A birch tree was not pruned too well 3 years ago. Uhhh...not too good? What do you mean? Well, I don't like to criticize colleagues, but this was really painful. Namely, an absolute basic rule, which you learn in kindergarten of pruning, is to only prune in a place where a side branch can take over the growth. If you prune thick branches, you must prune just above a side branch that is at least one-third the thickness of the branch to be pruned. When you prune thin branches, you prune just above buds or leaves. But here......the pruner had gone on a rampage with his eyes closed. Thick trunk sections had been sawn in half at a place far away from side branches. And because a birch tree cannot tolerate pruning and has difficulty healing its wounds, the result is without exception disastrous. Thick trunk parts completely dead. The wood will rot, fungi will develop, etc., making the tree dangerous due to branch breakage and in the long term the tree can die.
A myth about tree pruning: "Birch and other trees should be pruned in the fall or winter and especially not in the spring when the birch can start to "bleed" (lose moisture) (because that takes a lot of strength)." In practice it appears that pruning many trees in the summer is just as good, if not better, than in the winter. From spring onwards, the tree has the strength and energy to heal its wounds. In winter the tree cannot do much about its pruning wounds. And in autumn (mushroom season) all kinds of fungi fly through the air, especially in humid weather. A birch will indeed start to "bleed" in the spring (when the sap flow starts), but in our experience, if you do not prune branches that are too large, the bleeding will stop quickly. It looks bad, but it isn't.
We have carefully and carefully pruned the birch and restored the typical shape of a weeping birch. Good pruning takes more time and is more expensive, and bad pruning is quick and cheaper. But the result cannot be compared. We have taken our time. And that is necessary if you want to do it well.
Below are the before and after photos.
The birch before pruning. It is clearly visible that wild outliers have grown (water shoots) due to excessive pruning three years ago.
The same birch (yes really). The outliers have been removed, there are no pruning spots visible because we only pruned just above side branches. The typical hanging shape of the weeping birch is back.
Photos from this project
