I'd remove them. One is rubbing or soon to be rubbing on the main trunk.

Check out these suckers I removed...

{{gwi:10643}}

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The differences in the bark are very interesting.

Do your suckers get any fruit?

Personally if they were back in the tree line I would leave them. If in front of the house and you are fixin to move I would remove them.

There is a percentage of the foliage of a tree you are not supposed to remove in a year. Do you think the suckers are half the tree? If so remove one this year, more the next.

Hey, thanks for the replies!

Yes, the sucker on the right/front of the tree gets fruit - not the 1/2" purple crabapple fruit like the rest of the tree but a 3" old fashioned/wild apple kinda fruit. The sucker on the left/back of the tree is the same crabapple as the main tree - honestly I'd never thought of it as a sucker before, just part of the tree.

To remove the old-timey apple sucker would only remove one tall piece, it doesn't have any branches coming off it.It's like a combo sucker/waterspout (is that the right term?) The other, bigger "sucker" is half the tree and I wouldn't remove it without carefully considering how it would look, or if it might kill the tree.

Much to my surprise my reading says the best time to cut out suckers and waterspouts is right after blooming - true? Also, most everything I've read says cutting out one sucker can lead to many more - but I guess they're easier to take care of if I do it as soon a s I see them...

Whaas, where did you cut your suckers? I shouldn't go beneath the soil line, right? btw, the tree bark on the main tree looked smooth too until the tree reached a certain age.

toronado3800, I'll never move from here, the tree is in a side yard in the middle of my patio. The look of the sucker's bloom, etc actually pleases me and I don't want to remove it unless it is weakening the tree - my reading says suckers do, but I haven't read why yet. Is it simply because they are vigorous and use more nutrients than before the tree?

I'll try to take another pic from a different angle when I get home from work tonight if it isn't raining (like it is now!) To show how the three trunks are in relation to each other.

Thanks again for helping!

ugh. I'd actually corrected my spelling & added info, then hit submit on the wrong post!

Anyhow, the main point that got lost was that I'm impressed with how the pruning you did whaaas improved the look of the tree. Since my old-timey sucker is just a straight trunk with no branches, I will cut it out. Seeing your pics really showed me what an improvement it can be.

When I bought this tree as a little sapling, the main trunk branched off low, close to the soil level. I thought it would make it look fuller faster, so I bought it. I also planted it too deep, I'm sure. That may be why the thicker, second truck looks like a sucker (left and back of the main in my pic). It was the first tree I'd ever bought and I didn't know better. It doesn't help that I've since built a raised garden bed around it.

This post was edited by coatfetish on Sun, Mar 31, 13 at 7:53

Would be nice to get a pic of the entire tree to understand the impact of the canopy but my main reason for removing is that its going to be compressing/rubbing on the main trunk soon.

I removed mine at ground level just above the soil. Once I removed the suckers the rest of the canopy really fillled out nicely.

Coatfetish, you've really done your homework! I think everything you said is right on the money. The sucker probably should be removed if you want the original tree to survive, because the sucker will rob energy from the grafted scion. Plants will preferentially send energy to parts that are doing well, and because of the graft and lower vigor of the grafted portion, the tree will "see" that part as a less rewarding investment of resources.

Also, as you said, I would make the cut just above soil level. The reason for this is that the cut will be somewhat less likely to introduce pathogens into the system if it's above ground.

The best time to remove a sucker is at your earliest convenience. The sooner they are removed, the less problems (loss of percentage of leaf surface, likelihood of sucker regrowth, etc) you'll have. The second best time would probably be mid to late summer. Plants are usually growing less vigorously during that time and will respond more moderately (grow less suckers) when pruned during that time period.

Thanks, you've all been so helpful! It was still raining when I got home today, so no new pics. However I have decided after reading the latest comments to definitely remove the sucker on the next clear day. I will take before & after pics, too. There is also a small waterspout (I never can remember if that's the correct term) that popped up two years ago, I'll get rid of that, too. Brandon, your explanation was quite clear and really helped me understand.

The tree is still growing rather fast in diameter, not so much height (which I think might be done). For the last two years in a row I've pruned it fairly hard - at least by my know-nothing standards - often taking 3 to 5 feet off a dozen or so branches, and cutting 3 or 4 others back by eight or ten feet because they rubbed against other, more major, branches. The tree has become a bit wider than I anticipated and it hits the mobile home if I don't trim. If you've never heard branches in the breeze screeching across a metal home, you don't know what you're missing, lol. When I bought it, the card said 15 to 25 feet tall, 12 to 15 feet wide. Liar! haha

Again, thank you, and I will follow up with a few more pics at the end of the week!
~ Cindy ~

btw, here is a pic I took last week of the sucker mid way up the tree. It shows how straight and branchless it is. (hey, now that I look closely, I can see a small branch coming off it, directly towards us) It's the one just slightly off center, I think you can tell which one it is. Yes, there is a big gaping hole between the branches because I pruned it to accommodate my patio. There was one low branch that cut right into the seating area, and when I removed it years ago, it left that space.

I would have added this pic when I asked my initial question, but I can't figure out how to add more than one pic to a post!