Help, my 7 yr old birch is too close to my house!

mwinter

Help! Landscapers installed a birch tree (maybe a paper or river birch) about 5 feet from the front corner of my house. 7 years have passed and the tree is taller than the roof of my 2 story home. I have branches that are rubbing up against the house and making "scarry" noises on my 10 yr old's window. The tree is beautiful and I would love to take care of it properly, but I am concerned that it may need to be removed. If I remove many of the branches growing growing toward my house, will the tree be irrepairably damaged? What is the apporpriate time of year to prune the tree (I am in NE KS)? Can I remove one of the 3 main trunks without killing the tree? And again, what time of the year is this removal appropriate? Our landscaping company says that it's not a big deal to do the pruning, but I am not convinced that this is what is best for the tree. Should I remove the tree since it is so close to the house? It is such a pretty tree! Thanks for any wisdom that you can share!

Eric Frei

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mwinter

Here are some pictures of my sadly over grown tree.

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Eric Frei

Gee, that was quick.

Crikey, dang landscapers! Frankly, wrong spot.

It's young and of good vigour/vitality.

You have nothing to lose, prune away, keep cuts on target and as small as you can.

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mwinter

Thanks so much for your advice! Should we have the main trunk that veers left from the ground pruned or should we leave it? I'd like to clear the view to the house, but duely concerned that the tree will look unbalanced. I truely do appreciate the forum that you have here. It has been very useful in weeding through the myriad of varying opinions that seem to be ramant on the internet!

Eric Frei

Well personally I do not like multi-trunked trees like that, well where the trunks are so close to the ground. They can be weaker there and fail there. Prune that trunk off but to a target point even if that means a low branch.

Also plant a replacement tree further away and in years to come you can cull that tree and the new one further away will fill the void. No decent future there for that tree, should have been a shrub in there. You get windows for views and light then people plant trees to shield it all.

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arborjockey

river birch to me is a garbage tree. coverd in ice it'll lay completly on the ground,thaw out and pop up. Iv had them on a 45degree angle over a house and wenched it over with no prob. Cut it down its too close to the house. dont hire anybody just cut it down your in a loosing battle. trees dont back up

dov

I agree with Ekka. Prune this tree back, cut branches away from the house and get rid of the two smaller trunks as much as possible. Plant your own choice of tree a good distance out from the house and take this weed out in a few years.

Landscapers often seem to throw in whatever is cheap and will grow quickly. When landscaping new properties it's worse, as they know that they'll most likely never have to answer to the eventual owners.

ARWadoo

Plant some tree species u like at respectable distance from ur house, when it is established, cut back the problem plant to one single branch, go for its root prunning also to keep it smaller.

Brent Ferris

I wonder whether he cut the trees down, or just trimmed them.
Here in Toronto, a clump birch is deliberately planted -- several trees in one spot for a bit more than just one. GIves wider shade than just one. can be very attractive, typically don't get larger than perhaps 18" dbh with a height of maybe 80 ft. They can be susceptible to ice and wet snow loads -- but Toronto doesn't get a lot of those.
And while the tree was planted too close to the house, several of our trees are planted closer still. Most people rectify the screening problem by removing the lower branches to at least the 30-40 foot level -- creating more lofty trees, getting the shade midday, but also getting morning and late afternoon sun.
And it tolerates several sites, and grows in clay soils. It is good for a lot of windy conditions, and tolerates very cold temperatures. A lot of good pluses.
It would have been better all around if the tree(s) had been planted at least 10 feet from the house.

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ARWadoo

What is the species of the problem birch please.

TreeWorker

Classic example of wrong tree, wrong place...