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The answer to why my birch is dying?

Gracie
10 years ago

Over the last two summers, we've watched the crown of our birch die off, first with whole limbs full of dying leaves, and now the dropping of two large limbs from the top of the tree this past fall and winter. I thought it was lack of water since there's a lot of competition with Doug firs where the birch is planted. Only the lowest branches show signs of life this spring (catkins). The arborist said it's probably birch borer, so we decided to take it out.

We had an inch of rain one day last week and cut a limb off a few days later (pruning it, before we talked to the arborist). The wound dripped water for the rest of the day. After another large rainfall, today I noticed what I think are weep holes at about 6'. Is this birch borer damage? Woodpecker? The two branches below those holes are the ones developing catkins.

I want to be sure of the diagnosis because we have another birch tree just 4' away which is doing fine, but I know it can get birch borer too. A neighbor had his birch removed last summer with dead areas.

So what do you think? Before you feel bad about us losing the birch, I'm not sorry to see it go as my garden has been taken over by shade and roots, making it hard to garden.

Comments (7)

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    10 years ago

    woodpeckers do not.. usually .. gratuitously damage trees .. that is sapsuckers ...

    so i would suspect the pecker knows that lunch is in the tree ... thereby confirming what the arborist said ...

    did you really pay a guy to come tell you what was wrong.. and you dont believe him??? .. asking us... lol..

    get rid of the tree.. there is no saving it.. and i dont believe in pumping money into a tree on hope and promise.. that it might be saved ...

    i am impressed you hired the arborist ... so many peeps come here hoping we will do it for free... usually w/o pix ....

    now you just have to leap over the emotional part.. and do whats right.. get rid of it...

    think of its demise.. as an opportunity for something new and different ..... but not a birch.. i said.. something DIFFERENT ... lol

    good luck

    ken

  • jean001a
    10 years ago

    "tea stains" on the bark typically indicate active bronze birch borers.

    Birds will poke holes here and there as the look for the borers.

  • Gracie
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I figured they were pecking after bugs that had already damaged the tree. Don't know if they eat birch borers but I have found earwigs under the bark. It might be a sapsucker or a downy woodpecker. Will check my bird book.

    We're having that big pine in the Shrubs forum removed and a tree pruned, so no, we didn't pay for an arborist's diagnosis. We just got his confirmation that the birch should come down too while he was here estimating the job. The weep holes are new and just more proof. He was here before the rain and didn't see the weep holes.

    Thanks for the confirmation.

  • PRO
    Whitelacey
    10 years ago

    From the picture it looks as though you have a White Birch,(Betula papyrifera). This species is native to the northern parts of North America. In warmer climates it grows for a few years and then becomes heat stressed and sickly. Then the insects will move in and finish off the tree.

    I live in Zone 6 and I know of only one White Birch in the area. If you are in Zone 8, I would say you have been lucky so far and now your luck is running out.

    Linda

  • Gracie
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    We're having two dead lower branches removed from the healthy birch. That tree is shaded by surrounding trees, but the crown is in the sun. I do see a few holes in the bark, so we need to treat it.

    I read about the bronze birch borer and our dying tree meets all the criteria. It is riddled with holes. I read that the adults prefer to lay their eggs in the sun and chose diseased or drought-stressed trees. It's hard to give the birches enough water because of the surrounding trees. The property behind us has several native 80' fir trees, and we have a mature zelkova in our yard too. Poor landscaping choices were made when this neighborhood was built in '99.

    Thank you all for your help. Without it, I would probably think the other tree was fine and do nothing this year.

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    9 years ago

    Zone 8 is not always warm - just winter mild. :-) Paper birch is also native to much of the Pacific Northwest and up into British Columbia and lower Alaska. In a cultivated garden, the birch could just as easily be a jacquemontii - sapsuckers love them both and they are equally plagued by BBB's.