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California Gardening

Suckering flowering cherry?

bluekitobsessed

18 years ago

I planted a "White Fountains" flowering cherry 4 years ago. The tree was about 6 ft tall, 15 gallon container IIRC, and trained to weep. Within a year it started sending up a very aggressive branch that eventually got 15 ft tall, never wept. The branch never flowered, and the leaves were different from the leaves on the original tree -- larger and not toothed. I finally cut it back last year when I decided it was a sucker. Now I'm seeing several new suckers. I don't see an obvious graft point.

Am I diagnosing these as suckers correctly?

Can anything be done to get rid of them, or do I cut them back annually, or should I tolerate them? It's a beautiful tree and I do not want to get rid of it.

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Comments (4)

jean001
18 years ago
Yes, weeping trees are always grafted. Remove the sucker growth as soon as you see it.
torchw
18 years ago
Also, weeping trees are commonly grafted high to give you a straight trunk. So look for the graft higher up.
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calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
18 years ago
Most weeping cherries are actually grafted twice. Rootstock, interstem, (the straight clear trunk to provide enough height for the weeping), and the prostrate or weeping flowering top growth. Any growth below the weeping top should be removed as soon as seen as this growth will starve the weeping top and cause it to die. Al
toyo2960
18 years ago
I don't have a weeping flowering cherry, but a double petaled form. It's grafted onto a regular cherry stock and have to cut off the suckers all the time.
No big deal. Just don't let the suckers get too big. Nip them off when they are small.

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