Betula pendula/Silver Birch

[BobbyLane]

over two year period from tiny sapling, to flower pot, to the ground again

was given to me as a tiny collected sapling,
i planted it in the flowerpot on top of a piece of flat plastic, it appears to be emedded in the rootball now, so basically just dropped entire root ball in ground, the roots are splaying nicely

 

[Paulpash]

Good documentation - wish I had done that with mine but I hadn't joined any forums then!

They grow quickly so this will speed up the process a lot. Just make sure you prep a branch with lots of foliage to take over at chop time. Keep us posted - they make nice, if unpredictable, Bonsai

 

[BobbyLane]

Good documentation - wish I had done that with mine but I hadn't joined any forums then!

They grow quickly so this will speed up the process a lot. Just make sure you prep a branch with lots of foliage to take over at chop time. Keep us posted - they make nice, if unpredictable, Bonsai

Hi Paul, yeh for sure. im not really certain which way im going just yet....two options, grow it in a true birch form, tall slender trunk, no great emphasis on taper or grow it as more of a broom form with lots of branches to choose from, in that case it could be chopped a little lower, but i would keep the part where the trunk splits in two. will see how it adjusts.

 

[Wilson]

I am always interested to see different birch grown for bonsai. Harry Harrington seems to really have them mastered, a nice thing to see. I have some white birch, and one weeping river birch(nigra). I look forward to seeing how it trunks up for you, I know your plot yields nice results!

 

[Warpig]

@BobbyLane do you get many days over 70°F where you are, and if so do you take any precautions to protect this from the heat? I've read that silver/white/paper birch dont really like it getting over 70 and i got some coming in next spring. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[parhamr]

@BobbyLane do you get many days over 70°F where you are, and if so do you take any precautions to protect this from the heat? I've read that silver/white/paper birch dont really like it getting over 70 and i got some coming in next spring. Any advice would be appreciated.

I have had three European White Birch since 2013. In 2018 they survived a summer of record heat (14 days above 90ºF in July and 30+ days above 90ºF for the whole year). The trees have small pots and carried quite a bit of foliage during the heat.

Mitigating factors: they got afternoon shade, they have decent moss on top of the soil, their roots are colonized by symbiotic mycorrhizae (which retain moisture), and I watered twice a day.

 

[BobbyLane]

@BobbyLane do you get many days over 70°F where you are, and if so do you take any precautions to protect this from the heat? I've read that silver/white/paper birch dont really like it getting over 70 and i got some coming in next spring. Any advice would be appreciated.

ive never taken any precautions to protect trees from heat unless they were visibly wilting.

 

[BobbyLane]

catkins on my birch

 

[BobbyLane]

The base is getting thicker.
Over the summer I chopped it to encourage back budding, not a whole lot happened, there are a couple buds here n there.
I think at some point ill chop to that low branch and let it carry on in the ground...
need to top the soil back up too

 

[BobbyLane]

The nursery owner who gave me the Birch in this thread has this one in the field and a beech beside it, I might get them in the next week or so, but he'll use a mechanical extracter to get them up with good rootballs, the birch would only cost me like £20 quid so definitely worth it, with a substantial, characterful trunk and options to taper off, the beech is on left only the branches are visible

 

[BobbyLane]

Was tempted to dig this up but think ill let it be for now.
I may do the low chop while its in the ground, then let it further fatten up.

 

[BobbyLane]

There's some White bark slowly developing on this one. It could do with some root work in spring. May dig it up and tranfer to training box .
Was chopped last summer

 

[BobbyLane]

I dug this one up and did some rootwork, got it into a training tub. Giving up my plot on the allotment, this was the last of my trees in the beds.

There was quite a clump of roots, I cut off everything growing downwards and was left with a decent flare. Its spent time on a tile before...
It went back on to a tile inside a pot

 

[BobbyLane]

Id like to build this tree in the image of a Birch, they tend to grow tall n slender here, upright, trees with delicate branching. Here's one on my doorstep I see every day


Can't help thinking its a tad long at this point, there is some taper there though and some bones to build a canopy, after some reductions here n there. Thought about cutting the sacrifice branch flush, but there's buds on it, so will incorporate it for now. It could provide some interest...

The tree is beginning to develop the Silvery, White bark, even on the roots...
The trunk is chunky and solid, with movement from the base upwards.

Maybe it could be a leaning tree at some point, I see that too. Moving away from from where the base is heavy on one side.

What you reckon, is there a literati type tree in there? Too long?

I can see how it back buds and take it from there, there is definitely scope to build the canopy lower. Layer off the tree on top even and work with the base....