Betula pendula

[Ruben Bouwmeester]

Hello too all of you. This is my first post on this forum.

Here is my birch tree.
I collected this tree in spring 2015. Within 2 years it becomes to look like a bonsai.

First step i going too make is putting the branches back up.
Then in spring a im repotting him in a new pot, that i found at gingko in Laarne (Belgium)

Hope you like it, and tell me what you think about the tree and the new pot.







GrZ Ruben

 

[sorce]

Damn!

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce

 

[discusmike]

Very nice example,good luck with it!

 

[Paradox]

Nice start.

 

[Guy Vitale]

Very nice material, but instead of wiring in 'pine' form what about weeping form? Here's what I have done with my purple leaf Birch. They have a soft feminine form which the weeping form helps excentuate.

 

[Ruben Bouwmeester]

Very nice material, but instead of wiring in 'pine' form what about weeping form? Here's what I have done with my purple leaf Birch. They have a soft feminine form which the weeping form helps excentuate.

Yes thats a nice example. The first bifurcation will go slightly up with movement the 2th, 3th etc etc bifurcation wil go more down. Thats the idee.

 

[music~maker]

Very nice material, but instead of wiring in 'pine' form what about weeping form? Here's what I have done with my purple leaf Birch. They have a soft feminine form which the weeping form helps excentuate.

You beat me to it, @Guy Vitale.

While I'm kind of impressed that you turned it into this so quickly, birch definitely don't grow like this in nature. Conifers do because the needles stay on and help collect snow, which weighs down the branches. Deciduous trees have no leaves, so don't show the weight of the snow this way.

I like to grow birch more in the forms they naturally gravitate towards. One, it looks more natural, and two, birch can die back vigorously if it's not happy with how you work a branch. So a form like this that requires very specific placement of very specific branches is pretty risky, since you could easily lose an important branch at the whim of the tree. And birch woods rots, so you're not going to keep it behind as a jin for any length of time.

 

[Guy Vitale]

You beat me to it, @Guy Vitale.

While I'm kind of impressed that you turned it into this so quickly, birch definitely don't grow like this in nature. Conifers do because the needles stay on and help collect snow, which weighs down the branches. Deciduous trees have no leaves, so don't show the weight of the snow this way.

I like to grow birch more in the forms they naturally gravitate towards. One, it looks more natural, and two, birch can die back vigorously if it's not happy with how you work a branch. So a form like this that requires very specific placement of very specific branches is pretty risky, since you could easily lose an important branch at the whim of the tree. And birch woods rots, so you're not going to keep it behind as a jin for any length of time.

Actually if you look closely at the Latin name, betula pendula, the name itself indicates they have some weeping tendencies, though perhaps not as exaggerated as my design, however my design is still very early along in development. I had intended to grow this very tree in a more 'deciduous' style, but it just wasn't working for me. A couple years ago I was sitting in a friends yard and had noticed a purple leaf birch with very nice weeping branches which inspired this redesign. It's currently taller and has more branches that I want for the final design, but I have a huge truck chop that has been very slow to close up.

 

[Ruben Bouwmeester]

I totally agree. Lets see after i wired it again. I know the problem off die back. There's a trick for it.

 

[music~maker]

Actually if you look closely at the Latin name, betula pendula, the name itself indicates they have some weeping tendencies, though perhaps not as exaggerated as my design, however my design is still very early along in development. I had intended to grow this very tree in a more 'deciduous' style, but it just wasn't working for me. A couple years ago I was sitting in a friends yard and had noticed a purple leaf birch with very nice weeping branches which inspired this redesign. It's currently taller and has more branches that I want for the final design, but I have a huge truck chop that has been very slow to close up.

Just to be clear, I was talking about @Ruben Bouwmeester growing his like a pine, not you growing yours in the weeping style. =) I think that weeping style works well for the tree you have.

I totally agree. Lets see after i wired it again. I know the problem off die back. There's a trick for it.

I know exactly two tricks for mitigating the risk of die back. 1) Choose designs that are flexible in what branches are required in case it happens, and 2) Work them very slowly. When I prune mine, I just periodically find a strong branch with 3-4 secondary branches, and I cut back to a location where there are at least 2 branches remaining that can take over. That maximizes the chances of keeping that branch alive. They do back-bud well, so over time that gets them to fill in. I generally don't just cut back to just buds or to just leaves on a branch. It can work, but often doesn't, and I haven't figured out how to reliably tell one way or the other. Except maybe just to cut off the growing tip when there are many other buds and leaves behind to take over. That can definitely work too, but doesn't seem to have much advantage over waiting for branches to form and slowly chasing the foliage back.

Do you know any tricks other than that?

 

[JudyB]

This reminds me more of larch than pine, it's a pleasing form actually even though not a natural one. That's a long way in a short time.

 

[Ruben Bouwmeester]

Just to be clear, I was talking about @Ruben Bouwmeester growing his like a pine, not you growing yours in the weeping style. =) I think that weeping style works well for the tree you have.



I know exactly two tricks for mitigating the risk of die back. 1) Choose designs that are flexible in what branches are required in case it happens, and 2) Work them very slowly. When I prune mine, I just periodically find a strong branch with 3-4 secondary branches, and I cut back to a location where there are at least 2 branches remaining that can take over. That maximizes the chances of keeping that branch alive. They do back-bud well, so over time that gets them to fill in. I generally don't just cut back to just buds or to just leaves on a branch. It can work, but often doesn't, and I haven't figured out how to reliably tell one way or the other. Except maybe just to cut off the growing tip when there are many other buds and leaves behind to take over. That can definitely work too, but doesn't seem to have much advantage over waiting for branches to form and slowly chasing the foliage back.

Do you know any tricks other than that?

Okay, Cutting them in autumn, then you make the choice. It works well with this one.
Its styled by yannick kiggen and patrick vd broek. I think one of the best in europa.
Yannick is coming too me within a couple of weeks.
Where and how much he cuts back and in what stage of the tree, i don't know.

 

[music~maker]

Okay, Cutting them in autumn, then you make the choice. It works well with this one.
Its styled by yannick kiggen and patrick vd broek. I think one of the best in europa.
Yannick is coming too me within a couple of weeks.
Where and how much he cuts back and in what stage of the tree, i don't know.
View attachment 167405

Ah, I think I see where you're going with this now. Do post updates - I'd love to see how you go with this one. If you can get it to fill in like this one, it will be a pretty interesting tree.

Oh yeah, I remembered birch trick # 3, which it seems you already know (you're photo is what reminded me) - when making major cut backs, always cut back to a stump and carve the stump back to the trunk later (I usually leave it until at least a year later). Carving all the way back to the trunk in one go can end up killing the entire trunk (guess how I know this).

I usually do my cuts during the growing season, starting in late winter/early spring. I'll have to do some experimenting with pruning in autumn.

 

[just.wing.it]

Wow! Very nice!

 

[Ruben Bouwmeester]

 

[Guy Vitale]

View attachment 170043

This has a softer, more elegant feel to it, those subtle changes to the tips I feel are more pleasing to the design.

 

[defra]

Nice tree ruben well on its way!

 

[Ruben Bouwmeester]

Loveling that sunshine.

 

[Ruben Bouwmeester]

There's a tree in my kitchen.

 

[defra]

Never heard of a birch sandwich ruben