Morello Cherry Roots

[cazp]

Hi All

I was weeding a raised bed I havent grown anything in for a couple of years and came across a woody root which is from a 7 year old Morello growing aginst my fence. The tip of the root was about 3 metres away from the base of the tree.

The morello is kept pruned up to about 6 ft high and about 10 feet wide, the trunk is quite thick though - maybe 4 inches at the base

In reading up on this online it appears cherry roots can travel some distance and have the potential to lift patios and send up suckers. I'm concerned in case it causes problems next door, and how to stop the roots growing up under our raised bed or anywhere else they're not wanted.

I may be over reacting here, but even tempted to remove the tree altogether if this will stop the roots spreading further, and keep on top of any shoots that come up.

Thoughts from fruit tree experts out there appreciated.

Thanks

[Bonjour]

I'm definitely not a fruit tree expert but I can confirm that cherry roots can be very invasive and suckers can be a problem. The piece of land that I use as an "allotment" had a row of old, decrepit sour cherry trees along the top edge of it. The were diseased and unproductive so the landowner and I cut them down. One of them had surrounded itself with offspring grown from root suckers, which we had to dig out. One root had even travelled over twenty-five feet, under a punlic footpath and grown a substantial tree from a sucker in a derelict adjoining property! Now it is an annual task to cut down the multiple suckers that arise from the stumps and surrounding roots.

So, in short, if you're not fussed about the tree, my advice is cut it down and dig out the stump.

[cazp]

Thank you for the advice.

Apart from the root in the raised bed I'm not aware of any damage and can't recall seeing any suckers in the lawn or surrounding borders - so hopefully that's a good sign. There's a block paved area around 20 foot from the tree which thankfully shows absolutely no signs of damage.

I'd really rather not have the worry, so we're sadly going to cut the tree down in the hope the root system doesnt expand further and deal with any suckers if they appear.

[chrisdb]

Is this Morello on Colt? I have one on Colt I've been training as a fan for the last few years, and there's no sign of problems yet. Fingers crossed.

[cazp]

Hi

I think it might be but can't recall. It's a good point, so I've emailed the grower to find out and asked about how vigorous the roots are before deciding what to do with the tree - it would be a real shame to remove it.

[cazp]

Just to update, the tree I have is on a colt rootstock. I contacted the grower who advised that the roots would not normally grow as long as the root I found on my tree, and it may be the case that the tree was looking for moisture. That makes sense to me really as the tree is in a narrow boarder and much the surrounding garden has really poor soil. We've been advised to mulch around the tree and water well to avoid the tree sending out such long roots. We'll keep the tree now and keep it well watered.