I have a serissa foetida, and at the base there are new roots springing up all over the place. Will these new roots take nutrients from the larger tree and cause it to be deficient?

andy.b145 wrote: I have a serissa foetida, and at the base there are new roots springing up all over the place. Will these new roots take nutrients from the larger tree and cause it to be deficient?

Serissas are very eager to sending out suckers from the base. Those should be pruned immediately.
They also tend to have some surface roots from the lower trunk. I keep them, as they give a more mature look to the tree.
By the way, I hate Serissas. Fussy creatures, and they stink when pruned.

roots or shoots?
Roots go searching for nutrients

andy.b145 wrote: new roots springing up all over the place.

Leatherback is right. Roots go down, not up.

leatherback wrote: roots or shoots?
Roots go searching for nutrients

My guess is they are suckers, very common on Serissas, LB.