My beautiful Silver Birch was topped by an eejit "expert" last year. Will it recover?

hatrickpatrick

I was given a beautiful tree when I was 13, and it's been growing in the back garden of my family's house since 2003. I'm pretty sure it's a silver birch, although somebody might correct me on this after seeing the photographs.

Anyway it was big, bushy and tall - in my view it didn't need any help at all, it was doing fine - but I came home at one point last summer after not having seen it for a few weeks and discovered, to my abject horror, that somebody had basically cut it flat. By this I mean that they simply cut most of the upper branches in half, or essentially took a saw and just made a cut right through all of the branches at the same height, leaving me with only the trunk, and the halves of the branches which came directly off the trunk, all stubbed at the same height.

Apparently my mum was getting some gardening done, and the guy she hired to help with some pruning of rose bushes and other plants told her that this would be a massive aid to my tree's growth, for a bit of extra cash of course. I have since learned that this is essentially complete bull****, and that it is known as "topping" - considered one of the worst pruning practices there is.

Anyway it's now the summer a year later, and thankfully I can tell you that the tree isn't dead. From the broken stems of the old branches, several new, green and fresh branches have emerged, and have sprouted hundreds of leaves. So the tree is very much alive.

*However*. The branches which are seeing the most growth are those which come out from the trunk at an angle and lean more sideways and towards the ground. The main trunk - comprising the upper part of the tree - has far fewer new shoots and far fewer leaves.

I'm a little worried that this will mean that the tree will now grow sideways, but not recover its original height.

Take a look at the photos below. Am I right to be worried, and if so, what if anything can I do to help this tree recover from the damage that this idiot with a chainsaw did to it? Apart from training our dog to rip the leg off anyone other than me who goes anywhere near it in future with anything sharp?

(My mum still insists that this guy was top notch and that the mangled state of the tree is just a temporary transition before the glory days. I won't even get into that.)


Note that it's very difficult to get proper photographs of the problem because there's a very similar tree growing in the garden directly behind ours, and there are several adjacent plants which have their leaves and vines intertwined all over the place - the tree in the other garden, un-topped, is the tall tree with very thin branches which you can see in the background, and is behind mine. But you can see the stumps of the main branches on my tree, all of which were cut from my own tree, and I think you can also see that the growth of new leaves and shoots is occurring far more on the front, angled / leaning split of the trunk rather than the main, upward branch piece which has a smattering of leaves, but hardly anything compared with the angled offshoot.

http://i.imgur.com/6TJ6hq4.jpg

In this picture, you can see that the main branch stubs aren't regrowing anything at all, and the mass of leaves which have regrown are all growing sideways out from lower branches rather than upwards:

http://i.imgur.com/sUWShfj.jpg

This picture is taken from sideways. See the way the one big branch which comes out from the base at a sideways angle has a bunch of new leaves growing on it, but the upright section, where you can see the stubs of topped branches, has barely any new growth? (angled branch is to the left, bare stubs of the former main trunk are to the right)

http://i.imgur.com/uG3iUzT.jpg

This next photo is what used to be the main upright trunk, you can see the stubs and how it's almost completely bare. Ignore the branches and leaves in the background - they're from the similar tree in the next door garden.

http://i.imgur.com/FXtohHL.jpg

I will attempt to get some better photographs tomorrow when it's forecast to be less sunny in the early part of the day, and it should be easier to get a filter which can distinguish my tree from all the other stuff growing there.

Essentially, is this tree ****ed or is there something I can do? I'm already putting compost around it and watering it daily to try and give it all the nutrients it needs to regrow as much as it can. I realise it'll probably take a couple of years before it recovers, to be honest I'm pretty devastated that this happened but I fear by the time anyone else accepts that this "genius" did **not** know what he was doing, it'll be far too late to file any kind of lawsuit. So I'm concentrating on trying to find out if it can have more glory days ahead of it instead.

_Brian

It won't die, but equally it will never look quite right either.
House close to me cut a row of these about ten years ago, similar to yours. They all survived but I pass them every day and they aren't the way they should be.

hatrickpatrick

_Brian wrote: »

It won't die, but equally it will never look quite right either.
House close to me cut a row of these about ten years ago, similar to yours. They all survived but I pass them every day and they aren't the way they should be.

I had a feeling. But I'd like to do whatever I can to help it recover.

Is there anything I can do to encourage even regrowth, rather than having it biased towards the side and ignoring what used to be the main trunk as it is now? There is some leaf growth there so it's not like it's a dead area, it's just that the tree seems to be pumping all of its resources into the lower, angled branch. I'm experimenting at the moment with watering on the deader side more often than the one that's doing well, as well as throwing extra compost on the side I'm trying to boost, but I'm pretty sure trees don't work that way

macraignil

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

I had a feeling. But I'd like to do whatever I can to help it recover.

Is there anything I can do to encourage even regrowth, rather than having it biased towards the side and ignoring what used to be the main trunk as it is now? There is some leaf growth there so it's not like it's a dead area, it's just that the tree seems to be pumping all of its resources into the lower, angled branch. I'm experimenting at the moment with watering on the deader side more often than the one that's doing well, as well as throwing extra compost on the side I'm trying to boost, but I'm pretty sure trees don't work that way

Extra watering can promote fungal growth in some situations and if your tree has already had parts chopped off, it should have enough roots to meet its water needs naturally. Don't over-water.

I regularly pass a silver birch in a car park landscaping planting that has been topped at some stage in the past and now looks well even if it is a bit shorter than it should be. The normal advice I have heard to stop silver birch getting too high is just to cut the main stem at a suitable height. I guess this can allow the shape to return to something reasonably natural looking. The photos you show look like your expert has cut evenly across a number of stems and thus left awkward looking stumps high up. For deciduous trees you will need to wait until winter to prune safely but you may be able to improve the shape over time by cutting off more of the branches that are not regrowing as you would like.

If you really like the tree you should call a few gardeners, landscapers or tree surgeons in your area and ask them if they have experience with repairing badly pruned trees. I can't see the shape of the tree fully in the photos but it does look like it has an awkward division of the trunk low down that is producing that strong angled growth. I'd need to look at it when the leaves have fallen off to see what type of cuts would be needed to improve the shape of the tree. There are also phone or power lines in one of the pictures and it might be worth considering not to encourage growth in their direction. Silver birch can get fairly big and your expert may have felt its growth needed to be restricted to avoid it overshadowing the whole garden. There were some in a friend's garden that he needed to get removed as the roots were cracking the nearby garden walls and they had got too big for where they were planted.

recedite

I think this is a jacquemonti, so the good news it is a bushier tree than the native silver birch anyway. They are often grown as a multi stemmed tree.
Probably over time, shoots will appear from those dark patches on the bark, and you can allow a couple of these to grow on as the new "leaders" which will gradually restore the overall shape.

hatrickpatrick

recedite wrote: »

I think this is a jacquemonti, so the good news it is a bushier tree than the native silver birch anyway. They are often grown as a multi stemmed tree.
Probably over time, shoots will appear from those dark patches on the bark, and you can allow a couple of these to grow on as the new "leaders" which will gradually restore the overall shape.

That would surprise me, I was almost certain it was a silver birch but I can check with my uncle who bought it and see if he remembers! Certainly from googling pictures, the Jacquemonti does seem to fit the profile fairly well.

It's really not clear from the pictures, but essentially the issue is that the tree is the following shape:

    |
_   |
  \ |
   \|

And what seems to be happening is that the growth is now exceedingly biased towards the stem which veers off to the side, while the tall part has almost no growth in comparison.

Reason this worries me is that I'm afraid that the leaning branch will eventually be heavy enough that it either breaks off, or pulls the entire tree over because there's no counter weight on the other side.

Oldtree

The work carried out is such a pity as your tree looks like it was very healthy, such glossy leaves and with a georgeous bark.

Are they power lines in the picture directly above the tree? If so looks like somthing the ESB would do.
http://imgur.com/6TJ6hq4

Given that the tree has already been heavily pruned, i would suggest you do nothing until next winter. We can then togeather assess the tree to see where there has been dieback and where there has been reshooting. You can then carry out some suggested pruning and try to reshape and also remove dead wood. Pruning is best done between november and february on deciduous trees with a sharp blade. After leaf fall, if you post a few photos of the tree without leaves from different angles we will be able to advise you on specific cuts, and to use an apropiate pruning method called target pruning.

The tree is a self balancing system so it will try to rebalance its roots to its shoots, thus you will get shooting possibly all over the place until the apical dominance settles down and is again focused.

I would not fertilize, nor water nor put additional compost around the tree as there is already an adequate established root system there for the tree. Anything that leads to extending the shoots further isnt helpful as the extention growth would be more susseptable to disease and insect attack.

We could monitor the tree over the coming years to assess its progress for you and make further suggestions. All is not lost.

BorneTobyWilde

Its a **** up. Should of pruned the top trucks/branches not cut them never to return.
Will never be the same, was ok to cut the branches width wise but not the ones growing straight up. Tree needed shaping not to be stopped in its tracks.

recedite

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

I was almost certain it was a silver birch but I can check with my uncle who bought it and see if he remembers! Certainly from googling pictures, the Jacquemonti does seem to fit the profile fairly well.

Well they are both types of birch, its just that one originates in Himalaya and has whiter bark.

Oldtree wrote: »

Are they power lines in the picture directly above the tree? If so looks like somthing the ESB would do.
http://imgur.com/6TJ6hq4

Good point. I think you are right. In that case this tree is doomed.

OP should go to a garden centre in October and buy another one, and this time, don't plant it under an ESB line. These guys have the right to come onto your property without warning and slash at anything that comes near the power lines, and they will do it without mercy.

Oldtree

ESB Code of Practice in relation to access to land and/or premises:

https://www.esbnetworks.ie/docs/default-source/publications/code-of-practice-in-relation-to-access-to-land-andor-premises

http://www.independent.ie/business/farming/ill-take-notice-next-time-i-see-the-esb-around-29182644.html

hatrickpatrick

Oldtree wrote: »

The work carried out is such a pity as your tree looks like it was very healthy, such glossy leaves and with a georgeous bark.

Are they power lines in the picture directly above the tree? If so looks like somthing the ESB would do.
http://imgur.com/6TJ6hq4

Given that the tree has already been heavily pruned, i would suggest you do nothing until next winter. We can then togeather assess the tree to see where there has been dieback and where there has been reshooting. You can then carry out some suggested pruning and try to reshape and also remove dead wood. Pruning is best done between november and february on deciduous trees with a sharp blade. After leaf fall, if you post a few photos of the tree without leaves from different angles we will be able to advise you on specific cuts, and to use an apropiate pruning method called target pruning.

The tree is a self balancing system so it will try to rebalance its roots to its shoots, thus you will get shooting possibly all over the place until the apical dominance settles down and is again focused.

I would not fertilize, nor water nor put additional compost around the tree as there is already an adequate established root system there for the tree. Anything that leads to extending the shoots further isnt helpful as the extention growth would be more susseptable to disease and insect attack.

We could monitor the tree over the coming years to assess its progress for you and make further suggestions. All is not lost.

They're decommissioned telephone lines and they're very far away from the tree, it's just that iPhone pics give fairly crappy depth perception. The garden is about ten metres long and the wires and the tree are at opposite ends of it.

Thanks for the advice. When you say next winter I presume you mean winter 2016? I'll do nothing at all until then. I won't water it especially, but presumably if I'm watering the rest of the garden due to the recent lack of rain for several weeks, I should include the tree as much as everywhere else?

Oldtree

Carry on watering as you would normally.

In my garden nothing gets watered, just the pots and baskets, but there's no shortage of rain this side of the island

magicbastarder

my father in law chopped a branch off a weeping silver birch (a few weeks ago i think) and now the sap is rising, it looks like this - and the photo doesn't do it a lot of justice, it looks like flowstone you'd see in a cave:



so, will this be something the tree will recover from?

recedite

The cut will heal over soon. You can collect that in a bucket and drink it. Tastes like water but with a hint of toffee. Or you can just drill a hole into any birch tree in March to obtain it.