.
Related Discussions
What to plant around trees and stump?
Q
Comments (8)
Camassia seems to require sun in the spring, before trees leaf out. It behaves much like daffodils in that it grows, blooms, then dies back until next year. I have it in several places that are quite sunny *now*, but will be very shady in another month and it seems to be fine. Many years ago, I threw some hosta (Krossa Regal if anyone is keeping score) in tiny holes under a red maple of the non-Japanese, large kind, then walked away. They are still there, so hostas can get established under fairly difficult types of maple. The rest of the area is pachysandra, which also seems able to coexist. Then there is the flowering quince that does OK from a survival standpoint, but fails the actual flowering part because of too much shade. It's a tough environment, but not an impossible one.
...See More
Does my tree have suckers?
Q
Comments (17)
Sorry I wasn't intending to imply that you tree was or wasn't grafted. Patty, I bow to your knowledge, but I think that you are incorrect saying that a seedling can't have suckers, suckers are really just asexual reproduction. I think the issue here maybe the definition. The long and short of it is that suckers are not good, grafted or not, they fight and rob the parent plant for soil and light (when they occur next to the main trunk). As Houston was saying, any branching (suckers or not) that occurs below the graft line has the genetic make up of the rootstock and not the scion. A branch below the graft line will produce undesirable fruit of the rootstock, a sucker will not produce fruit in the short run and will be the same genetic makeup as the rootstock and rob from the parent plant, either way, not good. If you have some branches that have thorns and others that do not, you most likely have a grafted tree or multiple trees. If you have a grafted tree, then almost assuredly the branching you see is below the graft line. I don't believe that citrus is ever grafted below the soil line (not positive, Patty?). I have heard that avocados should be grafted below the soil, but a different topic. A sloppy definition of a sucker is branching from the root structure as opposed to the trunk. So unless you have twins or two seeds in a hole, I'd guess that you have suckers. Patty said that you may be waiting 12 years for it to fruit. So I guess it comes down to how patient are you. If your happy enough with the tree without fruit let it go. If really want fruit now, go to the local nursery and buy a tree with fruit already on it. As soon as you are sure you have a grafted tree, whack the suckers. If it is not grafted, cutting the suckers maybe of little benefit considering that they trunks are all the same size. If you keep it, keep in mind that you may have a dud as far fruit goes.
...See More
Will Round-Up on poplar suckers kill the parent tree?
Q
Comments (9)
This is tricky. You do realize of course...you are going to continue to deal with suckers? The long term solution is to just replace the poplar with a better tree for house-shading. As for the leftover stumps, the right concentration of the right herbicide could certainly manage to just kill the left over stumps and minimally impact the mother tree. But there are far too many variables to recommend an approach. The wrong concentration of the wrong herbicide could certainly seriously damage the "mother tree". You haven't even told us how far away they are. If it were me I might try to spray the foliar _regrowth_ of the stumps, with a standard strong glyphosate _spray_ mix, say 5%. Which would ordinarily kill similarly sized seedlings. Unless the suckers are very close I don't think it will affect the main tree, but I can't guarantee it. Especially because I have no experience dealing with poplar as a weed and don't know about the specific level of sensitivity it has. It could be especially sensitive to glyphosate, or not. (Legumes, for example, are incredibly sensitive to triclopyr, and I once almost killed a Kentucky coffee tree seedling just by spraying some Oxalis about 1' away from it with a typical spray formulation...nothing too concentrated. There was definitely no direct contact, it either happened due to vaporization or triclopyr residue in the soil.)
...See More
What kind of tree is this? Why does it appear dead in the winter?
Q
Comments (15)
Either they've been cutting the branches off because it's rotting or it's rotting because they keep cutting the branches off. At this point if it is not located where it will become a hazard it should be left in place for wildlife like woodpeckers to use. This, by the way is a reason why it is possible to see tall, artificially created stumps in wooded areas - people are taking previously live trees here and there and turning them into bare trunks for wildlife to use. Due to a general deficiency in number of naturally generated, still-standing snags.
...See More
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
12 years ago
not quit ... tulip poplars and yellow poplars are Liriodendron tulipifera ..

which is neither a poplar..

nor a tulip.. since that grows as a bulb in the ground ...

i have 5 Liriodendron tulipifera ...

they tend to break in storms.. like a poplar ...

they have surface roots like a poplar ...

and you might think the flower somewhat looks like a tulip.. but not really ...

and apparently.. some buck absolutely hates just one of my trees ... as he scrapes the heck out of it every year ...

in my opinion.. they are one of the 'fast growing' trees.. that has many problems... and i would question whether they are appropriate for a SMALL suburban lot ... especially one that is trying to grow out of a rotting mass of dead wood ...

since the new tree is small.. its not really a threat ...

and since its a rental.. its not really a problem.. nor your problem ...

watch.. learn.. and enjoy ...

if it were your house.. i would suggest a heritage tree of your choosing.. over this one ....

ken
j0nd03
12 years ago
Just a quick add to what Ken said. The most common coral bark is 'Sango Kaku'. 'Sango Kaku' is most commonly sold grafted to understock that is not 'Sango Kaku'. I have a rooted cutting of 'Sango Kaku' growing on the back porch. If my rooted cutting sends up suckers, they will be the same as the top growth already present. This appears to be the case with your tree, too.

John
wisconsitom
12 years ago
Richard, a young Norway maple got ran over by a car once. We removed it in order to replace. The old "dead" root mass sat in the boneyard utterly neglected for the better part of that summer. I noticed it had a strong will to live so I took it home and planted it, cutting away all but the best sucker. It quickly grew to be a strapping tree, so much so that some years later, we decided that I should cut it down. Our front yard is small, the tree was getting huge quickly, and we didn't want that little postage stamp yard to be quite that shaded out and dominated by such a tree.

But, it grew extremely well and was in fact a very nice tree.

+oM
cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
12 years ago
The title of this thread made me giggle. We had to have an oak taken down. it wasn't one of our largest. My husband didn't have them grind the stump and this past fall, I realized we have a quite lovely oak bush growing. I just can't bring myself to kill it. It is really so amusing to me.
sam_md
12 years ago
Your 'Sango kaku' was probably a rooted cutting so hold on to your suckers, they look like the real thing.
As to your second question familiarize yourself with the term "second-growth". This refers to forests which have regenerated after some kind of disturbance such as fire or timbering. Some of our most beautiful forests today are second growth in fact the most well-known Cypress Swamp in Maryland located in Prince Frederick is second growth.
drrich2
Original Author
12 years ago
Thought I'd mention, it was indeed labeled a Sango Kaku.

Richard.

What kind of tree does stump suckers give you?

Comments (8)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

drrich2
Original Author

Related Discussions

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

j0nd03

wisconsitom

cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)

sam_md

drrich2
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

What kind of tree does stump suckers give you?

Comments (8)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

drrich2Original Author

Related Discussions

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

j0nd03

wisconsitom

cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)

sam_md

drrich2Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

drrich2
Original Author

drrich2
Original Author