If you su to root I think that the variable DISPLAY will not be set, while it will be set in the environment of the user which connects via ssh (you can try an
to check it). If that's the case, you should set it to whatever it should be, such as:
Code:
DISPLAY=youmachine:yourscreen
for example
Code:
DISPLAY=192.168.1.1:0
Hope this helps,
Enrico