Silver birches and wet feet

Gail Pennycuick

Hello. We have a possible problem with our group of 5 silver birches. After several years of drought we have had a lot of water in the last few months, added to by a new house nearby that unloads its excess on us! Our soil is clay-based and the water is just not draining away.
Will we lose our birches as they have been sitting in water for several weeks now?
Is there anything we can do to help them, apart from digging up the yard to put pipes in and probably killing the trees anyway by cutting into their roots?!
(They are all grouped together, about 3 feet apart.)
Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Brent Ferris

Pics would help a lot, but birch do not survive well in flooded conditions - oxygen exchange is too low. In fact there are very few species that will withstand more than 1-2 weeks of inundation of water.

There is an infinitesimally tiny chance if you could bubble oxygen into the upper soil (top 6-10 inches) the trees might pull thru. But this is pure speculation.

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Gail Pennycuick

Hi Treeshaveneeds,

Thanks for your reply. I forgot to mention that (as it's spring here now) there are leaves sprouting on all of the birches at the moment, after several weeks of sitting in water. Does that mean they are doing OK so far, or are they just putting on a last show for me, LOL?
The ground is still squelching when one walks on it.I'll see if we can blow some oxygen into the ground around them.
Cheers.

Jamie Myers

I have seen Birch growing in very wet soil over here. They are a Pioneer spp. Drying out wetlands for other species to colonize