Betula pendula/Silver Birch

[BobbyLane]

over two year period from tiny sapling, to flower pot, to the ground again

was given to me as a tiny collected sapling,
i planted it in the flowerpot on top of a piece of flat plastic, it appears to be emedded in the rootball now, so basically just dropped entire root ball in ground, the roots are splaying nicely

 

[Paulpash]

Good documentation - wish I had done that with mine but I hadn't joined any forums then!

They grow quickly so this will speed up the process a lot. Just make sure you prep a branch with lots of foliage to take over at chop time. Keep us posted - they make nice, if unpredictable, Bonsai

 

[BobbyLane]

Good documentation - wish I had done that with mine but I hadn't joined any forums then!

They grow quickly so this will speed up the process a lot. Just make sure you prep a branch with lots of foliage to take over at chop time. Keep us posted - they make nice, if unpredictable, Bonsai

Hi Paul, yeh for sure. im not really certain which way im going just yet....two options, grow it in a true birch form, tall slender trunk, no great emphasis on taper or grow it as more of a broom form with lots of branches to choose from, in that case it could be chopped a little lower, but i would keep the part where the trunk splits in two. will see how it adjusts.

 

[Wilson]

I am always interested to see different birch grown for bonsai. Harry Harrington seems to really have them mastered, a nice thing to see. I have some white birch, and one weeping river birch(nigra). I look forward to seeing how it trunks up for you, I know your plot yields nice results!

 

[Warpig]

@BobbyLane do you get many days over 70°F where you are, and if so do you take any precautions to protect this from the heat? I've read that silver/white/paper birch dont really like it getting over 70 and i got some coming in next spring. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[parhamr]

@BobbyLane do you get many days over 70°F where you are, and if so do you take any precautions to protect this from the heat? I've read that silver/white/paper birch dont really like it getting over 70 and i got some coming in next spring. Any advice would be appreciated.

I have had three European White Birch since 2013. In 2018 they survived a summer of record heat (14 days above 90ºF in July and 30+ days above 90ºF for the whole year). The trees have small pots and carried quite a bit of foliage during the heat.

Mitigating factors: they got afternoon shade, they have decent moss on top of the soil, their roots are colonized by symbiotic mycorrhizae (which retain moisture), and I watered twice a day.

 

[BobbyLane]

@BobbyLane do you get many days over 70°F where you are, and if so do you take any precautions to protect this from the heat? I've read that silver/white/paper birch dont really like it getting over 70 and i got some coming in next spring. Any advice would be appreciated.

ive never taken any precautions to protect trees from heat unless they were visibly wilting.

 

[BobbyLane]

catkins on my birch

 

[BobbyLane]

The base is getting thicker.
Over the summer I chopped it to encourage back budding, not a whole lot happened, there are a couple buds here n there.
I think at some point ill chop to that low branch and let it carry on in the ground...
need to top the soil back up too

 

[BobbyLane]

The nursery owner who gave me the Birch in this thread has this one in the field and a beech beside it, I might get them in the next week or so, but he'll use a mechanical extracter to get them up with good rootballs, the birch would only cost me like £20 quid so definitely worth it, with a substantial, characterful trunk and options to taper off, the beech is on left only the branches are visible

 

[BobbyLane]

Was tempted to dig this up but think ill let it be for now.
I may do the low chop while its in the ground, then let it further fatten up.