Recently several Canopy Crew members assessed what needs to be done to give the landscaping in front of the museum/chamber building on Main Street a facelift. Grass has stopped growing under the trees that need a good pruning, resulting in muddy slopes on both sides of the front steps. In the little garden around the sign on the side lawn, the perennials have gone wild, weeds are thriving and a volunteer maple sapling is threatening to take over everything. If the flower bed is to be restored, the sapling has to go.
This is not the only volunteer (trees or plants that spring up spontaneously without being planted by a person), or “weed tree” as they are also known, that needs to go. On my walks around town, I have observed many volunteer saplings growing where they are going to cause problems for gardeners and homeowners. Nearly every yard has them of varying sizes and species. They are not always obvious until some digging and chopping are required to remove them.
One of their favorite places to hide and get a foothold is in large shrubs. If you have a lilac bush or hedge on your property, you probably have a sapling or two hiding out in them. Unfortunately, you may not notice them until they emerge like a submarine’s periscope.
Volunteers can also cause problems when they take root next to a house’s foundation or behind porch or deck lattice work. If they are allowed grow in these places they can eventually cause damage to the foundation and other structures.
(Courtesy of Houlton Canopy Crew)
When cutting back perennials in the fall, you may find they have been sheltering seedlings, also. This is the best time to catch and pull them. They are going to be harder to get rid of the longer they have been there. Snipping them off is only a temporary fix and will actually encourage the growth of sucker branches around the main root, and you will have a shrub within a shrub stealing nutrients and space from the shrub you planted.
You’ve got to get those roots out for a complete eviction. If the volunteer has gotten too big, digging in the middle of a shrub may not be viable. You may have to cut the sapling close to the ground and apply an herbicide to the stump. While the first thought is to reach for Roundup, salt is an environmentally friendly alternative, according to Bob Vila in “How to Kill Tree Roots.” Cut a sapling to the ground and drill a 1-inch hole into it. Fill with salt and some water, but don’t let it overflow, Vila suggested.
If you use herbicide, make sure you are not applying it to a sapling that is a sprout connected to the main tree. Herbicide should only be used on a separate seedling and care taken not to harm the surrounding vegetation.
Prevention requires regular vigilance. Fall and spring are the obvious times to scan your yard for these invaders. Catching baby ones in the spring is an easy eviction, but by fall they are more obvious. If young they can be pulled by hand. Spotting volunteers can be like a game of hide and seek. Get the whole family involved, even neighbors. Offer children and grandchildren a small reward for each one they find.
If you are not sure what you are looking for, use a free app such as Picture This or PlantSnap to identify a plant or sapling. The most obvious will be the same kinds of trees already growing in your yard or nearby. But don’t underestimate Mother Nature. Wind, birds, and squirrels are great planters, too. The obvious invaders in my yard are from the maples in my neighbor’s and my yards and the volunteer box elder that was already well established in my yard when I moved here. Often when weeding my flower beds, however, I come across butternut and occasionally oak seedlings. I know these are “gifts” from the squirrels.
If you find a volunteer growing where you would like a tree, you are blessed. Otherwise, volunteer trees are bad, but volunteer people to find and pull them are good.
These tips and ideas are brought to you by the Houlton Canopy Crew, committed to caring for trees and gardens.
