Is there any information on the long term value of pre-planting sucker reduction?
On some apple (and peach) rootstocks that arrive from the nursery, I have seen what appear to be cream-colored, corm-like 'nodes' at various locations on the roots themselves as well as the lower portions of the central portion; these all pop off relatively freely when wiggled. I have also seen suckers up to a few inches long as well. Are these nodes the origination points of future sucker growth, or just suckers that are already on their way? Do suckering rootstocks simply sucker from almost anywhere along their buried material, from dormant sucker buds scattered all over? For sucker control over the life of the planting, is there any benefit to manually removing these nodes and growing suckers? Or would that only reduce the suckering for the spring of the planting year? I am planning to plant a lot of heavily-suckering Bud 9 and B.9/MM.111, and if long term benefits of removing these nodes are worth the one-time effort before planting, then I will do the work. The hardest suckers to control are the ones right up next to the trunk, and any permanent sucker reduction would be nice on these heavily suckering rootstocks. I hope someone has done the research and is willing to educate ignorant folk such as I. Grateful in advance, Steven Bibula
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