Birch tree question

Discussion in 'Woody Plants' started by Ispied, Jun 11, 2008.

  1. Ispied

    Ispied Active Member

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    Location:
    Burlington, Ontario, Canada
    We have a 5 yr old birch tree, which now seems to look more like a willow tree as in the way the branches are arching out. We have had a hot spell here for about a week or so. We have been watering, but as I understand they are very thirsty trees. I've tried to show it in the photos but it looks worse in reality. The branches look as though they are top heavy.
     

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  2. GRSJr

    GRSJr Active Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    Raleigh, NC
    Is it possible this is a weeping Birch?
     
  3. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Others post on internet with same problem. Yours is in a shadow at time of picture, perhaps there is sometimes some relationship between young birches making thin stems that bend over and being shaded by taller trees. In the wild most birch species are fast-growing trees that pop up in quantity after a disturbance makes and opening in the forest. Not all of those that come up in such dense stands develop properly and live to become full-sized trees. Many, perhaps most will be lost to adversities including perhas producing weak stems that bend over.

    Here when there was a weather event that resulted in ice clinging to branches (not frequent in this climate) birches were among those kinds of trees that were often bent and snapped by this.

    If your clump birch rights itself or you manage to rig up some kind of arrangement to straighten it out for awhile, you will still have in future the problem of the three stems leaning away from one another as they each grow away from the shading cast by the other stems in the clump. Clumps like these only remain upright over time when part of a grove, where there are other birches around them competing for light and causing them all to grow vertically, toward the sun.
     

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