We chopped down our sickly ornamental cherry tree 12 years ago. Silly us, we didn’t remove the stump, which is now buried in the middle of a flower bed. Over the years, an occasional sucker has popped up in the garden or on the lawn but we’ve simply cut them off. Now suddenly this year we have the suckers coming up throughout our whole backyard, in the garden and under the deck. Help! Does anyone have any suggestions how to permanently kill this this zombie tree? Thanks!
I had the same happen with a dogwood. I know I can hear the groans and “oh no’s” coming from people but this is how I handled it. I wrapped plastic around the trunk, from the base up and over the top area which was sprouting. I then sprayed Roundup, within this plastic shield, and then secured the plastic really well to give the Roundup every chance to do its magic. I did this last fall after returning from a month long holiday to find a dogwood bush and it worked like a charm, absolutely no sprouts so far this year. And the bonus is that no other plants in the closest vicinity were affected. Hope that helps
Interesting. There are no suckers coming from the trunk. The suckers start about a foot away from the trunk and spread to over 20 feet away, along the root system I suppose. If I do as you suggest, does the roundup travel through the root system? Could it adversely affect other plants? Or dogs/people walking in that area?
inject some Roundup into the suckers. That should do it.
Hi John, this may be a silly question, but how does one “inject” the roundup into the suckers?
Hi Kathy, To apply the roundup to suckers, cut the top of the sucker off and dab or drop a drop or two of roundup on the open cut. If the roundup absorbs into the sucker right away you could add a few more drops, but make sure to keep the drops on and in the sucker and not elsewhere on plants you dont want to kill. If the original trunk is not too rotton yet you could also drill some holes (4 to 6) in the side of the trunk, angling the holes downward towards the ground……then using a funner or syringe fill each hole with roundup and wait for suckers to die. Roundup only travels through the plant/tree and becomes inert when it contacts mineral soil.If you are worried about critters follow the advice above and wrap som plastic around the areas you apply the roundup.
An alternative to roundup is Killex which will do the same thing in the same way.
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