Wee Trees Bonsai Help Forum Advice for all :: View topic

i would not do a regular trunk chop on a birch again, even in summer there's a chance it will let the trunk die back and just sprout from the base, more likely at the soil level or from below rather than a couple of inches up like you want.

this is how id go about it: hard prune in the summer to encourage back budding (keep some foliage). let any new shoots lower down grow free while keeping the top growth pruned so it sends energy into the lower shoots. make sure these shoots get the best light and the following year it may be safe to cut back to them. i would be looking for around 18" of growth here, by which time it will be branching by itself. you want a good mass of foliage. give it year to grow out if the top has been cut, which may result in further back budding... repeat until you've chased the foliage down as low as you want.

you always want to keep good sap flow up the trunk to make sure it doesn't die back. once new shoots are strong enough the tree will not want to drop them, it could if they are weak and it will just restart from the base.

be warned, it may not even shoot low the first year (or will only do so from the base) so this may take a few years. on the bright side, i have seen this succeed in the summer right after collection, though on smaller material than you are talking.

they layer quite well though and the process will likely result in budding below the layer so it may achieve a similar result as the method above.

Author:	Kit [ 05 Oct 2014, 17:27 ]
Post subject:	Silver Birch
Hello All, On a recent bimble around a garden centre I saw a SB with a great surface root system and a nice trunk but, being a garden tree, it had no branches for at least 4 feet up the trunk. Obviously this is too big for bonsai (as is anyrhing over 8 inches ) so I wonder if it will back bud if chopped close to 4 inches from soil level! Any thoughts? K

Author:	stymie [ 05 Oct 2014, 18:02 ]
Post subject:	Re: Silver Birch
If this can be done where it is without disturbing the roots, any latent buds will be activated to compensate for the loss of the top but most of the new growth will be from the point of the chop or the soil surface. You may have to wait well into the growing season next year to get any sizable growth Kit, as I did with one a few years ago. It had a diameter of about 1½". It must be mentioned that they often drop pruned branches so pruning a trunk may have a similar result. I would start with a trunk twice as long as you suggest to allow for die-back. Moving into a smaller pot should be possible in early March 2015 if you get suitable low growth. Have you any intention of taking an air-layer from higher up first? because if so, the time scale will be different.

Author:	Kit [ 05 Oct 2014, 19:22 ]
Post subject:	Re: Silver Birch
I had not considered an air layer - mainly because all those I have done died and I thought I could shorten the process by just throwing the top in the rubbish. I will consider the layering option. K

Author:	Bill [ 05 Oct 2014, 21:02 ]
Post subject:	Re: Silver Birch
i would not do a regular trunk chop on a birch again, even in summer there's a chance it will let the trunk die back and just sprout from the base, more likely at the soil level or from below rather than a couple of inches up like you want. this is how id go about it: hard prune in the summer to encourage back budding (keep some foliage). let any new shoots lower down grow free while keeping the top growth pruned so it sends energy into the lower shoots. make sure these shoots get the best light and the following year it may be safe to cut back to them. i would be looking for around 18" of growth here, by which time it will be branching by itself. you want a good mass of foliage. give it year to grow out if the top has been cut, which may result in further back budding... repeat until you've chased the foliage down as low as you want. you always want to keep good sap flow up the trunk to make sure it doesn't die back. once new shoots are strong enough the tree will not want to drop them, it could if they are weak and it will just restart from the base. be warned, it may not even shoot low the first year (or will only do so from the base) so this may take a few years. on the bright side, i have seen this succeed in the summer right after collection, though on smaller material than you are talking. they layer quite well though and the process will likely result in budding below the layer so it may achieve a similar result as the method above.

Author:	stymie [ 05 Oct 2014, 21:54 ]
Post subject:	Re: Silver Birch
Here's a result from such a trunk chop. It resulted in four upward growths which have been reduced.

Wee Trees Bonsai Help Forum Advice for all http://weetrees.co.uk/phpBB3/

Silver Birch http://weetrees.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12463	Page 1 of 3

Author:	BrendanJ [ 29 Oct 2014, 11:15 ]
Post subject:	Re: Silver Birch
Bill wrote: i would not do a regular trunk chop on a birch again, even in summer there's a chance it will let the trunk die back and just sprout from the base, more likely at the soil level or from below rather than a couple of inches up like you want. this is how id go about it: hard prune in the summer to encourage back budding (keep some foliage). let any new shoots lower down grow free while keeping the top growth pruned so it sends energy into the lower shoots. make sure these shoots get the best light and the following year it may be safe to cut back to them. i would be looking for around 18" of growth here, by which time it will be branching by itself. you want a good mass of foliage. give it year to grow out if the top has been cut, which may result in further back budding... repeat until you've chased the foliage down as low as you want. you always want to keep good sap flow up the trunk to make sure it doesn't die back. once new shoots are strong enough the tree will not want to drop them, it could if they are weak and it will just restart from the base. be warned, it may not even shoot low the first year (or will only do so from the base) so this may take a few years. on the bright side, i have seen this succeed in the summer right after collection, though on smaller material than you are talking. they layer quite well though and the process will likely result in budding below the layer so it may achieve a similar result as the method above. Bill I also have a silver birch growing in ground, abot 2.5 metres high, and 1.5 inch wide trunk and am thinking to chop next year so am very interested in your above advice When you said looking for 18" of growth, did you mean make chop at 18" at first or just chop tree off higher and leave plenty of growth and gradually chase back. i want to make sure at least first chop is correct. So I want to clarify how much hard pruning I should do at first stage

Author:	stymie [ 29 Oct 2014, 11:39 ]
Post subject:	Re: Silver Birch
The die-back factor is the problem with these but they don't die completely. Low down shooting is the usual result, even as low down as the soil surface. I'm pretty certain that I would try the air-layer Kit. This should give two options for the future.

Author:	MattS [ 29 Oct 2014, 12:25 ]
Post subject:	Re: Silver Birch
I chopped a pot grown silver birch back from 7 foot to about 3 foot leaving no branches. There were no branches below the 3 foot point and it only ever sprouted from the base. The trunk was lost. In future if I try chopping a SB I will only go to the lowest branch and then see if it sprouted beneath then chopping again to a lower branch.

Author:	Bill [ 29 Oct 2014, 16:16 ]
Post subject:	Re: Silver Birch
yeah trunk dieback is the problem, generally basal shoots are not what you want. the 18" was how far to let the new growth extend before you cut off everything above it. thats just a ballpark figure, in the ground you should see that no probs. you want a strong branch to cut back to, so yeah gently chasing the foliage down the trunk. the initial hard prune - I would aim to lose half to 2/3 of the foliage or thereabouts but i would also make sure to take out all the soft new tips as this is where the most auxin is produced, which is what is keeping the lower buds asleep.

Author:	john blanchard [ 29 Oct 2014, 18:33 ]
Post subject:	Re: Silver Birch
I had one about 8-9 foot in the ground. Did an air layer leaving around 3 feet from the base. The lower portion budded and sprouted so I cut it down and discarded the top. It's still in the ground and doing well.

Page 1 of 3	All times are UTC [ DST ]
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/