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Hello everyone! :bye: Many years ago I inherited a maple tree from the people who owned my family’s house before us. It’s just a tree, but it’s special to me 😳 .. that’s why I need some serious help! It’s always struggled with aphids and a lack of sunlight. We’ve tried everything to help it, but a huge oak tree beside it is stealing all the sunlight from it. Recently a city worker checking for dutch elm desiese. inspected my tree and said it was eighty percent dead! The few leaves it had were dried up and yellow and the evil oak tree 👿 wasn’t helping at all! In fact, it was stealing all the nutrients from the soil! There are a few little trees[about the size of my pinky finger!] growing from the bottom of it. But they’re roots are inside! Should I wait until they’re bigger or should I take them out now and put them in water… or soil??! 😥 PLEASE everybody, I need some serious help here! Anybody who knows anything about gardening, please post!!! Before my tree has to get cut down! 😥
Those little trees are known as “suckers”. There’s plenty of info on the net about suckers, but it’s usually about how to remove/kill/prevent them. 😳
Most trees (usually shallow-rooted ones) send up suckers when there has been some type of root damage (improper mowing, crushing of roots, shovel damage, etc.). Your tree may actually be sending up suckers simply because it is dying and trying to save itself. These will eventually become trees. If the suckers are too close together, they may be forced to compete with each other and cause stress/strain on their growth. Not to mention, the big oak tree is still there… I don’t know how thick your tree’s roots are, but you may be able to isolate one. Don’t quote me on this though, as I am not a gardener and do not have all the details on your tree’s situation.
My boss is a forester. I will see if she has any info she can give me. 🙂
I did a search on transplanting suckers. Here’s a few to get you started. Since the main tree is already 80% dead, you can probably ignore the parts on how to prevent damage to the main tree. If you can successfully transplant one or more of them, you will basically have a little tree clone. 🙂
http://gardening.wsu.edu/text/nvsucker.htm
http://grumpygardener.southernliving.com/grumpy_gardener/2008/04/transplanting-y.html
http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf30084414.tip.html
Just find a good spot away from the oak to plant it. Do it in the cooler months of the year (transplanting before summer is really hard on a plant), and give it enough water as it will need to become established in it’s new spot.
Good luck! :bye:
I hope you can save your elm! Oak trees are referred to as “antisocial” because they send out a poison to kill any nearby trees. We’ve had oak trees kill our cypress tree; it was a pretty tree, too. Redwoods are the same, except the poison they secrete is much stronger. The poison a redwood secretes is the equivalent of what ten oak trees would secrete! Bayoudragon had a good suggestion, transplant a sucker to try to get a new tree (thank you, Bayoudragon, I did not know that about suckers!) Bushes can be planted near oak trees, but for the most part, they need to be left alone with plenty of space.
Laura,
After reading your post, I really hope the suckers are coming from the roots and not the trunk of the tree. 🙁 Hopefully, it’s the roots. Here’s a neat page with a picture example of suckers that became trees.
Hi :hi: Okay you can try this, under the soil line where the sucker tree is soft cut a little slice in it. Put rooting hormone on the spot add damp sphagnum moss put plastic around the spot. Watch for roots to appear if it looks dried out add more rooting hormone and then re dampen the moss. After the roots are there add the soil. I would wait till spring to cut beneath the root line. Then remove the tree to where you want it add a good soil and yep more rooting hormone to the roots. This has worked for me. You can move the tree earlier but only if there is enough of the season left to get it going before the season ends. Do plan on watering frequently if you move it this season. I have moved them in season but only one out of three made it. So you might want to do a few of them. I forgot when moving dip the tree in water then in the hormone before planting. Good luck. 🙂
windstonefan
Thank you guys so much! Everybody here is so helpful. Unfortunately, the suckers are coming from the trunk of my maple tree. 🙁 My tree is done for, in other words, dead. 😥 To get the roots out of the tree, it sounds like I have to hack a little bit at the trunk. :negative: But if that’s what needs to be done, I will. It rained today so the trunk might be a little bit softer? :shrug: The little clones should have roots, right? All of your posts helped! :hi:
If it’s coming out of the trunk, you might as well consider it a branch. 🙁
HOWEVER, there are some trees that are able to grow new trees from branches. Maybe this will help.
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8702.htmlI would definitely get that rooting hormone that windstonefan was talking about. It’s worth a shot!
Good luck! And keep us updated! 🙂 I understand about wanting to save it. I have three spider lilies from my father’s property that have moved with me 3 times! Although, it much easier to transplant a flower than it is a tree. 😳
I just took the suckers off my tree. They’re roots are in the bark, but they’re still roots. 😀 I planted them in a little pot. Everybody has been so helpful! :bye:
Hi, :hi: you can actually do everything I said from the soft stem of the sprouted baby. Cut a slice in the side of the sucker tree add rooting hormone into the break–dampen that moss put it in a small see threw plastic bag ,wrap it around the cut spot, tie it in place. Watch it so if you see it drying before roots show add more water to the moss if you don’t see drying leave it till you see roots–then it off cut below the roots add water to the roots dip in the rooting hormone again and plant in a rich soil. Water frequently. As I said I did three Dogwoods like this in the Summer and the smallest one made it. It bloomed the first time this year! Still a baby only two years old and thee feet tall. But there she is alive and well. Another was is to push the sucker down to the dirt make a cut on the side that is down put rooting hormone on it after the water again leave the top part out of the ground –you will have this laying in the dirt covered at the cut spot with good soil. The side in the dirt will sprout roots but you must keep it watered and then after the roots have sprouted dig them up cut below them and replant as before. No air is the main reason they sprout the roots so keep the air out. Good luck 🙂
windstonefan
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