"Bert Byfield" wrote in message
7...
this last year, but now seems especially early to be shedding leaves,

Mine are doing the same thing, in zone 5.

Birch trees can die of old age. Is it over twenty years old?

Mine are only several years old. They are whitespire birch only about 12'
tall. I checked trunk & every branch for those D shaped bb size areas but
found nothing. I'm a little concerned about someone mentioning they are
not for full sun. When planted, the instructions given were to plant in
full sun. Hence they have sun from about 9 am on. No little caterpillers or
bugs on the leaves. I'm spraying with a fungicide to see if that will help?
Any other ideas?

Thank you for your thoughts.

Diane