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Hi Nicholas
I have a lime tree with the very same problem. I strim the soft growth or if I leave it too late I prune or chop the harder growth off.
I definitely would not use Roundup. Although my tree is mature and could probably shrug off the effects of one or two applications of a systemic herbicide I would be confident over the long term: a younger tree may be killed more easily.
One thought might be to use a blow lamp to seal the surface of the kuckles (not tried it myself).
Any herbicide will do damage to the tree, and at autumn time Glyphosate will do alot more damage, as it will be drawn down into the root system as the tree pulls back all its sugars etc for the winter.
I seem to remember reading something about the suckers being promoted by Light, and rare when a linden / lime tree was in woodland due to the shade.
Perhaps mulching if the suckers are coming from root Knuckles?
If their coming from around the base - without killing the tree, you may just have to keep pruning.
Thanks for replies. I did mulch after my mattock prune so maybe that will help . I will abandon any thought of herbicide application, Did wonder what herbicide raspberry growers use to control suckers on their crops
I am having the same problem with a lime tree which we are building a deck around - we've cut them right back and I'm hoping the deck and landscape fabric will create enough shade to inhibit the new sucker growth.
Has anyone heard of Tre-hold sprout inhibitor and whether you can use it in the UK for this?
Thanks
naphthylacetic acid is what is in tre-hold.
In your situation It may make the situation worse.
naphthylacetic acid is an auxin type hormone usually used to control suckering growth but also for rooting of hardwood cuttings. It restores the Apical dominance of a pruned branch or stump where it is applied, by restricting the number of buds which "burst" or grow after the dominant or leader shoot (which had Apical dominance due to higher levels of auxin production at the growing tip). It does this by entering the pruning wound and having the same effect that Natural Auxin would - IE stops growth of side shoots by saying to the plant cells "dominant growing tip is up here, send the food!!!", for want of a better way of putting it.
It is often used in fruit production, eg fewer stronger branches support more fruit than lots of immature weak short branches. It is also used when pruning high value timber and some veteran trees, where a proliferation of small side shoots is undesirable from an aesthetic view point, or from a safty point (Lots of small shoots get big, with weak joins and snap).
Now - applying this to your lime tree would result in the many smaller shoots being replaced by one or two larger, thicker, stronger, more Domminant shoots, which could comfortably hit 1-2 inch dia in a season, and 1-2m long. As opposed to hundreds of small thin 40-50cm shoots.
Think Coppcing or pollarding a tree, then pruning all the excess shoots to be left with one or two dominant ones... they grow fast and think. Not what you want I think?