AusBonsai

So I got this Contorted Hazel/Corylus avellana 'Contorta' from a nursery a year ago. Repotted it this spring.
(Ignore the unsightly wire and glass ball.)
When I dug down below the soil line it turned out to be a graft (common with the species) but offered a better trunk taper... I ultimately decided to chop it back hard and restart the branching. It's now got three mains going and some budding. I'll cut back to two leaf-pairs on each of them when spring comes. My plan is to go for an "ugly look", sort of like a troll of a tree. Scars, bumps and whatnot and then the tentacle-like branches on top.
I have to keep cutting off the straight growth from the root-stock Anyone know if you can burn them to make them stay away?

Suckers from rootstock is a perennial problem with many species that sucker easily. Hazelnut suckers really well so I doubt you will ever be able to stop them.
It does seem to help if you can break off the suckers rather than cutting. When you cut you leave the base of the sucker which has many dormant buds. Tearing them off can remove the base and those buds. Pulling them off really early is so much easier and also seems to reduce regrowth so rub them off with a fingertip as soon as you see the tiny mounds starting to grow.
I haven't tried burning buds off but it may just work. I would try something like a soldering iron and hold it on any new buds for a few seconds to try to cauterize the growing tip.

Olives seem to be another species with similar budding tendency. They need the buds rubbed or pruned off the trunk and roots 4 or 5 times a year.

Cheers, I'll keep on top of them and try soldering when the time comes.