Can I use sheers to even up the skirt on this tree or do i need to prune each branch individually?
Also, regarding all the suckers coming up at the base. What can I do about them? Can I put round up on them or will that harm the tree as well?
Thanks so much,
Chris
No Roundup! You can harm the tree! Dig down carefully with your fingers and follow the sucker to where it originates and pull it away. Suckers should be removed at their base, not cut. Cutting encourages more. Digging carefully around the base of the tree to the roots that are producing the suckers will not harm the tree. As for trimming, prune each branch individually back up to an outward facing branch or bud. If you shear it without regards to buds or branches you will have dead leafless stubs. This is a tree, not a hedge. It seems to be growing as it should for a weeper and doing very nicely. Why prune at all?
hmmmm...snapples advise is right on target. I wonder were you hoping for a non-weeping variety?
kt
Well, I didn't plant the tree, it was here when we moved in. I just want to shape it up a bit. Give it more of a mushroom shape. Also the trunk is really cool. I would like to show off some of it.
It's quite lovely in it's natural state. Pruning to a mushroom shape, or any pruning at all, will cause two things. First the tree's natural response will be to put out new growth. Unless you have special skills in pruning it may not be possible for you to predict just where it will produce new buds or shoots, resulting in a very mishapen tree. Second, once you begin to hard prune (other than occaisionally heading back a branch sweeping the ground) you will have to continually prune. Think carefully about what you might have to deal with in the future. The shape your tree currently displays is what most people are delighted to achieve.
My Louisa crab weeps like this..in fact it's SOBBING!! LOL I trim and shape it in late winter or early spring while it's leafless, works better that way.I thin crossing branches so grafts don't occur.As for the suckers, there are new products on the market to subdue the suckering section of the trunk and rootzone.Comes in a spray bottle. Weeping crab trees are awesome in an open setting.My soil here is fast draining and very dark and fertile.Trees grow fast here. There are many types of crab trees in availability now...so choose the type that fits your area to be landscaped.Narrow tall, or small round headed. Many new choices.
I am familiar with the sprays. Sucker-Stopper RTU is one. They are growth regulators. Treat the root suckers in the spring before they get to be 10 inches long. Control lasts about three months. I don't recommend them. Digging down to the root producing the sucker puts fewer chemicals in the soil and can discourage regrowth for the entire season.
The spray is also expensive. One ready to use 22 oz. bottle retails for about $30. Ouch!
What kind of crabapple tree is that? It's beautiful!!!
I have no idea what kind it is. It was here when we bought the house. Here are some new pictures......it's getting ready to bloom!
Chris
another angle
A little closer, maybe someone can identify?
I don't know but the puppy looks like they just knew you were taking a picture of them! Beautiful tree. I'm envious.
I can't help you on what kind it is, but it looks like your mulch may be piled a bit too close to the trunk--you always want to leave a bit of space between where the mulch ends and the trunk of the tree so I'd pull it back a bit.
Make sure you post a picture once that goes into full bloom. I'm thinking of growing a couple of weeping trees, crabapple might do the trick. Not sure at the moment.
On the sucker thing. I just use my thumb nail and basically pull the sucker off of the root, right at the root. It's worked for me on younger fruit trees, someone told me to do that and suckers are rare now. You have to get them when they are small.
