what is this tree? if we spray it with round up will that kill the main tree, it is a root of? will severing and removing the root stopp it permanenetly? it grows fast without water! any ideas? thanks
Do not use RoundUp. RoundUp contains known carcinogens. It also is meant to kill ALL plants it touches, so the tree these suckers are connected to will die also. Just keep chopping them off at the ground level. I would not recommend cutting out the root unless you know what other roots the tree has and you know they can pick up the slack for the tree itself.
That might be a cherry tree, whose roots are known to sucker. Have you tried pulling on the tufts of leaves to see if the suckers are shallow enough to eliminate that way? No matter what control you use, it will be an ongoing problem - sometimes continuing even after the tree dies. I find the Garry Oak trees in my place sucker badly; I can pull some out but some need to be cut. This has to be done yearly. A few years ago, I used Roundup on some of the suckers at the base of one of my Garry Oaks but it didn't do much good; certainly didn't affect the tree. Roundup still gets a bad rap in many circles but, used carefully and infrequently, it's not nearly as toxic as some fear and can eliminate intractable problems. On balance though, you're just as far ahead pulling and cutting those suckers, whatever they are.
