Use shears, not poison, on tree's suckers

By Audrey Post
MS. GROW-IT-ALL

Q: I have a crape myrtle (Natchez, I think) that is about 10-15 years old. This year there is a cluster of 4 suckers under the tree. If I put Round-Up on the suckers, will it injure the host tree?

A: Most likely. Round-Up is a broad spectrum herbicide whose main ingredient is glyphosate. “Broad spectrum” means it doesn’t target only certain kinds of plants, the way some lawn “weed and seed” formulas do, but will attack whatever it comes into contact with. It’s sprayed on the leaves and absorbed into the plant. It also drips off the leaves and into the soil.

The suckers under your crape myrtle are growing off the base of the tree. If you think of them as new branches that are coming off the root instead of off the trunk, you’ll see that spraying them with Roundup is a bad idea. Use your pruning shears to snip off the suckers. If they’re still tender, hand pruners should do it. If they’ve already begun to develop into a woody trunk, use loppers.

Q: I did not fertilize last spring, I didn't use a “winterizer” fertilizer in early fall and I did not water during any prolonged drought during this past winter. Now I have extensive areas of dead centipede grass that have to be covered over. I live in a sandy area with little topsoil. Of those three lack of actions, please rank these lack of actions from most important to least.

A: Lack of watering is top of the list. I’m not sure any of the others really had anything to do with it. Turfgrass is tough and can bounce back once regular rains or regular watering resumes.

The “winterizer” fertilizer usually contains a pre-emergent herbicide to kill dormant weed seeds. If you have bare spots, the weeds are dead too – likely from lack of water. As for not fertilizing last spring, the main effect of that would have been on your lawn last summer. Was it healthy? If so, skipping a spring fertilizer application probably had little or no effect.

Many gardeners I know don’t fertilize their lawns at all, or do so only in spring. If you fertilize, you need to water more. Because your sandy soil lacks the capacity to hold water, it runs off rapidly. You need to water it regularly, whether you fertilize it or not.

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