Live Oak

[vette-kid]

I tried searching and couldn't find what I was looking for, so I apologize if this has been covered already. We have several Live Oaks in/around our yard. The trees themselves are doing great, the problem is they seem to spout little leafy stems all over our flower beds. I cant seem to stop them, round up is not very successful and they pop up at an astounding rate so that I just cant keep up with cutting them back. A weed whacker is the only effective and time efficient method, but obviously is indiscriminant of other plants. Has anyone else dealt with this? Is it possible to keep them from popping up so much without harming the tree I'm a little worried about heavy reliance on chemicals for fear of harming the tree.

Thanks in advance.

 

[roadrunner]

I also have a couple live oaks in my yard and they don't propagate by sprouting suckers from their root system (if I understand you correctly). I just cut down all my Paper Mulberry trees, which have a very invasive root system and they do propagate via suckers from their root system, so that's what I believe you're saying about your live oak.

A Live oak's root system is mostly a tap root that digs itself deep into the ground, so its root system is not very invasive, like other trees. If you are actually seeing the seedling of the live oak, then it's from the acorns it produces. I see them all the time around my tree and I just cut them down.

I'm not sure how they're getting in your garden, unless maybe squirrels are burying them there, they do that to have a future food source when other sources are scarce, but they don't find all the acorns they bury, so some do germinate.

They won't hurt anything, no need to spray any chemicals, most of the time if you just snip it with scissors they will die, or just pull it up.

 

[Chuck]

Here in Texas Live Oaks are everywhere. Some have the saplings come up, some don't. Live Oaks have a widespread root system, sometimes going for hundreds of feet. That is why you see numerous saplings in a small area or numerous trees all together with a huge tree some distance away. They are called motts and they are the main way that the mother tree reproduces. Acorns are second. There is nothing you can do except keep cutting them down. You cannot pull them up as they are attached to underground runners. You cannot poison them because if you do you will poison the mother tree also. You cannot cover with mulch as the saplings will grow right straight up through it for at least 4 ft. I know this because I have an old mulch pile at least 4 feet deep and there are those saplings growing quite happily there. Folks around here cut them as close to soil level as possible and then just keep them mowed.

 

[vette-kid]

Thanks for the replies. Kind of conflicting information here, but what Chuck is saying makes sense and matches with what I am seeing. Ill try to post a picture after I get home just to be sure I am talking about the correct type of tree (I am new to this, trying to learn, but I know there are different types of Live and Laurel Oak that look similar). I did spray some of them a while ago and they are very resistant to spray anyway. One spray did not do it, a week later they were still doing fine. I sprayed them everyday for 3 or 4 days and they finally started to brown. Unfortunately more replaced them about 2 weeks later. No damage noticed to the tree yet and that was a few months back. I didn't do much with the lawn over dec-jan and now I am overrun with them in one area right next to the tree (there would be hundreds to cut).

 

[Chuck]

Thanks for the replies. Kind of conflicting information here, but what Chuck is saying makes sense and matches with what I am seeing. Ill try to post a picture after I get home just to be sure I am talking about the correct type of tree (I am new to this, trying to learn, but I know there are different types of Live and Laurel Oak that look similar). I did spray some of them a while ago and they are very resistant to spray anyway. One spray did not do it, a week later they were still doing fine. I sprayed them everyday for 3 or 4 days and they finally started to brown. Unfortunately more replaced them about 2 weeks later. No damage noticed to the tree yet and that was a few months back. I didn't do much with the lawn over dec-jan and now I am overrun with them in one area right next to the tree (there would be hundreds to cut).

Just to be sure, try to dig one of them up. I'll bet that you will get about 3 inches deep and find the sapling attached to an underground runner.. Follow the runner and you will see that it is not acorns the sapling is sprouting from. There is NOTHING you can do except kill and remove the mother tree and all other oak trees around or just live with cutting the saplings down every few weeks. Maybe you will get lucky and have one of the few oaks that actually reproduce with only acorns.
Please update your profile to let us know where you are located and what your hardiness zone is.

 

[vette-kid]

Sorry about that. Zone 8, NW Florida

 

[roadrunner]

Just to be sure, try to dig one of them up. I'll bet that you will get about 3 inches deep and find the sapling attached to an underground runner.. Follow the runner and you will see that it is not acorns the sapling is sprouting from. There is NOTHING you can do except kill and remove the mother tree and all other oak trees around or just live with cutting the saplings down every few weeks. Maybe you will get lucky and have one of the few oaks that actually reproduce with only acorns.
Please update your profile to let us know where you are located and what your hardiness zone is.

After reading up on Live Oaks, it seems we are both correct; it seems like some variants of Live Oaks do have sprouting sapplings, which this link talks about, but it seems to mostly a Texas thing...but then again who knows... https://www.bartlett.com/resources/Plant-Health-Care-Recommendations-for-Live-Oak-in-Texas.pdf

However, here in my area I've never seen (or heard) that and I know mine are not suckers, because I have gone on sappling-pulling binges (it use to really bug me also) and I've never had a problem pulling one out by its entire root system. And when I dig around in various locations around my live oak I rarely have a problem with roots, other than the little feeder roots that suck up moisture/nutrients. Actually I just dug a trench for a new waterline to my house that goes right by my live oak and I only hit one large Live Oak root, but I hit tons of other roots (big and small) from that Paper Mulberry (I chopped that sucker down ).

I think it's a good idea to see if you can pull them out of the ground, like Chuck says and it would also be a good thing to post some pics.


P.S. I'll count myself lucky that I don't have a live oak variant that sprouts sapplings from its root system


EDIT: Sorry, I meant to quote the OP's post #4, not Chuck's post.

 

[roadrunner]

Ha, Ha, I just read this link and it recommends you get a goat

http://www.plantanswers.com/live_oak_root_sprouts.htm


Excerpt:

Since those root sprouts are growing from the roots of the tree(s) they are under or near, any attempt to kill them with herbicides is going to be detrimental to the health of the mother tree. You can dig them out by grubbing the entire area under the tree, but this is just a very temporary solution as they are going to come back with a vengeance.

So really the answer is that we just have to learn to live with them. How you do this is a personal preference. Some plant Asian Jasmine in the same area because of its similar leaf appearance and periodically cut off the oak sprouts as they grow taller than the ground cover. Some thin out the canopy of the trees, allowing more sunlight to filter down to the ground enabling St. Augustine or Zoysia grass to grow. Then the offending oak sprouts growing in the grass are frequently mowed off. I have also seen them used as a ground cover just by keeping them mowed.

Your next question is going to be “Why are they under some trees and not others?” I do not have an answer to this. Research continues in the attempt to find an answer to this question so maybe someday we will know.

Lastly, I remember a tongue-in-cheek answer given by a noted local horticulturist whose recommended solution was “to get a goat”. This seems to work with deer also if they have access to these sprouts.

 

[vette-kid]

Here are a few pics

 

[Chuck]

Here are a few picsView attachment 17279 View attachment 17280

Try to dig one of them up. Hopefully @roadrunner is correct. If they are from acorns sprouting and are not connected to the tree then you could take care of them by using Ortho Brush B-Gone.

 

[vette-kid]

For the most part, no they don't pull up. Logically that would be a LOT of acorns! I'm not that lucky. Time to get on my hands and knees with the shears I guess.

 

[Chuck]

For the most part, no they don't pull up. Logically that would be a LOT of acorns! I'm not that lucky. Time to get on my hands and knees with the shears I guess.

Dig one up, not pull it up. Even if they were from acorns it would be difficult to pull up one.

 

[vette-kid]

Dig one up, not pull it up. Even if they were from acorns it would be difficult to pull up one.

Ah, I see. I will try that later, thanks.

 

[roadrunner]

Here are a few picsView attachment 17279 View attachment 17280

Wow, that's a lot of saplings! The only time I had that many was when I collected bags of leaves which had tons of acorn in them from a heavy-production year, but usually I have far less.

 

[roadrunner]

BTW, if you don't want to get a goat as suggested in the link I posted in post # 8, that link still had a good recommendation of planting plants that would shade out the saplings. I've used that method for killing off weeds in my yard, especially Bermuda Grass (I use zero sprays in my yard). Just something to consider, here's the link that made that recommendation: http://www.plantanswers.com/live_oak_root_sprouts.htm

Wow, I just can't get over how many saplings you have growing in that little spot