SUNKEN GROWTHS

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 68, 17 September 1936, Page 26

SUNKEN GROWTHS

TO BE AVOIDED

All plants that are budded or-grafted have a tendency to develop suckers, this being natural, as the stock is generally more vigorous than the scion. Constant watch should be kept to suppress this tendency or the results will be disastrous. Hoses are,1 perhaps, the worst offenders and considerable care should be taken to trace the sucker to its origin and pull it off, thereby removing the colony of basal buds which would at once start into growth if the sucker were cut or broken at ground level. ,

Lilacs are generally budded, therefore sucker growths Should be watched for and removed as soon as' noticed. Rhododendrons >worked: on the ponticum stock frequently produce suckers which, if allowed; to'grow,- 'are liable to entirely swamp the''-scion. ■ Fruit trees and ■ bushes should < also 'be attended to frequently. • While suckers appear under the most careful treatment at times, there is no doubt that injury to the roots when digging or forking, or in transplanting, causes growths to spring from the injured part, so that, great care should be taken to avoid such injuries.