Hi all... I am a frequent contributor to the hosta forum, but now I have a tree question:

BACKSTORY: There's a box elder (ick) tree that straddles my back property line. There was a 26" diameter trunk on my side and 4 smaller (10" or less) trunks on my neighbor's side. They did not want their portion of the tree removed, even if I offered to pay. The sad thing is that they don't recognize what a gift it would have been, cuz all 4 of their trunks are at a 45 degree or less angle to the ground. They're just unattractive. But they even went so far as to "remind" us that if removal of our portion of the tree caused the demise of their portion that we could be held responsible. And they suggested that since their professionals were telling them differently than our professionals that we should have the city forester render his opinion.

The city forester told us both that if we were to leave a 30-36" tall stump that that should be sufficient enough to not cause the other trunks to rot prematurely. But as I suspected, the stump suckered all year last year. I HATE suckers. I know, most people do.

NOW HERE'S MY QUESTION: If I were to girdle the trunk low to the ground (but above where the neighbor's trunks come off of the base), would that be enough to stop the trunk from suckering?... perhaps not this year, but at least by next year?

After the heavier than normal snow we had this year, The top 6-8" of bark has already peeled off. I'm actually wondering if A)Would keeping it wet between the bark and the tree cause the bark to rot off faster and B) Would that potentially help to stop the suckering sooner?

Thanks y'all!