Poplar suckers

[spandit]

Had some little poplar seedlings coming up on the lawn. It's nowhere near the house so wasn't too concerned:

 

 

Rather naively, I thought that tree suckers only occured next to the trunk and this particular one was a good 10m away from the parent (I assumed it had sprouted from wind blown seed). Thought I'd dig them up to transplant elsewhere amongst my other trees where they can grow unrestricted but found this:

 

 

That root is a good 20mm across. Not far underneath the soil but hoping regular mowing will keep the seedlings at bay. I'm guessing that just cutting the root nearer the tree will have no effect as the root will just put down it's own roots. Any other ideas? They're growing in an area where I've planted fruit trees, amongst some more mature fruit trees

[Gary Prentice]

Are they suckering due to root damage caused by cultivation?

[Mick Dempsey]

Or have they been topped/reduced lately?

[Gary Prentice]

That's a good point. Felled a poplar years ago at an empty property in the spring. By mid-summer the lawn looked like a coppice coupe with suckers two metre tall.

[Paul Cleaver]

I was going to say paint the leaves with round up but that could affect the parent tree as the are connected - you could paint the leaves with a contact weed killer though - but use a paint brush as spraying could kill parts of the lawn

Edited August 24, 2015 by Paul Cleaver

[spandit]

The parent tree is next door, on an industrial estate. Hasn't been pruned and looks healthy enough, although maybe the soil that's been disturbed further away has had an effect.

 

I've got a few potted seedlings that I'll plant out in the fields as they're still attractive trees and should give some competition to the willow and birch. Going to coppice the saplings that have grown a bit larger as they're not in the way, although they are a bit straggly.