I arrived home in France today to see my beloved Silver Birch, I have
about a dozen but 2 were very damaged with the weight of snow on their
branches. They are drooping, like a willow, will they recover or will
I need to prune, severely in Spring?

Judith

"Judith in France" wrote in message
...
I arrived home in France today to see my beloved Silver Birch, I have
about a dozen but 2 were very damaged with the weight of snow on their
branches. They are drooping, like a willow, will they recover or will
I need to prune, severely in Spring?

Judith

Best to wait until the spring to see how they recover. All should be
well, but a little tidying up may be required.

Regards,
Emrys Davies.

"Judith in France" wrote in message
...
I arrived home in France today to see my beloved Silver Birch, I have
about a dozen but 2 were very damaged with the weight of snow on their
branches. They are drooping, like a willow, will they recover or will
I need to prune, severely in Spring?

If you do prune do NOT do it in spring but early summer when the sap has
stopped running! Same for maples.
Graham
(in W. Canada where the temperature has been dropping to -30C at night over
the last 10 days or so)

On Dec 23, 5:44*am, "graham" wrote:
"Judith in France" wrote in ...I arrived home in France today to see my beloved Silver Birch, I have
about a dozen but 2 were very damaged with the weight of snow on their
branches. *They are drooping, like a willow, will they recover or will
I need to prune, severely in Spring?

If you do prune do NOT do it in spring but early summer when the sap has
stopped running! *Same for maples.
Graham
(in W. Canada where the temperature has been dropping to -30C at night over
the last 10 days or so)

Thanks everyone all advice gratefully accepted. I will prune in early
Summer. They are 20 years old now and huge things and although we get
snow every year, this is the first time I have seen damage as bad as
this.

Judith

"graham" wrote in message
...

"Judith in France" wrote in message
...
I arrived home in France today to see my beloved Silver Birch, I have
about a dozen but 2 were very damaged with the weight of snow on their
branches. They are drooping, like a willow, will they recover or will
I need to prune, severely in Spring?

If you do prune do NOT do it in spring but early summer when the sap has
stopped running! Same for maples.
Graham
(in W. Canada where the temperature has been dropping to -30C at night
over the last 10 days or so)


Graham, my son has just returned from Calgary, and he said it was -40 there,
his boots froze to the ground.....he was unloading a helicopter at the
time.....

"Judith in France" wrote in message
...
I arrived home in France today to see my beloved Silver Birch, I have
about a dozen but 2 were very damaged with the weight of snow on their
branches. They are drooping, like a willow, will they recover or will
I need to prune, severely in Spring?

Judith

How tall are they Judith? Mine must be older than yours, and they are Tall!

"graham" wrote in message
...
|
| "Judith in France" wrote in message
| ...
| I arrived home in France today to see my beloved Silver Birch, I have
| about a dozen but 2 were very damaged with the weight of snow on their
| branches. They are drooping, like a willow, will they recover or will
| I need to prune, severely in Spring?
|
| If you do prune do NOT do it in spring but early summer when the sap has
| stopped running! Same for maples.
| Graham
| (in W. Canada where the temperature has been dropping to -30C at night
over
| the last 10 days or so)

I recently had a crown reduction done on my silver birch, the tree sugeon
wouldn't even consider doing it untill after the leaves had mostly fallen as
he siad they bleed so badly you really can only prune in the autumn

"Sheila" wrote in message
m...

"graham" wrote in message
...

"Judith in France" wrote in message
...
I arrived home in France today to see my beloved Silver Birch, I have
about a dozen but 2 were very damaged with the weight of snow on their
branches. They are drooping, like a willow, will they recover or will
I need to prune, severely in Spring?

If you do prune do NOT do it in spring but early summer when the sap has
stopped running! Same for maples.
Graham
(in W. Canada where the temperature has been dropping to -30C at night
over the last 10 days or so)


Graham, my son has just returned from Calgary, and he said it was -40
there, his boots froze to the ground.....he was unloading a helicopter at
the time.....
Yes, it has been that cold with the windchill. I have a foot or so of snow
on the roof and at least that on the lawns. I'm fed up with shovelling it
off the driveway. The snow is packed down into ice several inches thick on
the road in front. The main roads are clear (ish) but there are "devil
strips" of packed snow between the lanes.
It has warmed up a bit and is -19C this morning and a high of -15C is
expected today.
We don't have nearly as much snow as eastern Canada where it is much more
humid. Our growing season is short, only about 110 FF days. Whereas Dad
can harvest a cwt of runner beans in Suffolk, I've given up trying even to
growing them - the last lot were killed by a snow storm in the middle of
August!!!!
Graham
In Calgary

"Angela" wrote in message
om...

"graham" wrote in message
...
|
| "Judith in France" wrote in message
|
...
| I arrived home in France today to see my beloved Silver Birch, I have
| about a dozen but 2 were very damaged with the weight of snow on their
| branches. They are drooping, like a willow, will they recover or will
| I need to prune, severely in Spring?
|
| If you do prune do NOT do it in spring but early summer when the sap has
| stopped running! Same for maples.
| Graham
| (in W. Canada where the temperature has been dropping to -30C at night
over
| the last 10 days or so)

I recently had a crown reduction done on my silver birch, the tree sugeon
wouldn't even consider doing it untill after the leaves had mostly fallen
as
he siad they bleed so badly you really can only prune in the autumn

Here in Canada, we prune them, if necessary, in July. I once cut a small
branch off a birch too early and the bleeding was more like a flood!
Graham

In message , Anne Welsh Jackson
writes
Martin wrote:
On Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:06:50 -0800 (PST), Judith in France
wrote:

I arrived home in France today to see my beloved Silver Birch,
I have about a dozen but 2 were very damaged with the weight
of snow on their branches. They are drooping, like a willow,
will they recover or will I need to prune, severely in Spring?

Aren't silver birches native to countries where they get heavy snowfalls?

They're not the longest-lasting of trees. You rarely see "ancient" birches.

I learned that at the country park. There are many dead birches,
either fallen or waiting to fall. On the bright side, they are
excellent hosts for fungi, especially razor-strop and other 'bracket'
fungi.
You can often find Fly Agaric beneath birch trees.

I usually knock the snow off mine, with a broom handle, or somesuch.

I suppose you use a discarded one which can no longer be ridden?
;-)
--
Gordon H
Remove "invalid" to reply

On Dec 23, 2:14*pm, "Angela" wrote:
"graham" wrote in message

...
|
| "Judith in France" wrote in message
....
| I arrived home in France today to see my beloved Silver Birch, I have
| about a dozen but 2 were very damaged with the weight of snow on their
| branches. *They are drooping, like a willow, will they recover or will
| I need to prune, severely in Spring?
|
| If you do prune do NOT do it in spring but early summer when the sap has
| stopped running! *Same for maples.
| Graham
| (in W. Canada where the temperature has been dropping to -30C at night
over
| the last 10 days or so)

I recently had a crown reduction done on my silver birch, the tree sugeon
wouldn't even consider doing it untill after the leaves had mostly fallen as
he siad they bleed so badly you really can only prune in the autumn

Isn't that slightly different from what another poster said? I
thought that perhaps, after reading the posts above, that they were
similar to plum which can only be pruned when the sap is rising?

Judith

On Dec 23, 12:28*pm, "Sheila" wrote:
"Judith in France" wrote in ...

I arrived home in France today to see my beloved Silver Birch, I have
about a dozen but 2 were very damaged with the weight of snow on their
branches. *They are drooping, like a willow, will they recover or will
I need to prune, severely in Spring?

Judith

How tall are they Judith? *Mine must be older than yours, and they are Tall!

I would say 30 metres at a guess. I can now see that there are
several broken branches and the Acacia has snapped branches ruining
the overall shape. I usually prune Acacia in Autumn although I have
been known to do it in Spring as well, could I prune it now, it looks
a fright.

Judith

On Dec 23, 1:49*pm, Martin wrote:
On Tue, 23 Dec 2008 12:28:47 GMT, "Sheila" wrote:

"Judith in France" wrote in message
....
I arrived home in France today to see my beloved Silver Birch, I have
about a dozen but 2 were very damaged with the weight of snow on their
branches. *They are drooping, like a willow, will they recover or will
I need to prune, severely in Spring?

Judith

How tall are they Judith? *Mine must be older than yours, and they are Tall!

The one in a garden behind out house is 25-30 metres tall. It's 40 years old.
--

Martin

I didn't realise you had been in Holland that long Martin.

Judith

graham wrote:
"Judith in France" wrote in message
...
I arrived home in France today to see my beloved Silver Birch, I have
about a dozen but 2 were very damaged with the weight of snow on their
branches. They are drooping, like a willow, will they recover or will
I need to prune, severely in Spring?

If you do prune do NOT do it in spring but early summer when the sap has
stopped running! Same for maples.
Graham
(in W. Canada where the temperature has been dropping to -30C at night over
the last 10 days or so)



"Maples" is too large a group to treat with a single piece of advice,
but generally speaking the best time to prune sugar, silver, red and
Japanese (meaning saccharum, saccharinum, rubrum and palmatum) is early
to late fall, after leaf drop. Of course most maples don't need much
pruning.

We certainly agree that, like birches, pruning in late winter or spring
when the sap is running is the worst thing to do.

Our climate is not the same. I sympathize with -30, but I planted 4
trees yesterday (A. rufinerve 'Sunshine', A. tartaricum ssp ginalla
'Flame', A. pseudoplatanus 'Leat's cottage' and Oxydendrum arboreum).
Meant to get cold tomorrow, though, and we'll probably have a frost at
least here in Normandy.

Best holiday wishes to all urglers!

-E

Judith in France wrote:
On Dec 23, 2:14 pm, "Angela" wrote:
"graham" wrote in message

...
|
| "Judith in France" wrote in message
...
| I arrived home in France today to see my beloved Silver Birch, I have
| about a dozen but 2 were very damaged with the weight of snow on their
| branches. They are drooping, like a willow, will they recover or will
| I need to prune, severely in Spring?
|
| If you do prune do NOT do it in spring but early summer when the sap has
| stopped running! Same for maples.
| Graham
| (in W. Canada where the temperature has been dropping to -30C at night
over
| the last 10 days or so)

I recently had a crown reduction done on my silver birch, the tree sugeon
wouldn't even consider doing it untill after the leaves had mostly fallen as
he siad they bleed so badly you really can only prune in the autumn

Isn't that slightly different from what another poster said? I
thought that perhaps, after reading the posts above, that they were
similar to plum which can only be pruned when the sap is rising?


Hi Judith,

Don't prune in spring, the bleeding will be serious. Autumn or winter
is the time. But I think yours are best left alone, they do spring back
quite a bit.

Cheers for Christmas,

-E