ForeverRaynning
Mame
I’m going to start this project thread by acknowledging the fact that birch can be a real nightmare. I know this. I’ve seen the threads where wondeful tree’s with experienced owners just up and die, heard the tales of dieback and dropped branches. But I really like birch so I went ahead and bought one.
I love it already. Its about 60cm tall from the top of the pot, with about a 2cm thick trunk (about 2.3-2.5 at the base, 2cm above the third lowest branch, 1.5cm at the top)
My plan was/is to airlayer it into two. The top half has some degree of trunk movement, the bottom is pretty boring but there is nothing wrong with an informal upright!
I’m not aiming for show worthy tree’s, I just want trees that make me happy to look at. I’m realising that that's more important.
Looking at the tree from inside I can almost see the miniature tree within just by taking off the lower branches - however, this is a horribly proportioned minuature tree. So not the path this will be taking.
I’ll admit I have no clue what I’m doing. All I have are a couple unstyled junipers, two seedlings and two airlayers in progress.
We’re at the very tail end of Spring at the moment, would it be unwise to try and air layer now? (I did the other two airlayers a few days ago, but those are landscape shrubs we’re cutting right back anyway so no loss if they fail). Will air layering act like a trunk chop once seperated? Theres only 2-3 branches low down and they’re all on the same side, I’m really hoping it’ll backbud once chopped?
Please no suggestions to chop after that first branch. I know why it’s suggested, to try and build a better trunk, make a smaller sized tree so the trunk thickness looks greater. I know that it's a very valid strategy, maybe even the best one for a good looking tree. I’m just not emotionally prepared to chop by my £45 tree down like that and discard the rest. There were trees closer to £25 that had the same trunk thickness but had been chopped to about half the size this one is, if I planned to chop that low, I’d have bought one of those. Heck I could even air layer this into three if I wanted, just take the top of first, then take another layer lower down. But right now two is my plan.
Encouraging thoughts welcome.
Suggestions appreciated as well, just don’t be too harsh. I’m happy with having amateur-looking trees. Would it be nice to have really impressive trees with thick trunks, wonderful movement and well refined branch structure? Of course, but for now I just want to learn and make things that I’m happy with. Even if they don’t look like much.
I love it already. Its about 60cm tall from the top of the pot, with about a 2cm thick trunk (about 2.3-2.5 at the base, 2cm above the third lowest branch, 1.5cm at the top)
My plan was/is to airlayer it into two. The top half has some degree of trunk movement, the bottom is pretty boring but there is nothing wrong with an informal upright!
I’m not aiming for show worthy tree’s, I just want trees that make me happy to look at. I’m realising that that's more important.
Looking at the tree from inside I can almost see the miniature tree within just by taking off the lower branches - however, this is a horribly proportioned minuature tree. So not the path this will be taking.
I’ll admit I have no clue what I’m doing. All I have are a couple unstyled junipers, two seedlings and two airlayers in progress.
We’re at the very tail end of Spring at the moment, would it be unwise to try and air layer now? (I did the other two airlayers a few days ago, but those are landscape shrubs we’re cutting right back anyway so no loss if they fail). Will air layering act like a trunk chop once seperated? Theres only 2-3 branches low down and they’re all on the same side, I’m really hoping it’ll backbud once chopped?
Please no suggestions to chop after that first branch. I know why it’s suggested, to try and build a better trunk, make a smaller sized tree so the trunk thickness looks greater. I know that it's a very valid strategy, maybe even the best one for a good looking tree. I’m just not emotionally prepared to chop by my £45 tree down like that and discard the rest. There were trees closer to £25 that had the same trunk thickness but had been chopped to about half the size this one is, if I planned to chop that low, I’d have bought one of those. Heck I could even air layer this into three if I wanted, just take the top of first, then take another layer lower down. But right now two is my plan.
Encouraging thoughts welcome.
Suggestions appreciated as well, just don’t be too harsh. I’m happy with having amateur-looking trees. Would it be nice to have really impressive trees with thick trunks, wonderful movement and well refined branch structure? Of course, but for now I just want to learn and make things that I’m happy with. Even if they don’t look like much.
