Pruning River BIrch

13 years ago

Hello, we planted 4 different River Birch clumps last summer and this year as the leaves came in it was obvious there was something wrong. On 3 of trees most of the ancillary branches coming off the the main branches never got any leaves. Instead they just grew new branches. At this point I'm just wondering what I should do? Should I prune off all of the ancillary branches that don't have any leaves at this point? And as far as the main branches. If should I prune them back at all, Down to where to this years growth starts? Any guidance you can provide on this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much for your time! This is our 1st house and consequently our 1st experience with taking care of our own trees. We are definitely trying to learn as much as we can from online communities and Youtube right now : )

*Edit* Please excuse the lawn, we are working on that too : )

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Comments (3)

nurseryman33
13 years ago
At least with this one, you may want to consider cutting it to the ground and letting it sprout back up from the roots.If the roots have any life left in them they will send up some shoots and then in a year or so you can thin out the ones you don't want.
jjlee138
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks for taking the time to reply, it's obviously not what we "wanted to hear", but we'll do what we have to. If it's that bad me honestly may just pull it out and put another one in and see hope for better results next time. Several of the others especially on the other side of the house look much better.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
13 years ago
i am glad you found a place to learn ...

first.. lets ignore this one for a moment ... and look at the one behind ... NEXT TO THE A/C ... that one needs to be moved.. when the leaves fall off this fall ... NEVER plant a deciduous tree over an a/c ,,,

also ... i will presume the a/c is within a couple feet of the house ... and the next rule.. is never plant a tree that close to the house.. think of it this way ... will the tree be happy.. when it is 40 feet tall ... or is it going to be leaning away from the house..scratching the siding.. interfering with house maintenance.. etc ...

those trees should be a min.. 20 feet from the house ...

next... go buy a GOOD pair of hand shears ... and simply cut all the dead stuff off the first one ... and see how it grows this summer ... at this point.. no need to hack it to the ground .... you might be surprised how good it looks.. after your remove the dead stuff ... that is irritating you ...

there is no instant gratification with trees.. they live decades.. if they look a bit poor the year after transplant.. it really isnt going to mean anything in 20;.. 30 ..40 ... years ...

you have to go a bit zen on them.. and just be happy they lived thru their first winter ... and protect them their first summer with PROPER watering...

and thru pruning.. we will get them into shape ...

ken

ps: the grass indicates you need to learn about watering.. including the difference between watering grass.. which is all surface.. and watering transpalnted trees.. which is a much deeper.. less frequent watering method ... refer to the link for a general overview ....

Here is a link that might be useful: link