Birch trees in a summer cottage

Our plot is decorated with a pretty birch grove. And not even one. When we acquired this site, the presence of these same birches definitely influenced the adoption of a positive decision. After all, one look at these romantic and such “native” trees immediately draws in imagination a sort of idyll in the shadow of their branches: a bench, a swing or an openwork arbor. In general, this is a ready-made platform for outdoor recreation.

As time passed, our birches grew, and I must say, they grew quite quickly. And then we wondered what would happen when they waved into hefty trees, is it not dangerous to have such “ship masts” in a small area? And then the neighbors began to complain about the shadow of our birches. We decided to compare the harm and benefit from our birch grove. Here is the result.

pros:

• Birch grove is a decoration of the site;
• Near the trees you can equip an excellent recreation area;
• Trees growing on the north side protect the fruit trees from the wind. Our birch trees   just grow from the north and northeast sides;

Minuses:

As you can see, there were more minuses than pluses: (But what to do? After all, the hand doesn’t rise to chop such a pretty eye grove! I had to study this issue on the Internet. So I read that the Europeans living in their own homes, on their almost all the trees are cut off on the ground. So it is considered more aesthetic. And we get such beautiful neat gardens and lawns. Why don't we do the same?

Various sources state that birch   refers to plants that tolerate any action. It is unpretentious, and all kinds of pruning can be applied to it. However, young trees only need formative pruning, while only a well-rooted plant can be pruned strongly.

When is it possible and necessary to trim? Spring pruning, suitable for many plants, is dangerous for birch due to strong sap flow. Therefore, it is recommended to cut the birch after blooming in the summer, usually after the Trinity, until August, as well as in late autumn or late winter - the very beginning of spring (before the beginning of spring sap flow). Do not forget about sanitary pruning, in which dry, diseased and damaged branches are removed.

In many Russian cities, municipal services have begun spring pruning of trees. Citizens are often outraged by the result of such "care" for green spaces. Large-scale and painful for tree pruning, without any consideration of plant biology - only disfigures and worsens the urban environment. Something like this this spring chopped birch in the Novosibirsk Academgorodok.

About this material portal InfoNarod.RF.

In the Novosibirsk Academgorodok, an ugly mass pruning of trees began under the leadership of the mayor's office - Gorzelenkhoz.

One gets the impression that this is not just the incompetence of the authorities, but intentional wrecking. It is enough to make a request on the Internet on the subject of tree pruning in urban conditions to understand how well it has been studied and how much Goorzelenkhoz’s actions do not meet the requirements for such work. How, then, to punish those who ordered the cutting of birches? How to assess the damage caused to the Academgorodok by unprofessional actions of the structures responsible for this?

It should be noted that birch trees are the least susceptible to breaking, growing on not excessively moistened not too dense soils in the temperate and cold parts of Russia, where summers are not too hot and not too long.

Often the need for pruning birch trees is dictated by external factors - such as proximity to buildings, communications - power lines, gas pipelines and more. Trimming for practical and decorative purposes is called croning.

If the growing trees pose a threat to the safety of pedestrian areas, recreation areas or other objects, in general there are two ways to ensure the safety of the adjacent territory:

1. partially trim the crown of the tree (cut the top of the birch - apply topiary pruning (topping) or cut the crown around the circumference and reduce its width - resort to crowning);
2. to cut down a tree (in whole or in part, with the use of aerial platform and without, with the removal of stumps by uprooting or milling or without);

Let us consider in more detail both solutions when the pruning of birch is dictated by external factors:

Partial pruning of the birch crown

Each tree forms different buds on its shoot. Among them there are "sleeping" buds, which are provided by nature to restore the plant in case of damage.

In the middle part of the shoot are the most developed buds, which provide growth in the next season. The buds in the upper part of the shoot, with the exception of its central part (trunk), are less mature and resistant to external influences.

If pruning is not used, then, due to apical dominance, the best growth conditions will be in the buds located at the very top of the shoot. Only if the apical kidneys are damaged or removed, the active development of the kidneys located in the middle part of the shoot will begin. Artificially creating such conditions, you can get an actively growing tree with a good crown. The task of the arborist - to get a good annual gain - is not too big and not too small.

Some trees grow splendidly without pruning, and even poorly when applied. They are characterized by apical growth of buds at the ends of shoots.

Classical examples of such trees are pine or ash, hazelnut or walnut, magnolia. Many plants, such as spruce, fir, larch, naturally form a beautiful crown and do not require pruning. Sanitary pruning can be applied to them in order to remove individual branches "in the ring" (thinning out), allowing slight shortening of small side branches.

All trees need to be sanitized at different frequencies. Their genes have the ability to continue growing and restore the crown to the side branches - as, for example, in linden, birch or apple tree.

There are also quite a lot of shrubs that do not require pruning - these are daphne, rhododendron, euonymus, henomeles. But some of them - irga, acacia, cotoneaster, are also suitable for creating a persistent truncated form.

All types of pruning can be applied to these trees. However, these trees are prone to thickening and require shaping and thinning. Indeed, in these trees it is difficult to achieve a good central trunk and good skeletal branches.

There is also a transitional group that changes the type of growth with age. Trees with a mixed type of branching - oak, maple. They need regular shaping pruning in the early years of their development to get a beautiful crown.

Shrubs are easily divided into two groups - sequentially, well and slowly growing and fast growing. It is clear that the former only needs sanitary pruning, and the latter requires regular updates. Such shrubs as euonymus, cotoneaster, witch hazel, snow berry due to the uniform growth along the entire perimeter of the crown form strong beautiful bushes.

Fast-growing shrubs, especially with early-flowering shoots, need regular updating of the crown, that is, the systematic removal of old branches to the level of new shoots or their complete removal and the need to leave several shoots to replace, but not densify the bush. The rosehip and currant are most clearly given about this group.

Plants that need annual pruning to hardwood to form long shoots or good full-color foliage are white deer, highlander, walnut, elderberry, willow.

It is also necessary to understand at what age stage a tree or shrub is located.

At an early age, the main task is to create volume and spatially develop the plant. Trimming only corrects crown formation errors.

First of all, you can trim only a well-rooted plant. The same is true for pruning with the goal of "reversing growth" when you need to get a strong dominant shoot on the trunk.

Secondly, according to the principle of apical dominance, equal shoots are formed from buds located at the same height. And in the general case, the smaller the distance from the root to the kidney, the more strong the growth will be.

The paradox consists in combining the proportional balance of the crown and several trimmings in order to stimulate the development of shoots of the asymmetric crown.

Thus, it is necessary to apply a strong shortening to the underdeveloped side of the tree, to the other, for balance, more rare.

Timelines for pruning shoots

By choosing the time of pruning, you can stimulate vegetative growth (spring) or adjust the age of the branches and designate shoots and flower buds (summer). Usually pruning is carried out in early spring, in March-April. This is clearly applicable to fruit trees, but not quite to a number of decorative ones.

Spring is a good time for sanitary pruning when structural branches are well defined. Pruning in late winter or early spring is the borderline time between frosts and the onset of kidney formation. It stimulates strong shoot growth, coinciding with the natural rhythm of the plant.

Pruning in the early summer, during the development of shoots, has several goals. Carrying out such operations in spring during the end of active sap flow (foliage development) is suitable for climbing plants and weeping trees (birch, maple, walnuts and hazelnuts, cherries, mulberries, etc.)

Spring pruning during flowering is widely used after its completion, which stimulates the growth of shoots and flower buds. It is suitable for foresight and decorative plum. Summer pruning prevents vegetation. It can be actively used for the selective removal of single branches until August. Summer is the time for "green operations" with shoots (pinching, etc.).

Remember that the more often you process an actively growing plant with garden shears, the less the total amount of work. Plants that start vegetation very early, such as honeysuckle, currants and nuts, are best trimmed in the fall.

For flowering plants, pruning is especially important.

Shrubs that bloom in the last year’s growth, such as lilacs and action, require a cut of shrunken shoots in the summer and easy maintenance with pruning in the spring.

Shrubs blooming this year with sprouts, such as hydrangea, spirea and tamarisk, are thoroughly pruned in the spring to enhance the growth of young shoots and large flowers.

The most romantic group of plants is spring-flowering trees and bushes. As a rule, they are pruned after flowering, removing dried out shoots for better growth of new ones. If you cut the forsythia or spirea in early spring, then you can cut off all future flowers. The same applies to the now decorative plum, almond, cherry. In the summer after flowering, action, exochorda, stefanander are cut off.

Special plant groups

The first includes leafy birch, maple, walnut, chestnut, poplar, mulberry, grapes. In such plant species, strong sap flow from the cutoff site can be observed, and such operations are best performed after the leaves have opened in spring or summer. Early spring pruning is harmful to them. Most often, the cuts only lead to drying out and the wrong location of the shoots.

Such a group of plants as climbing, cut off in the early summer. It is necessary to wait until the frosts pass and the leaves bloom and then cut the creeping shoots to the base. Summer pruning and pruning in late autumn may also be applicable to these plants. Fruit climbers require extensive and accurate pruning.

Transplanted weeping plants require a special pruning technique, this mainly applies to willows. After flowering, they need to be strongly cut horizontally in the shape of an umbrella, otherwise next year the flowering will be located mainly on the ground.

In a separate group, coniferous trees are prone to pruning. There are several types that need to be trimmed. This is yew, thuja, juniper and Canadian spruce. During growth, these plants require only light sanitary pruning. It is possible to control the shape of the crown by diving during the growth of young shoots.

In this case, soft, juicy shoots that are bent and easily broken do not cut off at the growing top. Particular care should be taken with the main shoot - the top. It should be protected from damage: the lateral shoots are difficult to vertically shape and if the main shoot is damaged, the cylindrical vertical shape of the plant will be lost.

With an excess of nutrients and water at the top, two leading growths can also develop. One of them needs to be removed as soon as possible.

Plant Correction and Correction Methods

The result of the formation of a poor tree structure will be the breaking of large branches. Such damage is very dangerous. When they occur, it is necessary to cut off the damaged part of the branch and treat the wound, remove torn wood and bark.

To prevent such fractures in the early years of growth of young seedlings, it is necessary to prevent the formation of skeletal branches with an acute angle of deviation.

Over time, the bark of such branches will be under pressure in the upper part and will begin to die out, this process will be accompanied by the appearance of cracks, so it is better to remove such branches immediately. Such shoots appear on the main shoot and compete with it. They, as a rule, are slightly behind in growth in comparison with the leading shoot, but sometimes they can even surpass it.

It is very important to leave only one main shoot in the first season of competing. On old trees, such breaks can be prevented only by reinforcing dangerous places with guy lines, tying the branches together into a single structure or lightening the crown with anti-aging pruning.

Thus, pruning of birches on the Marine Avenue of the Novosibirsk Academgorodok is carried out with gross violations of the rules for the maintenance and cultivation of plants. Early spring pruning for birches is unacceptable and harmful.

Boris Sysoev