I'm assuming maples don't drop a lot of junk other than in the fall? ===>>> you almost made me cry on that one .. i was laughing so hard .... seed drop in spring.. the dam-ned helicopters ... is a curse worthy of an 8th plague.. not to mention the 8 or 10 billion seedlings ... i suppose it might matter what kind of maple.. but all the generic ones i have dealt with are problematic at best .... maybe if you find a sterile one .... then you said: This patch of yard gets sun from about 10 am to 7pm and it so hot and dry that I have a hard time getting grass to live through the summer. again.. based on those i have dealt with ... most maple will not support vigorous grass under them .... and the pic below shows why.. they are extremely shallow rooted ... and in 20 years or so.. you will be bouncing over those roots with the lawn mower ... it is an understatement to say I HATE MAPLES ... lol.. like most peeps here will testify .. can i have an amen.. lol ... but that is because i garden under trees ... and maples and a few others are the bane of growing just about anything ... now.. whether or not these things will happen in your lifetime.. is the key ... as most of my problems are from mature trees that were on the property when i moved in .... whether you will be there is 20 to 40 years.. when the real problems start .... well that is for you to answer ... my fallback.. in the choice of trees... is ALWAYS oak ... once they get going.. they can grow 3 to 5 feet per year... just under what a maple can do .... and frankly.. no matter what tree you opt for.. there will be a downside ... acorns.. helicopters.. fruit.. nuts .... barren soil underneath .. etc .... so it will all come down to simply your best choice... as i doubt you will ever find the 'perfect' tree ... IMHO ... the key to clay is simply the planting procedure.. allowing them to get established.. and once they do. they are fully capable of putting their roots where they want them ... for the most part ... good luck ken

What cultivar of river birch is your tree? There are some cultivars, like 'Heritage' river birch that grow extremely fast before even the roots can become well established. Such river birch trees generally show signs of needing to be staked when the winds cause the trunks to lean back and forth so far that their tiny feeder roots keep getting torn away. If that is damage which does begin to show on your tree; usually it is first seen by the tree's leaves, then the tree definately will need to be staked. Once the rootball gets better established that kind of damage should not occur, especially if at that time you begin to gradually remove the stakes in a manner which lets your tree's trunks adjust to withstanding such winds. But anyone who attempts to stake such birch trees also should consider that the tree's trunks will need to thicken. To help the trunks accomplish that, just make certain that the way you stake each trunk ensures that they can still blow within a tollerance range which would not put stress on the rootball of the tree.

I am located in Northeastern OK. we are considered to be on the boundry between USDA zones 6b and 7. The first two years these originally planted bareroot 6 foot tall trees experienced severe droughts. The trees are planted in water packed silty loam soil in a low spot on my vacant lot. The water table is pretty high in that area and rain runoff collects on the surface in that area when we have heavy and/or soaking rains. Other than that, I have no piped in or well water access on the lot, so they have had to survive on whatever rains fell. As you can imagine they really stuggled. Earlier this year, they leafed out nicely and seemed to be turning the corner, until the Easter freeze hit; after they had already leafed out. They were not strong enough to handle the hit, and each of their single trunks died back significantly. The trunks were only about two inches thick at the time. Since the green just under the bark was only about 3 feet up after the freeze damage, I cut the trunks of the two worst damaged ones down to just above the root flare. The one in between those two seemed stronger so I only cut it back to about two feet above the ground. Later that middle one's trunk died, but a new trunk grew up out of the tree's rootball. Now my single trunked Birch tree is about 4 feet tall, and I have not pruned away any of the leaf growth to leg it up. For the two other birches, the ones I had cut back to just above the root flare. They turned into clumps and each regrew three healthy and strong growing trunks. Currently those trunks have grown to about 3 feet tall, and both trees look more like a shrub than a tree, since I have not done any leg clean pruning of the leaves on them either. All spring and even now into summer our area has received heavy and frequent rains; along with many overcast sky days. Our area is just south of the tragic flooding events that recently occured in Northern OK and Southern KS. We are also quite a ways north of the tragic flooding which has recently occured in central and southern OK and northern Texas. The point I am trying to make, is that these birch trees for the first time since they have been planted have not been stressed by drought, but they have been growing in 2- 4 inch deep standing water for extended periods this Spring and Summer. Due to the wet year we are having, I expect the trees to grow to at least 6 feet tall again, before they go dormant when I plan to transplant the two. My question? Is it reasonable for me to think I can move these two trees into pots and not kill the remaining one. I want to over winter the ones I transplant to pots that I plan to bury in the ground. Then just prior to them breaking dormancy in the spring I want to replant them into their landscape spots which will have supplimental watering access. As for my original post's intended question: since birch trees have more of a surface growing root pattern, will there be any purpose to root prune the two I want to move? If so, when would be the best time to do that?

Midorit, unfortunately the answers are not super exact. In general with new transplants over the winter if we somehow have a dry week I start fingering their dirt to check on their moisture levels. Your climate may vary so it is best to just check. Think of tree transplant survival in terms of percentages. If you plant 100 just above bare root size and do everything perfectly maybe 95% will make it IF they were handled right at the nursery and IF it is a transplant friendly species. Then go from there based on climate and your ability to keep deer away. We just can't micro-manage the situation to know more for each exact transplant.....I have been watching Star Trek recently, we need tri-corders to see underground!