Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
rate this answer
Sunday - August 01, 2010
From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Trees
Title: More on preventing suckers on live oaks in Austin
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
I just received an oak sprout answer id=6021. I have a followup question. Our sprouts are caused by the motte we live in - 12 live oaks on 1/4 acre. I understand we will have to hand dig 1000s of them :( Once we've gotten the current crop removed what we can do to stop or at least reduce it recurring? The answer is unclear whether preventing the leaves will work for motte (vs acorn) sprouts.ANSWER:
Sigh. That's the problem with answering questions with "no, it can't be done." They come right back wanting a different answer. So, we went back to the Internet and searched on "preventing suckers on live oaks" and guess what we got? One of our own previous answers from 3 years ago, saying basically the same thing we did on this one.
So, we continued to search the Internet for the magic potion that solves this problem without work, and found an article from the Bryan-College Station Eagle, written by Neil Sperry. To quote the relevant portion of that article:
"Use sharpshooter spade to battle live oak suckers
Dear Neil: What can I do to get rid of live oak suckers that are coming up by the hundreds beneath my tree?
A: That's a fault of probably 10 or 15 percent of our live oaks. They vary genetically, and those sprouts are tethered to "mama." Your best bet is to use a sharpshooter spade and angle your cut so that you remove the sprout and as much of its small trunk as you can. You might consider laying a solid vinyl root barrier such as pond liner down over the area after you have removed them, then putting some type of decorative river rock or other heavy mulch to conceal it. Try it on a small area to see how well it works for you. Short of replacing the tree, there just isn't much more you can do."
Frankly, we wouldn't be too thrilled with putting a pond liner over the roots of your trees, because those roots need oxygen and water, too, but maybe it's worth a try. According to Mr. Sperry, it is apparently the variety of live oak that you have that is to blame, which we hadn't heard before, but it makes sense. As we said in the first reply, you can rake up and remove acorns as soon as they fall to avoid the seedlings, but we know of nothing and could find nothing in our research that will inhibit the suckers without harming the tree. As for preventing the leaves, if you remove the sucker so it doesn't create leaves to nourish itself, new suckers will have to continue to depend on the original tree root (which is the sucker's root, too) for nourishment.
Moral: Having live oaks in Texas is wonderful, but not without price.
More Trees Questions
Landscaping with native plants in Austin
October 06, 2005 - I'm expanding a flower bed in front of my house and would like to keep it all natives. 1) How do I find out what type of soil I should add? (I live near Hyde Park, Austin and haven't had a soil te...
view the full question and answer
Propagation of maple tree in Canada
July 08, 2008 - I have a gorgeous maple tree in my front lawn and I want to plant more like it. The tree gives off very few keys a year so I want to make sure this works. How do I go about planting a maple key?
view the full question and answer
Evergreen hedge for NY
February 26, 2012 - I am looking for a native evergreen shrub that could be used as a hedge or privacy screen on the Rockaway peninsula in Queens county. It is a beach community with sand soil ( except where it has been...
view the full question and answer
Fast-growing, tall taproot tree for El Paso
September 01, 2008 - I live in El Paso Texas and would like to know what would be a good shade tree to plant. I would like this tree to grow fast and tall. I would also like the roots to go straight down.
view the full question and answer
Bald cypress knees in leachfield from Ventura CA
March 20, 2013 - Hey, I planted a seedling 20+ years ago which has turned out to be a 40'bald cypress that's now 40'. I'm a native southerner and would hate to cut it down but it's putting up knees in my septic s...
view the full question and answer
Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |