Removing fruit tree suckers is an important part of pruning your fruit trees. They’re sometimes called watershoots, but in fact, watershoots are something entirely different. Pruning is one of the 5 key fruit tree jobs. Whether you’re pruning in summer or winter (or any other time for that matter), removing suckers is an important part of the job.
What’s a sucker?
Good question! Suckers are shoots growing from below the graft union on your tree. Sometimes they’re growing directly from the roots and coming up through the soil near the trunk of the tree. Most fruit trees have been grafted. This means that shoots from below the graft union are growing from the rootstock, rather than from the variety. Watershoots are something different. Just like suckers they are strong, vertical shoots, but watershoots grow from above the graft and need dealing with differently.
Why should you always remove fruit tree suckers?
There are three very good reasons why you should always remove these shoots from your fruit trees. It’s often better to illustrate these things rather than talk about them. Suckers are pretty common, so we have lots of photos from our orchards to demonstrate what we’re talking about!
Can suckers get as big as the tree?
This is a little plum tree with two suckers coming up from the roots. Notice how they’re pretty much the same diameter as the original tree? In just one year, both suckers have grown taller than the tree. Just imagine, for a minute, what this scenario would look like in another year or two if the suckers were left intact. Within a very short space of time, the original grafted tree would become increasingly difficult to distinguish. In fact, the suckers would likely out-compete the original tree, increasing its chances of dying. If you have a multi-trunked fruit tree in your garden, this is one of the common explanations for how it got there.