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Lopping of birch trees


mint
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To be specific Sweet, Best not . . . [geek]

''Don’t prune birch trees unless there is a very good reason to prune.  When you prune, avoid pruning in late winter or early spring because the sap will bleed.  Absolutely do not prune during the growing season until July because adult female bronze birch borers are attracted to trees with fresh pruning wounds.''

http://www.treesforyou.org/Planting/TreeCare/Healthy/birches.htm

 

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Thanks for the link, JJ.

I don't agree with everything that is said in the article, however.  It's all very well for the American writer to be so withering about people topping their trees (they are older, poorly-educated, ignorant sorts, etc!) but s/he obviously lives in a place where owners have large plots and no trees near their houses.

Obviously, I won't do anything till the depths of winter when there is no tree growth but I am thinking of having the birches and the cherry tree lopped.

Yes, it does feel a cruel thing to do but I see that nearly all the trees in public spaces around us have been pollarded for years. 

This spring, we had our mulberry tree fairly severely cut back and it looked quite beautiful, like a piece of sculpture, and now I am fascinated by the way the leaves seem to be growing straight out of the branches.

I look at it everyday from my kitchen windows and I think it is very beautiful even if it isn't quite in the shape that nature intended.

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 I've seen lots of trees pollarded, we had our own Acer done this year, but I have never seen a birch pollarded, I should imaging it might spoil there shape and they don't recover very well.

According to this it lets in disease which then kills the tree : http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/united-kingdom/8503-pollarding-silver-birch.html

 More info here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/pruning_prunetrees1.shtml

Frankly I'd take it out and start again - what we have done is plant three saplings in a group less than a foot apart, that way the stems look good and as they are so close it reduces the eventual height. http://www.ashridgetrees.co.uk/Silver-Birch-Trees-Betula-pendula

 

 

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Thanks for the info, RH.

I was very interested to hear about your growing 3 saplings in a close group.  Our birches are also in a little group of 3.  So, perhaps they won't grow much taller than their present height.

The mulberry tree looks very healthy so I don't think we have done it any harm.

 

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We have one mature 'multi planting' which we bought at about 10 ft I guess,its now double that, but when we wanted more a few years later they were going to be £300 a group and I wanted three, plus they would need to be imported to Italy ( honestly, a native tree !!!! ) so we decided to try to do it ourselves and we bought saplings which were about 4 - 5 ft, eighteen months on they are now about 7 ft and growning on well, the bark hasn't coloured yet but its early days.

We put short stakes in (as a tree surgeon advised) and they really have taken a battering windwise but come to no harm. Planting them closely does restrict their eventual height.

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