Dig up daffodils under a Tri Color Beech?

Edgewood, MD

I made the mistake of planting daffodils around the bottom of my Tri Color Beech a few years back. I've since discovered it's a shallow rooted tree. I need to thin out the daffodils, but I'm afraid I'll damage the tree. (A borer has already attacked it - not sure what to do about that either.)

I'm willing to sacrifice all the daffodils if I must. I don't want to hurt the tree. It's about 25' high and I have only had it about 5 years.

Should I attempt to dig up the daffodils in late June or try to kill off the daffodils? (Not sure how I would do either without harming the tree.) Doing nothing is not an option.

I don't know if the daffodils are negatively impacting the tree. There's probably something else going on there.

If you are thinning the daffodils because you want to thin them, why not just wait until you get some nice steady rains and hand pull the offsets? Grab the above ground vegetation as close to the base as your hand will allow and pull. Is your ground compacted to the degree that you couldn't pull them up and out or are you trying to save them to plant in another area of your property? If you are trying to save the offsets, then you really should wait until they begin dying back to remove them so you can store them properly.

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