Greengage sending out suckers

[PeshB7]

Hi All,

My neighbour has a very large greengage tree. In the past few years it has been sending out suckers like mad.

I have let one of them grow and it is about 10ft tall now.

Last year only one fruit formed on it and it looks like this year will be the same.

Is it worth keeping this tree for fruit production or not?

Also why do the suckers keep coming up...Im getting a bit tired of chopping them off as they come up from the ground as strong woody stems. Hence they need a bit of effor to pull out.

Thanks.

[coreopsis]

Keep it-once you eat the fruit you'll understand why-sweet and juicy...

[PeshB7]

Thats what I did plan to do..But I read on the forums that because they are suckers from the mother plant they wont produce that much fruit.

[FB.]

Plum trees are notorious for sending up suckers from the rootstock. Cutting them off only causes three to grow where the original one tried - the same effect as cutting the top off a young tree causes it to branch and send out three shoots where the one was removed.
Your best bet would be to dig down to where the suckers join the roots of the mother tree and rip them off in a traumatic way - don't "prune" them with clippers.

Personally, I would not bother encouraging suckers. You just don't know what kind of tree they'll produce.
Will it be large? Prone to disease? Infertile? Delayed cropping? Light cropping? Will the fruit be tasty? (it probably won't produce the same type of fruit as the variety that was grafted).

If you like the fruit that the tree produces, then use some of the suckers and a few pieces of graftwood from the branches, to re-create the tree for yourself.

[PeshB7]

Thanks FB. The single fruit last year tasted really good. I'll see how it gets on.

But getting rid of the rest of those suckers is going to be extremely hard to do. Theres loads of them coming up all over the place.