What Are Suckers at the Base of a Tree?
Trees have several methods of reproduction without the use of seeds. One method involves the production of a type vegetative growth, called shoots, that has the potential of becoming a new tree. Shoots can emerge on various parts of of the plant. When they appear at the bottom of the tree, they are called suckers. Does this Spark an idea?
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Types
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Some suckers come from buds near the base of the tree. Often, this type of sucker is found in trees with multiple stems rather than a single main trunk. The other type of sucker grows directly from the tree's roots. In certain trees, such as poplars and aspens, the suckers can appear on the ground some distance away the tree trunk. Root suckers tend to multiply following a trauma, such as when a mature tree is felled.
Transplanting
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Gardeners who want to reproduce their trees have the option of propagating them by transplanting root suckers, which typically give better results than basal suckers that grow from buds. Digging up the suckers should be done carefully, to avoid disturbing the host tree as much as possible. Using a pair of hand pruners, you should cleanly separate the sucker's roots from the parent tree. Leaving some soil around the sucker's root system helps the transplant succeed.
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Hybrids
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Some hybrids result from a process called grafting, in which growers join two different plants together. The bottom part of the hybrid, called the rootstock, does not have the same characteristics as the top part, or scion. Growers should not transplant basal suckers assuming they will have all of the same traits as the hybrid plant. Because the suckers carry the genes of the bottom portion only, they will have the traits of the rootstock.
Eliminate
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Gardeners who do not wish to use basal suckers to propagate their trees might want to eliminate them, as they take valuable resources away from the parent plant. You can use a pruner to remove suckers or dig them up manually. Stumps often grow numerous basal shoots to compensate for the loss of the parent tree. You should eliminate them as soon as possible to prevent the growth of a new tree.
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