Help!! Battling Chinese Elms

Bluejay · Post by **Bluejay** » Jul 16, 2006 5:27 pm

We have several very large (approx. 80 ft. tall) Chinese elms on our property. We like the shade they provide, so we don't want to cut them down, but they sucker everywhere. We have suckers coming up right next to the house, and presumably under the house as well (the basement floor is cracked in several locations).

Can I use Roundup on the suckers without killing the main trees?

Thanks for any suggestions.

petal*pusher · Post by **petal*pusher** » Jul 16, 2006 8:48 pm

Hmmmm...when I was a youngin', we had a giant Chinese Elm at the end of the long driveway. Dad always called it a "weed tree" because of it's rapid growth, and habits of dropping branches and seed everywhere!

I think what you are finding all over are not "suckers" that are still attached to the main tree....they are probably little seedlings or "whips" that have germinated in a nice cozy spot!! These little fellas can easily be eliminated.

Anxious to see what others here say.......p

Bluejay · Post by **Bluejay** » Jul 17, 2006 2:34 am

Yup, they sure do drop seed everywhere, and I yank seedlings all the time, but I'm pretty sure these are suckers. I find big roots snaking their way through the lawn 100 feet away from a main trunk, with suckers growing all along the length of them. Thankfully, the ones growing in the lawn can be controlled more or less by mowing, but the ones that come up in my perennial beds and underneath my deck are not so manageable. I spend days pruning tons of them right to the ground every spring, and by the following spring they are back again with a vengeance - taller than I am and an inch and a half in diameter at the base. And so many of them together in each cluster that from a distance they look like large shrubs. Nasty!

I'd love to hear if others have had any success controlling these monsters.

Thanks again for your ideas.

renaldo75 · Post by **renaldo75** » Jul 18, 2006 12:10 am

I have chinese elm seedlings come up all the time. [And some American elm, but not as many of them.] Originally they probly blew over from across the street to the south - I haven't noticed any close by on the north side, but now I've let several get pretty big since I have very little shade in the yard. I've even moved several this spring so they'll grow up & shade a hosta bed. And I will be moving more this fall or next spring for the same reason.

I grew up on a farm where we had at least 5 huge chinese elms & a couple of American elms. I don't recall them ever having the long roots above ground - just a short way from the base. And I don't recall any suckers like you describe either. So I'm not sure what to tell you. They sure sound like a nuisance though...

Old earth dog · Post by **Old earth dog** » Jul 18, 2006 1:05 am

As Linda P reminded me in another forum, what most of us call Chinese Elm is actually Sibreian Elm. They do seed all over the place.

Bluejay · Post by **Bluejay** » Jul 20, 2006 4:07 am

Thanks for all your suggestions and advice, folks. Perhaps I've been calling them by the wrong name all these years.

And maybe these are just seedlings that got away from me, not suckers.

But whatever they are, I think I will adopt Chris's approach that he recommended for trumpet vine: Cut off the sprouts, pour some regular Roundup on the cuts, and keep my fingers crossed that it doesn't kill more than I intended.

GardenHo · Post by **GardenHo** » Jul 20, 2006 5:04 pm

Uuugh, we had a large one at our old residence, next door, and I pulled up hundreds of seedlings each year. They'll rapidly get away from you, too, if you miss them, they're very fast growing. We lived there 6 years, it was a mature tree, and I never spotted any suckers, so I'm not sure about that.