River Birch Chopped

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DallasDad Murphy, TX(Zone 8a) Mar 29, 2008

I planted a nice river birch sapling, about four feet tall. It was just starting to establish itself, and had put out a couple of new leaves, when my lawn guys chopped it off with a weed-wacker.

About 1.5 feet are still in the ground, no leaves, no shoots, no signs of life. Still green inside. The remainder is currently inside, with the bottom few inches cut off, soaking in water. Unfortunately, I didn't discover it right away, so it started to dry out. The topmost twigs are dead, but the rest is still green wood.

Question #1: Will the part in the ground survive?

Question #2: Is there any point trying to root the rest of it? If so, do I just wound the stem, make a slant cut on the bottom, dip in rooting hormone, and plant it?

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Resin Northumberland, United Kingdom(Zone 9a) Mar 29, 2008

Insist that they replace the plant they damaged, at their own expense. And change to a better company!

No, birch won't root from cuttings.

Resin

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DallasDad Murphy, TX(Zone 8a) Mar 29, 2008

Thanks, Resin. I was afraid you'd say that.

The company has already lost my business. The tree was sad enough, but they also chopped off half of a huge banskia rose right at the soil line. The banksia was just starting to bloom.

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HoosierGreen Danville, IN Mar 29, 2008

The river birch might just sprout up from the roots. I've had one die back to the ground due to planting in the fall (birches prefer spring here in the Midwest), but it is now a beautiful clump of five trunks, about 15' tall. All from the roots and stump.

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DallasDad Murphy, TX(Zone 8a) Mar 29, 2008

Well, since the roots had started spreading and it was happy enough to start some leaves, I'm going to leave the stump in the ground and cross my fingers.

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CoreHHI Bluffton, SC(Zone 9a) Mar 30, 2008

I'm betting on the stump growing and everything being fine. River birch grow fast and I don't think it will matter that it got pruned back at this time of year. Make sure it gets enough water. They like a good flood evry few weeks.

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otis Morrison, TN Mar 31, 2008

Depending on how strong the root system. It should put out some suckers. Also river birch will root from cuttings. This last year I rooted about 2,000 of them in my greenhouse.

Otis

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HoosierGreen Danville, IN Mar 31, 2008

otis: Could you post some directions on how you rooted your river birch cuttings, please?

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