Clearing Water Sprouts and Root Suckers From a Backyard Apple Tree With a 32-Inch Bypass Lopper: Collar Cuts With No Stubs at Dormant Pruning, Then Rubbing Off Regrowth From May to July
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Once the leaves drop, the straight, whip-like shoots on an apple tree are easy to see, some standing up from the scaffold branches and others coming up around the trunk base. A 32-inch bypass lopper reaches into the canopy and down to the soil line to take them off cleanly. Then a summer habit of rubbing off new shoots keeps them from coming back as thick. What is the difference between water sprouts and suckers on an apple tree? Water sprouts are fast, upright shoots growing from the trunk or scaffold branches, usually without side branches. Suckers grow from the roots or from the trunk at or below the ground line, often from the rootstock. Remove both at their point of origin, leaving the collar but no stub. University of Illinois Extension's Making Pruning Cuts defines both and lists removing them among its general pruning rules. It s...