Silver birch progression

mds_1978

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Hey everyone. I did some wiring on a silver birch a couple of days ago, so I thought I'd post some progression pics. I originally bought it in 2013 as a seedling and just let it grow for several years before trying any kind of work on it.

I've settled on a weeping style, and I'm pretty pleased how it's turning out. I'm on the lookout for a more sympathetically coloured pot, and this season I'll be repotting and improving the planting angle & working on the ramification.

The upper branches got away from me a bit last year and thickened more than I would have liked, so I'm planning to pinch them out pretty quickly and let the lower branches grow out and thicken.

Any critique very welcome.

June 2018
IMG_20180422_163718.jpg

April 2019
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June 2020
DSC_0014.jpg

March 2021
DSC_0032.jpg

June 2021
DSC_0014(1).jpg

2 February 2022
DSC_0002.jpg

4 February 2022
DSC_0024.jpg
 

19Mateo83

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Nice progression on this one and I like the wiring job. Nicely done!
 

Shibui

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The trunk is starting to get mature bark. Love the change from immature to mature bark colors.
What time of year do you prune branches. I've had issues with branches I've pruned dying right back to the trunk. New shoots, usually a whole cluster round the base of the dead branch, grow but it is frustrating to be constantly starting on structure again and again.
 

mds_1978

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Nice progression on this one and I like the wiring job. Nicely done!
Thank you.

The trunk is starting to get mature bark. Love the change from immature to mature bark colors.
What time of year do you prune branches. I've had issues with branches I've pruned dying right back to the trunk. New shoots, usually a whole cluster round the base of the dead branch, grow but it is frustrating to be constantly starting on structure again and again.
I can't remember when I've done major pruning to be honest, but I've read that birch are prone to die back quite badly and that the best time to do large scale pruning in when they are actively growing in spring & summer.

That's one of the reasons I went for a weeping style - if a branch does die off it's not too much work to train another to replace it.
 

AJL

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Lovely tree - youve done a great job on this- but remember Birch are short lived pioneer species !
 

mds_1978

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Thank you everyone for the kind words. This is definitely one of my favourite trees in terms of the progression from very raw material to something I'm quite proud of.

It's due a trim and some wire soon, so I'll post some more photos when I've done that.

Also, does anyone have any tips on getting wounds to heal more quickly? This tree has a couple of large cuts that are slowly getting there, but I'd like to know if there's anything else I can do. I've been scraping the edge of the callouses in spring and then mid summer and then applying cut paste.
 
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