silver birches

Clarey

Hi! My first post on this great-looking forum

I have 2 silver birch trees, planted about 1.5 m from each other. I live in Melbourne and we experienced one of the worst summers last year. I kept water up to the birches, using buckets of excess shower water. They seemed to have coped.
this year we have had wonderful spring rains, yet I think my birches are looking a little sad. They have all come out in leaf, yet it seems to be more sparce than usual. Whilst not very bare, they are definitely not as full of leaf as they normally would be.

Has last summer's drought caused permanent damage? I would have thought that being deciduous trees and having being dormant for winter, awakening to such persistent and good rains, that they would have recovered?

I have fertilized with dynamic lifter and mulched all around them........will they return to normal?

I love my birches and would hate to lose them

Eric Frei

Maybe read this thread from another person in Victoria.

Sick/Stressed silver birch tree

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Clarey

Uh oh! Doesn't sound good..........cannot imagine taking a chain saw to my birches..............

I shall continue to provide lots of water and lots of TLC and keep my fingers crossed.
Thanks though (I think)

jmcg.insight.gardens

Hi Clarey, whilst its true that there have been many deaths due to the drought in the species Betula ( Birch) don,t give up on them just yet. The two main requirements for these trees is reliably moist soil and good drainage as they naturally grow on gravelly soil along river-beds. A common problem with the soil at the moment is that although we are getting rain the soil has become hydrophobic ( it is repelling water). What type of soil do you have? If its clayey I suggest you use a clay breaker such as gypsum, if its sandy lots of compost,either way lots of compost and mulch to the outer drip line is always beneficial. Be careful not to make it too thick so that it allows the rain through. Make sure that it is clear of the trunk so that there is good air circulation to prevent any trunk problems. The other thing I would highly recommend is that you purchase a soil wetter, this usually comes in a powdered form, it can be bought at any plant nursery, apply this to the outer drip line, including the mulch as this can also become water repellent. When you water do so with one good deep soak if possible with a soaker hose, this will be much more beneficial than buckets of water. Seasol is another product that has shown benefits to stressed plants, apply as a weak tea solution to the outer drip line. Betula species do not like to share their root zones with lawn, over the years I,ve always observed lawn specimens struggling, perhaps if there is lawn around them I would remove as much of the grass away from their root zone as you can. Perhaps this might be some help, if they have thrown new leaf they might come good yet. If you love them it might be worth the effort. Hope this helps. Julie, Insight Gardens

Farawaytree

Welcome Clarey!
A grove of Birches is a pretty sight. Even 1 or 2 in a garden setting is pleasing on the eyes.
I live and work in Sth Gippy and could show you some lovely examples of Birches. We do get good rainfall here. 800-900ml annually. Dont know about the lawn thing because I know of 2 places where groves are growing in lawn settings? but they are 3mt apart of each other in a random setting? They are full and weeping in habit and look beautiful. Another Client of mine has 3 birches and one does poorly and I think it is because it is too close to one of the others. It is spindly and smaller. They were all planted at the same time? Then again there is always quality of rootstock to contend with?
Julie has some good tips, I think. I would perhaps add that you try deeply forking the ground around your Birches about 1/2 mtr away from trunk to 1mtr out. Try a mulch to consist of 50% Mushroom compost and 50% river gravel mixed together thoroughly then applied just out from base of tree to 1mtr out, 10cm thick. A bale of pea straw added thickly now over that, should start to rot and retain moisture by Summer when you water. Make sure pea straw is well away from the trunks. You can always remove the pea straw after summer has passed. The rain has been good, but seasonally it is late and too cold (Oct) after some things had started spring growth, so they got knocked back a bit.
I'm all for saving tree's where we can.
Hope your Birches fare well. Let us know.
Farawaytree.

Clarey

Hi Faraway Tree and Insight.gardens

Thanks you both so much - invaluable advice! I was very excited this morning to read your replies.

I have already put easy wetta down, and mulch, but my soil does tend to be clay so I'm going to lift the mulch, put down clay breaker and some mushroom compost, then replace the mulch and add more easy wetta.

If that doesn't keep them happy, then I will be surprised. I like the idea of the drip system too - I'm onto that soon!

Many thanks - do you think that they will come right again in future seasons (all being well with weather etc)?

Farawaytree

Glad to help Clarey.
This forum is a well of gold and silver.... Birches.
My protocol is always to work to save trees/shrubs etc.
While it's alive, there's hope.
Even when it "looks" dead, it can resurrect!!
So you wait until you know for sure it is dead.
There are situations were you may cut your losses and plant a new one,
if it is struggling. Specially with fruit tree's.
Keep on nurturing your Birches for awhile yet.
I personally think 1.5m for birch spacing is a bit close, based on the good specimens I see growing. You can always plant another one with a 3mt spacing later if you want, if your not happy with your smaller one.
You could buy an advanced tree if you wanted the height.
All the best with your Birches.
Farawaytree