Betula Nigra crowned - will it survive?

Jennifer01

Dear All,

Thankyou for your time in reading this. Yesterday an Energex contractor lopped 6 x betula nigra [birches] in my front garden. Their contractor claim they were close to the power lines, but that is precisely the reason we planted those trees - they are tall and skinny and would not grow outwards to invade the lines. When they defoliate in Autumn [in a month or so] it will be really obvious how they have all been cut at different heights of more than a metre.

We will need to get this fixed as this is done to 6 of 12 in a parterre garden. The 6 have been crowned at different heights - I am looking for advice on:
*will this kill them?
*will they grow back?
*if not, how high should we get them all cut to to regain the symmetry in the garden? the ones that are crowned are all different heights also so they will need to also be attended to.
*should these cuts be horizontal or on an angle to ensure they do not encourage disease etc as they are extremely healthy at present?

Thankyou for your time.

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Eric Frei

They're pruning cut was spot on, most tree loppers wouldn't perform that good!

As far as reducing them goes, I cannot answer why they did it.

You can do the same for the rest as they are juvenile and will take it, they will grow upwards and thicken too, so I do not see Energex's pruning as a one off, in a few years they may whack them again.

There's a standard for pruning called AS4373 ....

Have a look at page 16 of the draft.

Australian Standards of Pruning AS4373 2006 draft

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