Saving a flowering Almond Bush

In my new home there is a older almond Bush, very scraggly. Underneath are tons of new stems coming up from the ground. Are these new sprouts, forming new branches , or are they suckers to be torn out? The main Bush only has about 3 main branches, very leggy.

Can you tell IF this is the ornamental flowering Almond, OR the one that gives out the flowers then the fruit / nuts,

As far as I know from when a child and my father grew almonds (my Mum loves the flowers) these shrub's / tree's, don't need any special types of soil other that they like a LIGHT hand forking or rake over the soil to prevent the soil forming a hard skin as this prevents air, moisture and as the soil cracks in hot weather, it allows diseases insects and such getting down into the roots as these are fairly shallow rooted plants.

With shallow roots, sometimes during cultivation around the root area damages, cuts or causes wounds to the roots, this in turn allows the roots to send out new shoots and these shoots weaken the plant. These sucker shoots are very strong and take all the nutrients, moisture ect away from the parent plant and they can cause the plant to die back as the rogue shoots take over.

On saying this, you will have to obviously check the type of Almond you have, maybe by pictures showing leaf, bark ect, I know you said it is an older type of Almond BUT, there are many different types but I feel sure they all require the same treatment, fed and watered after removing the suckers by scraping the soil away gently, tugging on a downwards pull, the suckers should come away, IF you prune by cutting the suckers, this will just add more strength to them, like pruning roses it stimulates the stems to make further side shoots causing further weakness to the parent plant.

On saying all this, PLEASE try find out the type of shrub / tree you have as some fruit / nut bushes do actually give out suckers naturally.

Best regards.
WeeNel.

It is ornamental. I will try to brush away the dirt from these stems, and see if they are really sprouting from some surface roots.Thank you for the info! There is currently another bush sharing the same root area. I'd like to eliminate it if the almond bush would look nice. Currently it is at least giving a "bush" shape to this very straggly looking almond bush. But, maybe if if I eliminate it, it will give the almond bush less competition for nutrients! If they ARE suckers that need to go, and I can't pull them off the way you suggest, can I cut them and "paint" the wound with that tar stuff that you can buy that prevents sprouting?

Lauri, I have never used any of those products that you paint onto a shrub / tree to prevent sprouting, and I wonder IF these actually work OR if they do, make sure to ask IF they will kill off the rest of the shrub, To be honest I have no idea how they work so whatever way you go, better ask any questions first where you purchase these items than watch a plant die and then have to ask questions.
If you take time and have a real look at any suckers you do find, and if they are far to large to pull them away, rather than prune / cut them, try a very sharp craft knife, were gloves and get help to cut Like shaving, go as close to the root as you possibly can, take your time, once you get going with a cutting / slicing action, have someone to help and they can do the SLOW cutting while you do the firm but careful tugging action, taking care as you co, there are products called wound covers and this may help the wound heal better as it will be under ground.
At the point you remove any suckers, always look next year and tug away any smaller ones that come back.
There is a thought from gardeners down the generations that, when you hoe, dig, or use modern mechanical strimmers/ brush cutters, too close to shrubs /young tree's, these make wounds that allow the tender damaged roots to throw up suckers like as if you were starting layered cuttings from the live plant.

I would first of all make sure these are suckers and NOT the way the ornamental plant naturally throws up new growth however I don't think it will be normal, if they were, you would not be pointing out the difference in the growth like leaves, stems etc, natural growth would mature into identical look-a-like as the rest of the plant.

Hope this helps you out a bit.
Best of luck and regards, WeeNel.

Don't use that tar stuff.
a) Keeps the area from healing properly.
b) Traps moisture that can encourage disease organisms.
c) Can overheat in the sun, killing the plant cells that are trying to grow and heal the cut area.

I would dig away the soil and leave the area open so the better air circulation will allow healing, and you can see more sprouts and rub them out by hand before they actually grow into twigs.