Die-back and dead branches on mature silver birch trees

Hi. My Father's house has nine mature silver birch trees in the front garden. We had around 1/3 of the height taken out of these trees a while back. I am pretty sure they were pruned very late in the year. Seven of the trees seem fine, and have plenty of new growth, however two don't look so clever. I assumed they were both dead, but one of them does have new growth this year, but only on one branch. There is no growth on any other branches. How do I find out if the other branches are dead? They are not big enough to cause damage if they fall off, but should I remove them? Can silver birch grow new branches? As for the second tree, there is no growth on this whatsoever, and it appears, to all intents and purposes, to be dead. How do I make sure? I can reach the lower branches, and when I scratch the surface it is not green underneath, and snaps like dead wood. I would like to save both trees if I can as they are both on one side of the garden, so it will be quite lop-sided if we remove them. Thanks in advance, and sorry for asking so much in one go!

 

I used to look after a fishery that had hundreds of silver birch round it; they aren't a particularly long lived tree (on sandy soil), perhaps 25-35 years from experience.

Once their branches start dying and growth is restricted to the main trunk and just a few branches it could be a sign that the end is near.

We had some trees that ended up with just leaves and new growth coming from the main trunk and they shed all their main branches; they looked like they were trying to recover but inevitably died within a 2/3 years.

If you have scraped back bark on small branches/shoots and found nothing green then they will be dead.

If the tree isn't dying and has just had a problem that it can recover from then silver birch can regrow branches, we've coppiced and pollarded many over the years for various reasons and they've always regrown.

I'm no tree expert and just giving you a bit of info from experience, no doubt someone with more proffesional advice should pop on here soon.

Hope this helps a little..

Good Luck

 

Hi skodaseven

I'm afraid that silver birches do not take well to being topped at all, and topping is seen as bad tree care practice as it provides only a short term solution to a long term problem. Copious amounts of regrowth on a tree is not a sign that the tree is doing well; in fact it's a sign that the tree is responding to being stressed. I assume all the regrowth is from the topped area of the tree that was cut? This means that the branches will be weakly attached to an area that will begin to decay and fail.

If there are branches that are brown, brittle and look dead then it is safe to assume they are dead. If a tree is pruned hard and it is stressed by being unable to photosynthesize and produce food, then it will withdraw its energy reserves into itself to try and save its life. (This means that energy is pulled in away from non-functioning branches, i.e. branches that have no use to the tree.)

My advice to you would be the same I give to my customers who want silver birches topped; Remove and replant with a more suitable species. You'll save yourself a lot of hassle in the future.

 

Hi. Thanks very much for your help. The new growth on most of the trees is all over, ie new buds like every spring. The one tree that looks like it's struggling but not totally dead has new growth like this on just one branch. The other branches all seem dead. I accept they are probably not ideal trees at all, though they were planted by my Granddad and I am quite attached to them for sentimental reasons so if I can save them it would be nice. Would it help if I removed the dead branches? Also, is there a way to tell if the tree with no growth at all is dead? Someone has told me the tree itself is probably still alive, but the branches have died. I don't want to make things worse by lopping branches off, though. The other 7 trees all look to be in rude health with lots of greenery all over them now. Thanks again. Regards,Tony.

 

Hi Tony,

Would it be possible for you to post a few photos of the trees so as we can best determine what action to take?

Pruning off the dead branches would be a good way to reveal how much life you've actually got left in the tree. Make sure you follow good tree pruning practice by cutting branches back to suitable growing points and not damaging the vital branch collar (although I suspect, from what you've said so far, that this has already been done!)

If a tree looks dead and has no leaves, buds or extension growth then it's pretty safe to assume it's truly gone with no hope of returning.

 

Hi. Yes, I will take some photos over the next few days and if I can figure out how, I will add them to my original post! One of the trees does look pretty dead to me, but maybe the other, with growth on just one branch could be salvaged. Thanks again. Tony.

 

Hi again. I have taken 7 photographs and put them in an album on here, entitled: Silver Birch with dieback. Hopefully you can find them OK, I'm not very good with forums! They can possibly be located from my user name. If you can't find them please let me know. Thanks in advance. Regards, Tony.

 

Pictures now posted in the album 'silver birch with dieback'. Thanks for all your help. Regards, Tony.

 

Hi Tony,

Well the pictures show an absolute disregard for arboricultural best practice and sensitive tree management. However, if you or your father actually requested the work to be carried out to those specifications, then whoever you got in to do the work was presumably only following orders. If the trees were solely cut that way by whoever you got in, then they need to get up to date with what is good current tree care practice and advise the customer accordingly.

Anyway; in my professional opinion (and not in the opinions expressed by Gardener's Corner or its members) the trees are all knackered in the short, medium and long term. Any regrowth attached to those stumps will be weakly connected and prone to failure. The wounds and stumps will be a pathogenic stomping ground for all sorts of wood-decaying organisms. On top of it all (pardon the pun), the trees all look terrible and have lost all of their aesthetic value.

Personally, I wouldn't hold out much hope for them in the long run.

 

I worked for HM Forestry Commission in the 1950's, we were told not to cut or break any twigs or branches on Silver Birch as they could "Bleed" to death.

On the subject of cutting trees, a very large Ash Tree (several trunks from suckers) has just been cut right back near me. There are now no branches with leaves on. I am expecting the tree to die as it will not get enough nourishment this year without any leaves. Apparently it was done by a "Tree Surgeon"

 

Yes, I thought that might be the case. The guy that cut them was asked to take about 1/3 off the height, maninly due to constant complaints from a neighbour, so I can't really blame him. I think my Dad may have had some branches removed prior to that, too. He's no longer with us, so I'm not totally sure. I will probably cut the two worst ones down myself and just leave the rest and see how they get on. You are right they don't look good aesthetically, but to be honest my main concern is keeping costs down. Thanks for you help. Regards, Tony.