By Irene100
United Kingdom 
I have inherited an eating apple tree with what appears to be a crab apple tree sprouting from the base. It has not had any attention for some years and I would like to encourage the eating apple to be more productive. Should I remove the addittional stems which are quite thick from the base?
Asked from the GoYpedia
apples page
24 Feb, 2012
Previous question
Definitely!. Fruit trees are grafted onto different rootstocks. What you have here is the rootstock growing and it will eventually starve the fruit tree proper. You need to prune off the sucker as close to the point of origin as you can, even if you remove some of the base of the tree. Do it now, as good a time as any.
24 Feb, 2012