Lawn Invader

Hi All,

I have a really annoying plant that seems to creep underneath my lawn, and pops up in various different places. I've taken a couple of pictures of it: http://www.essexchurches.info/plants/

Can anyone identify this for me, and what is the best way to tackle it? To date, I have simply been snapping it off at ground level, though in the past, when it has appeared away from the lawn, and I have attacked it more aggressively, I noticed that it seems to have a creeping root.

Thanks

John

 

Hi

Looks like a sucker from a nearby plant, maybe a plum tree?

 

Hmmm...I must admit that did cross my mind. But the nearby trees are both Prunus - one is a red-leaved ornamental cherry, and the other a green-leaved ornamental almond (we think). The odd thing is that these suckers are appearing at perhaps between 1 and 12 feet from the base of the green leaved tree - which of the two would be the only one I'd think it could be (the red one's leaves are very dark). And that tree's width at the top is perhaps 6-8 feet.

Supposing they are suckers, is the only route (pun not intended) to just keep cutting the tops?

 

Thanks - think I'll need it. I take it the systemic killer as suggested will simply travel back up the suckers, rather than killing what grass we have? I don't know where the tree is to be honest, so if someone's suddenly dies then...ahem...sorry. And if it does turn out to be one of ours then it is probably time to get shot of it and replace anyway.

 

Now that I've searched for images of plum suckers, I'm in complete agreement. This garden is now at war... :wink:

 

Thanks - I never heard you say a thing! :wink:

 

The roots are usually not to deep if you dig down the sucker you should get a direction the roots are coming from then simply trace back to your boundary and sever the root system. As long as the tree is not directly on your neighbours boundary it will cause little impact to the tree.

 

I fully agree, but I assume they are coming from the same tree. At least it is a problem which is soon solved.

 

Looking at neighbouring gardens, I cannot even begin to imagine where the parent tree is. Suckers starting to appear again though - I'm just waiting for them to get a bit bigger - won't be long, as they seem much more virulent now.

 

Trees are very often grafted. eg a green leaves tree is used as rootstock for red leaf top.

Sweet almond trees are grafted on to bitter almond.

Therefore, the leaves on the suckers you have found, will not look like the leaves on the tree that they are growing from .

You have 2 trees in the vicinity. My bet it that it is one of these.

 

Aha...I'd not thought of that. So one of my two trees could suddenly peg it! Still, though, like I said before, if it is one of mine, and it's causing this much trouble, it's time it moved along anyway!

That said, my red leaved tree sprouts red leaves a long way down the trunk - so I'm confident that is not grafted. Of the two, I'd prefer the green one to go, as that has caused a lot of lumps and bumps in the lawn near it's base anyway.

Thanks

John

 

Well, I've sprayed about 5 suckers with SBK. It's been about 24 hours so far, but I've seen no real change yet. How long will it take to travel back to the parent tree/plant, and then kill the suckers?

JW