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struggling paw paw....trim suckers or let them be?
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Posted by alexander3 6 (My Page) on Wed, Jul 1, 09 at 22:10
| Hello,
A few years ago I planted a Susquehanna paw paw. In early spring of 2008 I moved it with a large rootball just as its buds were expanding. That season it looked great, fully leafed out. Not surprisingly it put on less growth than usual, but still grew several inches, and is now about 5' tall. I thought I was out of the woods with respect to transplant shock.
This spring it was late in leafing out, and the lower branches did not seem to have any leaves at all (those branches were still green under the bark). Then in late May it got the snot beat out of it by quarter sized hail being driven by high winds which knocked off a good portion of the leaves it had.
I pulled out the daisies and coreopsis that were growing near the tree and gave it a topdressing of a couple inches of compost in a 4' square. To clarify, the tree is in a 4' X4' bed bordered by 2X6 boards. It's not a raised bed, the boards are just to demarcate the bed and help keep out the grass.....the flowers were growing in the corners. We have had a lot of rain this season, so I have only watered it once. The site is well drained and the soil is red clay based.
The leaves that were not knocked off still have not reached normal size. On the bright side, most of the branches, even the ones that had not leafed out before, are now getting new leaves and buds. It still looks quite pathetic.
In the last couple weeks a few suckers have appeared right by the trunk, and I'm wondering what to do with them. I'm happy to have another variety, but my immediate concern is for the main tree. so the question is, will the suckers, with their leaves photosynthesizing, help the tree recover, or will they be competing with the main tree, making recovery more difficult?
Thanks for any input,
Alex |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: struggling paw paw....trim suckers or let them be?
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| The sucker growth can compete with the graft's growth--best to remove them. |
RE: struggling paw paw....trim suckers or let them be?
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| Had this same problem last year with a sour cherry. It sprouted suckers and i left them because they were the only thing growing on the tree (had nice green leaves). This spring i cut them all back and the tree has done very well and is putting on growth. I just figured the suckers were increasing the root mass and that would come in handy for the rest of the tree...but i have no idea if that is true. I doubt it hurts to leave them for this year. |
RE: struggling paw paw....trim suckers or let them be?
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I've got mixed emotions on this one.
I've had a number of grafted pawpaws rock along just fine for 2-3 years, then suddenly, the grafted stem dies back to the ground, and new suckers shoot up.
In that respect, I'm a bit concerned that your Susquehanna may be getting ready to 'abort', but cutting the suckers back to ground level may not alter the course already in progress. I've had persimmons throw up vigorous suckers that did, indeed 'take over' and outgrow the grafted variety when I wasn't watching closely enough, resulting in the graft declining and dying.
But, as franktank indicates, the suckers will be producing food to increase energy reserves for next year. With pecans, we encourage a 'trashy trunk' - small diameter branches low down, to feed & grow the root system, pruning them off once they reach an inch or so in diameter at their attachment to the trunk. I'll often let them grow vigorously, but if they get too strong, I'll break them over before they reach the height of my graft, or at least pinch out the terminal buds. I might be inclined to try this with pawpaw suckers - leave them in place, but pinch out the terminal bud, allowing well-developed leaves to manufacture some food for root development and next year's growth, while hopefully not hastening decline/abortion of the grafted variety on the original stem. |
RE: struggling paw paw....trim suckers or let them be?
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| Thanks for the input everyone. I think I'll leave them for now. Alex |
RE: struggling paw paw....trim suckers or let them be?
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| On a somewhat related scenario there was a study done (I think the link is on the KSU website) to see whether pawpaw grafts would fare better if rootstock leaves were left intact. As I recall, while the leaves did help increase the chance of the graft taking, they eventually hindered the rate of growth of the graft if not subsequently removed. It may be a stretch to apply this to your situation, but it does suggest removing the rootstock leaves, or at least as Lucky has said, removing the terminal buds and then any new rootstock leaves that will appear. |
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