Baby silver birch advice

[Foddy101]

Hi All,

I have come by this young Silver Birch and I was looking for some advice on what steps you would take next.

Should I prune it down, let it grow, wire? I know this all depends on what style I'm looking for in the long run, but some general advice would be great. I've found a lot of information about what to do with trees a bit older than this but not much about very young trees.

Id guess its around 2 years old, seems pretty healthy. Pic below.

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Thanks!!!

[Promethius]

Hi Foddy,

I have a couple of similar birches and am only just starting out myself with this species. I understand from reading around that they can be a bit temperamental and drop branches easily, so perhaps best to focus on the lower parts for now, rather than wiring too early. Also, they appear to bleed heavily if cut back in spring.

Personally, I would leave it in the same pot, fertilise well and let it grow for the rest of the season. Then in autumn / winter I would cut it back (+ seal the wound) at about 2 inches above the fork, to improve taper. It would be ready for a new pot and substrate in early spring. It will grow faster in the ground, if that’s an option.

It might do well for a twin trunk, or you could pick one trunk and remove the other. I understand dieback can be an issue, so be careful not to initially remove the trunk too close to the fork / use cut paste / sterilise your tools first.

There are some great tips around this forum for cut and grow methods in developing stock. As always, it depends on your vision. Please post an update and let us know how it goes!

[KIRKY]

These grow like weeds. Slip pot it into a larger pot make sure to water well as they are very thirsty buggers.
Yes they will lose a branch for no apparent reason which is very frustrating. They dry out very easily this contributes to the branch dyeing. Decide if you are going to keep the second trunk, if you decide you only want one cut it now as you will get a thickening. Water and feed over Spring, less feed during summer unless your using liquid feed then every two to three weeks is fine. Also if you don’t cut it down in size you can find it three to four feet tall by the end of this growing season. They shoot for the sky quickly.
Cheers
Kirky

[shibui]

I would also get this one into a larger pot before summer. That small pot will dry out too quick with such a large tree and the tree will only get bigger through summer. If you do elect to slip pot make sure you tease some roots out of the existing root ball before up potting. Sometimes the roots fail to grow into the new soil because they are used to the old mix and circling the smaller pot.

As you have already mentioned there are many ways to get to a similar result with bonsai.
Many would let trees like this grow as big as possible in order to thicken the trunk quick.
Others will prune regularly to get a much better trunk shape and taper with much smaller wounds to heal up.

I would not wire birch at this stage. Too much danger of marking the trunk while it is growing fast. Pruning seems to give me much more natural bends and shape in the end so I'd go for a combination of prune and grow for young stock like this one.

[Foddy101]

Thanks guys I appreciate the advice