Birch Tree Leaking

A friend of mine with a new home has what she thinks is a PaperBark Birch. A limb hangs over her front porch and is now steadily dripping like a bad leaky faucet. Is it sap? Does it just happen once a year?(We've recently had some really warm days.) Should she trim the limb, will it stain her painted wooden deck?

We thank you!

Birches are like maples -- they bleed sap in late winter when wounded or pruned. If she prunes it, that will just open another wound. Suggest that she try to find the opening where the "leak" is coming from, and if it's not a wound that needs attention, perhaps simply give that part of the tree a "diape" of sorts until it seals itself.

Guy S.

Birch are also susceptible to borers (at least here). Check for holes that look like someone stuck a pencil into the bark (1/8" to 1/4" holes). Often the holes will form a horizontal ring around the branch. If you see this I recommend a call to your local UC Cooperative agent for what is used in your area.

K

In Georgia, I just assumed she was talking about river birch, which does not get the borers. But you're right, we should never make such assumptions. Violabird, if it really is a white-barked birch species and you really are in Georgia, your friend probably would be ahead to just remove it and plant something else more suited to your climate.

The borer holes would be about 1/10 inch and slightly flattened on one side (i.e., "D" shaped). The larger holes K describes in rings or patterns on the trunk do look like borer holes but are made by sapsuckers, a pesty woodpecker species that damages many tree species. That also can cause sap drip.

Of course, it might not be a birch at all! A photo would resolve that question quickly.

Guy S.

In our area we call river birch paper bark birch, because of the peeling habit of the bark. Mine are in the 15-20 year old range, and they each periodically drip this time of the year. I've seen no damage as a result of it, but if you don't know what is happening, you may suspect the robins are misbehaving as they move through our neighborhoods.:)

Thanks all, I'm trying to get her to take a photo. I just can't believe the rate of the dripping. She's a few hours from me so I can't see it myself.

You all do agree that it is one tree that shouldn't be planted close to the house?

Hey viola, I've got photos of Sapsucker damage on a tree as well as "D" shaped exit hole photos on a Birch saved to my computer somewhere. Do you want me to try to find those photos to post here so that you could e-mail them to her and ask her if she has any holes on her tree that look like those in my images? You are welcome to use my images. The exit holes were from the Bronze Birch Borer and they were on a Jac. I wouldn't bother calling anyone if she sees those types of "D" shaped holes on her tree. I'd have to tell her it's too far gone to bother treating and to cut it down and burn it. This being said by a person who tried to save a few infested with Bronze Birch Borer.

My river birch will ooze if the wind tears off a limb but not without something physically occurring to the trees.

With our straight line winds we have this time of year, we always have small branches knocked off, I just call it Nature's pruning. I should have said that in my earlier post - that's where mine drip. By the way, another reason for not having them too close to the house is your plumbing lines are vulnerable to their very extensive root system, but I got to admit , many of us have them fairly close to the house. Not too smart, but they look nice. In our heat and humidity they also drop leaves when the temp gets up in July and August, so you may not like that.

Took her a while--sorry!

She has decided to take out the whole tree after all your comments, Thanks!