save broken river birch trunk or not???
jaansu
10 years ago
this last ice storm here in the east caused a large branch to crash off my beautiful river birch. There is a large wound of splintered wood half way up but I don't want to cut below it since the trunk continues up.
Am I safer sacrificing the rest of the trunk above this wound or should I clean up as much of the shattered wood with a chain saw and see if the trunk will survive?
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Comments (18)
Embothrium
10 years agohortster
10 years agoRelated Discussions
cutting back river birch tree to trunks
Comments (19)I know most of these comments are from a while back, but I would love any advice. I have 3 clumps of 3 river birch trees. A landscaper (16 years ago) suggested these (and I didn't argue since I love the bark and look) and planted them about 10 feet from our screened porch and patio on a small hillside. They love it where they are, but in the last few years they have become HUGE. They provide great shade, but the clean-up of the debris they produce is not worth it. My husband and I want to take out at least 1 (there is one in each grouping that is really leaning over our roof and huge) from each clump. Would this be okay? Would we take it down to the stump? Can we cut the others back significantly, too? I would love any and all suggestions except to leave them as is. I am sweeping and picking up tons of small branches off of our patio every single afternoon....See MoreJust planted river birch trees from a 5 gallon pot...
Comments (9)I think it will be very easy to dig up and, especially if you didn't tease the roots out, the rootball should be completely intact. It's kind of a judgment call on how to precede with the rootball. You have two factors working together against you. The first is that, from your description, it sounds as if the tree was potbound. That means that the roots are unlikely to grow out into the surrounding soil (and may even become girdling roots later on) unless they are either spread out or properly prepared. The second factor is that you are planting the tree in the very worst time possible. If you were planting a non-potbound pot-grown tree this time of year, it would probably be perfectly fine. If you were planing a potbound tree, and prepared it correctly, in the middle to late fall, in the winter, or in early spring, it would be fine. The problem arises when the root system needs to be compromised for the future health of the tree but the tree needs all of it's root system intact to survive the stress of transplanting in very hot weather. Is there a chance of being able to take it back where you bought it and get your money back? It sounds like the tree isn't in great shape. Trees should not be potbound when they are sold. If that's not an option, I think you'd probably be best off to try to carefully untangle (tease) the roots out around the rootball surface. Keep as much of the rootball intact as possible to lessen transplant shock, but be sure no roots circle more than about a quarter of the rootball. You may have to cut a few of them to get things straightened out. If you do cut them individually, cut them as they emerge from the rootball before they start to wrap around. The roots will tend to sprout out in the direction of the cut root end. Do what you can to limit the amount of root disturbance while eliminating encircling roots that won't grow out into surrounding soil and may girdle the trunk or the root system as they grow. Once you've got the tree replanted, be sure to mulch the entire planting area correctly (see info in link above) and keep an extremely careful check on soil moisture (see link). Properly maintaining soil moisture is going to be critical the the survival of this tree....See MoreClump River Birch Ground Roots
Comments (7)That root you see is most likely seeking the moisture, which the mulch is holding. Three years ago, I planted three single trunked Heritage river birch trees in an area which sometimes gets flooded to an about 4 inch depth whenever the area experiences frequent rain periods. In the hot humid summers the soil dries out well. The Soil is a silty loam, and when I planted these trees I found that the soil had been hard packed by the frequent yearly flooding. The planting turned out to be a lot of work because of the effort it took to dig that hard of soil. This was especially hard since at the same time I installed 5 "T" stakes for keeping the wind from whipping the young trees and tearing their roots. This is on a vacant, slightly larger than half acre residential lot. That means any watering I give any of the trees I plant on that lot has to be trucked there. For this reason, I have not supplimental watered these riverbirch trees. Still, during the last three years, I have never seen any surface roots, growing from these birch trees, along the surface of the soil. Three years ago I could not find any clumped Heritage birch trees at any of my local nurseries. And many of my local nurseries did not have any birch trees for sale. The nursery owners, at that time, told me that the demand for birch trees had drastically decreased, so it was no longer affordable to stock birch trees. The reason for this decreased customer demand? Several nursery owners told me that customers found out that roots from birch trees they had planted did too much damage to their sidewalks and other concrete structures. Even though no nursery would sell me a 10-15 gallon sized clumped Heritage River birch, I still wanted that tree for this area on my lot where no concrete or asphalt stuctures would ever need to be installed near enough for the roots to damage. That is why, once I found a nursery who had 3 gallon sized potted single trunked Heritage birches for sale, I purchased three of them and planted them in a triangle about 2 feet apart. Since planting, our area has encountered a couple very dry and hot years with drastic sudden drop and rising of temps during those year's winters. We even experienced one winter event where light rain fell off and on for three days in 28-32 degree temps. This created heavy layers of damaging ice on the local trees' branches and even trunks. Many of these trees suffered massive branch failure, and some on some of the trees in the area, their main leader trunks even snapped off. Last winter when I checked my property for ice damage, I found that my Heritage birch trees needed to have a few broken branches pruned away. After pruning they looked quite bare. This years' growing season has turned out to be one of the wettest years I can remember occuring locally. So now those well established birch trees have recovered and look the strongest I have have ever seen them. Even with all the stress my trees have encountered, they still are not showing any signs of growing surface roots. I do not know why. Maybe it could be due to fact that, after the breakdown of the first application of mulch I gave them, I never reapplied any mulch under these birch trees. The only reason I have been able to get away with not continuing to mulch them might be because, growing nearby my birch trees on the neighboring property, there is a multi-trunked pecan tree, which provides afternoon shade for them....See MoreQuestion about multi-trunked River Birches I just bought...
Comments (8)On the tree that you have only 2 trunks left and some new sprouts coming up. It will be interesting to watch and see how well the sprouts develop. Also make certain you do not let your tree become stressed having to endure too dry of soil for any longer than a day. If this were my tree I would wait to be certain that the sprouts remain healthy, and then late near the end of this year's upcoming winter, I would select three of the tree's most agressive sprouts to become the new tree. To do that, in about mid to late Feb. 2010, simply cut off the two older trunks, which would always, otherwise, steal the needed water and soil nutrients from the sprouts. Also remove any other less healthy or thinner sprouts. Then watch the sprouts to see when they begin to leaf out in the then newly emerging Spring. Once the soil has thawed and the leaves have begun to appear, check the soil regularly, and then deeply water whenever the soil feels dry for the first inch down. Even during the Spring rains, do not be fooled by the light or short rains which begin to occur near the end of that rain season. During that time, still keep check of the soil the next day after one of those short or small rain showers. One other thing to keep in mind next Spring, is the need for you to be prepared to protect the newly emerged leaves and the thin sprout trunks from any late freezes which might still occur as late as April 15 or later in your area. Take care of your tree this way this year and for at least the first 3 years after you have pruned off the older trunks and begun growing the new three healthy sprouts to become your tree's three, main leader trunks. Concerning your other tree, I too would like to hear from others, more informed on this matter than me, as to how best is to deal with the dead trunks that are growing branched at one point lower. Last Fall, I planted a single trunked 'Heritage' River birch in the same condition that you described the one of the trunks is growing in your other tree. For mine, I have chosen to cut off the top dead part and let the rest of the tree continue to grow however it likes. This way I am hoping for its roots to become established well enough to begin sending up new sprouts from its then, better established roots, so that I can do with my tree the same thing I advised for you to do with the first tree issues I described above. Still, just like you, I too would like to hear from others if my thoughts on how to handle the dead top of my tree's main leader is correct or not....See Moreken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years agojaansu
10 years agohere is a picture of the whole tree. There is another major branch coming off it below the break. Luckily this trunk is leaning away from the house over open lawn. Nothing would be damaged if it came down. Does this change any of your recommendations?
Is there value in taking it down now beyond if it eventually breaks in another storm? My thoughts were if inaction might lose the entire trunk.
tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
10 years ago
lazy_gardens
10 years agomikebotann
10 years agohortster
10 years ago
whaas_5a
10 years agotsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
10 years agohairmetal4ever
10 years agoToronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
10 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years agorhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
10 years agojaansu
10 years agowhaas_5a
10 years agowisconsitom
10 years ago
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jaansuOriginal Author