On Tuesday, May 14, 2019 at 2:06:54 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Tue, 14 May 2019 13:40:26 -0500, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:


I have found that a tree that is not going to do well will often sprout
leaves from the roots.

Yes, the plant's last gasp. The roots are still alive and will try to
stay that way. The best strategy is to let the shoots go for a year,
then prune all back but the best one.

Yep, I'm familiar with that sprouting. If those sprouts are chestnut, I didn't want to dig to verify, disturbing the plants. I thought, the less disturbance, the better, since the trees growth had already been interfered with by the cows.

Related: My grafted satsuma started sprouting from its root stock. An arborist told me not to cut them off, but to break them off by forcing the sucker/sprout downward. By breaking it off this way, you remove the bud, also, preventing further sprouting at that spot. If you simply cut the sucker's stem it will/may continue to sprout via the remaining bud.

Sonny