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Saturday - May 02, 2015

From: Abilene, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Seasonal Tasks, Problem Plants, Trees
Title: Oak Sucker Reprise
Answered by: Larry Larson

QUESTION:

----Original Question---- SUNDAY - JULY 06, 2014 Title: Live Oak Suckers Reprise, Austin TX QUESTION: Referring to an entry dated March 11, 2011 about Live Oak suckers - what happened to the suckers covered with newspaper and cardboard? ---Followup Question---- Update on the experiment and how did you prepare the area before laying down the newspaper, cardboard, and 4-6" of mulch?

ANSWER:

For completeness – This link is to the original question/answer: Live Oak Suckers

This was followed by a “how did it work” question some years later: Live Oak Suckers Reprise, Austin TX

As this was just written last summer, it’s pretty current. I still consider it a success and the touchup this winter/spring seemed easier than before. As planned last summer I refreshed the layers. For the majority of the area under my Oaks, this involved raking up the mulch, strategically adding some more cardboard, and then covering it all with fresh mulch. I had already gone through and removed all the suckers as much as possible 2-3” below ground level.

I also did another 50 square feet for the first time. We had gardening supplies there before. It was a low sucker forest. I had been using the weedwacker and my hedge trimmer on them as appropriate before. The initial preparation was pretty much the same – but there’s more work involved. I went through and pulled & cut on those things until they all were trimmed off 2” below the surface. Then I placed cardboard & mulch as before and hopefully I’ll have a couple years of peace before I need to do much more of the hardcore sucker cleaning!

From the Image Gallery

Escarpment live oak
Quercus fusiformis