Screwed up Big Time on Lilacs. Pls Help.

10 years ago

I have a hedge of old, old-fashioned lilacs that came with the house. I don't think they had ever been pruned so I decided to tackle the task two years ago. They looked so nice...if not a little bit naked. But then they started to sucker. And I mean SUCKER! At first I tried to just prune out the suckers, but that just seem to make them sucker more.

(AH HA) I thought! "I have a brilliant idea!!"

I'll just round-up all those little suckers.... :(

My mother lilacs are now showing terrible, shrively growth typical of round-up damage. Some of the branches look worse than others. Now that the damage is done, I don't know what to do.

Millions of suckers are still popping up, trying to replace the ones I killed. Should I just let all those suckers go and allow my 8' wide lilac hedge to become a 20' lilac hedge? I don't really like this idea. Should I prune out the heavily damaged branches, and allow the lilacs to recover on their own? Will they ever recover, or have I ruined them forever? I'm just a small gal with a hand shovel, so trying to dig a trench around them or install some sort of deep edging is out of the question.

Next year I'm going to try a product called Sucker-Stop. But right now I'm really concerned about my mother plants. (Incidently, they bloomed really well this spring...altho the leaves looked horrible.)

Why did I even attempt a stupid thing like this? Well, I used this method with cottonwood babies that were popping up from nearby trees. It killed the babies, but didn't seem to have any affect on the trees. Granted, the trees are about 50' tall....

Thanks

Comments (5)

mulchmama
10 years ago
Well, at least you didn't kill them. Spraying broad spectrum herbicide on suckers can do serious damage or kill a tree or shrub.

I would coppice them if they haven't been pruned in a long time and are looking leggy. Normally it's a good idea to prune out 1/3 of the oldest canes at ground level to renew them, but yours sound like they need a good dose of "start over". Hey, it can't hurt any more than spraying them with roundup, eh? Good luck!
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
10 years ago
The lilac suckers are connected to the hedge. Cottonwood babies are sprouted seeds, huge difference. When lilac is trimmed, it makes suckers sprout. Left alone, they don't do that. Your weed-wacker and/or mower should be able to keep the suckers down. Next year you should know for sure what's alive, what's dead. If you trim out the dead parts, then leave it alone, it should stop suckering so much, assuming some of it's still alive.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years ago
if you figured out how to kill a lilac.. let me know ...

neighbor had severe damage from imprellis... many giant trees....

hit the lilac hard...

and next year... it just came back ... and the second year... you couldnt tell it ever had a problem ...

all that said... please get rid of the lilac.. if you have something against suckers... ITS HOW THEY GROW ... its like asking us how to make your mulberry stop making mulberry ... simple.. you get rid of it....

crikey.. accept it for what it is.. or get rid of it ...

and while your at it.. learn how to manage a lilac.. by googling: renovation pruning of flowering shrubs....

you dont fight the suckers.. you properly prune the plant to maintain it in the form you wish ... thereby harnessing the suckers.. one might say ...

and if anyone tells you there is a lilac that does not sucker.. then ask for the full latin name.. and go buy that one.. after you kill this one....

i have seen heritage lilac.. in front of 100 year old farmhouses.. that are 30 feet tall.. and 50 feet wide ... that is their potential.. and if you dont have the space for some unknown giant lilac.. find a smaller dwarf version.. or learn how to tame the giant ....

but one thing for sure.. dont think there is some easy.. no labor way of doing it.. that was your first mistake ..you thought you could do this the easy way.. lol./. been there.. done that.. killed a lot of things ....

ken
mulchmama
10 years ago
And THIS is why I chose not to put old fashioned lilac bushes in our garden. I consider them pretty high maintenance shrubs. I opted for Miss Kims and Palabins, both dwarf Koreans.

Now Viburnums.....different story. Stunning in at least three seasons and almost no maintenance ever.
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
10 years ago
Agreed, it depends on what you have, and what you do with it. For the tree below, once a year, snip, snip, at ground level, suckers were gone. Took about 15 minutes. If you keep trimming a tree into a hedge, suckers will be much more abundant.