My wife and I purchased a home 3 years ago that has an ornamental peach tree in the west end of our landscape area near the house. I noticed this spring the root stock, with different leaves than the normal red ones, growing two stalks out of the middle of the tree. In a very prolific way! The stalks are about 2" wide and 4' long. I assume these will have to be taken off. Obviously, I don't want to kill the tree. My question is can I safely take out these things without hurting the rest of the tree? I have pruning sealer.

My other question is when to do this? We live just south of Atlanta.