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Lilac tree- shoots from roots

mimi's-gardenmimi's-garden Posts: 34
in Talkback

Hi

I have a fairy large inherited  Lilac tree which I cut back quite drastically last year. The tree flowered very well this year, better than the previous 4 years I have been in the house, but it is now sending up lots of shoots from the roots. Is there any way I can stop this from happening?

Posts

  • Dave MorganDave Morgan Posts: 3,123

    They're suckers mimi, you can remove the soil from the roots and just pull them off. They sucker naturally so you really can't stop it from happening.

  • mimi's-gardenmimi's-garden Posts: 34

    Thanks Dave, I have been doing that but I was hoping there might be a more permanent solution. image

  • Dave MorganDave Morgan Posts: 3,123

    Unfortunately it's one of those things us gardeners have to live with mimi, sorry.

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,089

    If you leave those suckers ,Dave, will it flower on those eventually?

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Dave MorganDave Morgan Posts: 3,123

    Yes it will flower on the suckers. The only issue is if the lilac is a grafted variety. The suckers will grow flowers like the original rootstock, so if the graft is of a different cultivar, you'll get two different types of flower. Lilac is usually grafted onto the wild lilac rootstock and usually the purple variety we all grew up with, the cultivars have given us the varying colour's a sizes we have now. The suckers can take over and outgrow the cultivars, so unless you want to lose what you bought it's best to remove them. 

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