Young's Weeping Birch

I just purchased a Young's weeping birch. Right now it is just about four feet tall. I understand these can reach a height of 20 ft but I am considering planting it in an area and keeping it at around six feet tall and not much wider.

Has anyone had any experience with the weeping birch and maintaining it at a smaller, more ornamental size? If so, any good pruning tips or suggestions?


thanks much,

mike holba

Birches don't take well to pruning. It won't kill it, but will ruin the crown shape.

Note also Betula pendula is highly susceptible to bronze birch borer - I'd suspect it won't live long enough for it to get too large for you.

Resin

Young's Weeping Birch are often trained and twisted into fantastic, ornamental forms (corkscrew, etc.) and take easily to that training. They usually do NOT have a leader, so will not grow much taller than staked. The branches are perfectly pendulous and will not grow horizontally or otherwise unless trained (staking, copper wire, etc.) Occasionally they will send up a vertical shoot, but prune that off and your tree will easily and happily stay within bounds. Meanwhile, train the current main "leader" and some of the side branches any way that suits your fancy and you will have a real conversation piece.

Also, it is susceptible to bronze borer, but a yearly "vaccination" of the (2007 released) Bayer systemic "12 Month Tree and Shrub Insect Control" should take care of that serious pest.

Have fun! They make a beautiful specimen conversation piece.

I am so glad you posted your message about the Young's Weeping Birch, HoosierGreen! You have encouraged me on my new purchase! I treated it with the Bayer systemic med. you prescribed : ) Do you have any advice or know of a site where I can learn about training the limbs? Mine is already serpentine, but I would like to train some of the other smaller branchs. Thanks for any help you can give! (I really don't want to have to use a stake, is there a method where you don't have to use a stake?)

Sorry for the delayed reply, but yes, it's easy to train branches of weeping birches (or any weeper for that matter) using bonsai coils of copper (it might be a metal blend) made for that very purpose. It comes in all sizes (guages), and you'll need a thicker one, I think it's #4. Very pliable and you just wrap it around the branch you want to change, and bend it any way you want. If you wind it around a long enough length of branch you can easily change a pendulous one to more horizontal, or even ascending branch. You can change the angle and direction of any branch if it's not too large in diameter, but with a young tree such as yours, it should be possible to do some major structuring. I know that I "opened up" the branching on my new 6' one this spring, fanning out some very pendulous ones and bending others into new directions to help make the whole appearance more balanced. Just check the branches next spring and they should be "frozen" into position. It's fun and easy. Check the bonsai forum for sources if you don't have a club in your area. I bought my coil (14 meters for $20) at a local club's bonsai show and sale. I also "redirected" a few branches on my 8' weeping hemlock, to great improvement. It spread the tree out more, and kept some hidden branches from getting shaded and killed off. Good luck.

Thanks so much for your reply HoosierGreen. I'm going to find some of the bonsai coil and give it a whirl!