Are these anything to worry about?

Hi everyone,

I am not a gardener so would appreciate if anyone can identify these and tell me if they are easy to get rid of. They are all over my lawn (yes the brown thing in the picture is my lawn)
I ask because one person has told me they are tree seedlings and just to mow them, and someone else has told me they are suckers, which sounds worrying. I am hoping they can just be weeded out, which apparently you can't do with suckers.

All advice on what they are and how best to deal with them appreciated

 

They do look like possibly suckers, is there a tree near by with similar leaves.

 

Hi Pete, thanks for reply.

Unfortunately my eyesight is not that great

I have added picture that shows trees that overhang my garden. They line a border between peoples back gardens and the South Downs. As you can see there are all different types.

None of these sprouts in my lawn are at that end of the garden near the trees, which I would have thought they would have started at if they were suckers, but they are prominently at the other end so I assumed seeds had been blown or dropped by birds.

If trees not clear enough I can take closer ones if need be

 

They look like tree suckers or might well be new seedlings, but in any case just mow straight over them. If they reappear they can be mowed down each time.
Not many plants will flourish with a regular cut..

 

Thank you Jymi

I was worried by the explanation I was given about suckers (maybe I misunderstood, I'm getting a bit dithery) but was under impression that with suckers the roots could spread below ground level even if I mowed the bits above ground level and they could eventually cause major issues.

 

Only way to tell is to dig one up, if its coming from a larger underground root that is running close to the surface they are suckers.
if it appears to just have its own root system then it will be a seedling.

The reason I suggested suckers is because they look pretty healthy, but the grass looks brown.
I wouldn't expect seedlings to look quite so healthy in that dry ground.

If they are suckers they will reappear if you cut them off, if seedlings they will possibly die.

 

If they are suckers, the received wisdom is to pull them off the main root (easier to pull away from the root) and get the dormant buds that would produce the next lot of suckers. Cutting them increases the problem.

 

Thank you all for your feedback

 

They are silver birch seedlings. If you want a silver birch tree dig one up and pot it up to grow on. Otherwise the advice to mow will get rid of them in due course.

 

I agree with Pete.
They appear to be suckers...maybe coming from a tree that has been cut down
Recommend you dig one up and show us what the roots look like.

 

Must admit i couldn't be sure myself that they were Silver birch seedlings..!
But in that case i certainly wouldn't mow them down.
They grow into such nice trees, that I'd just have to pot them up and grow on either for me or one of the family.

 

Suckers versus seedlings, the controversy continues.
Somebody dig one up.......please

 

I’m not sure this is “solved”, though flagged as so. There are two strands of opinion here.....suckers and seedlings.

 

Who actually puts the solved bit up on the titles?