Forum home› Problem solving
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Birch Tree Problem ID and Solutions

sophie_b_87sophie_b_87 Posts: 5
in Problem solving
I have a silver birch (betula moonbeam) which I planted out last year. It has had lovely new leaves on this year but some of them have started to yellow and curl and have brown marks on the underside near the stem (I've attached photos) Other leaves seem healthy enough although a few do look a bit nibbled, I can't see any other obvious signs of pests.Any ideas on what this could be and how to fix it would be much appreciated.

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Hi @sophie_b_87 and welcome to the forum  :)

    How often is your tree watered?  Trees need a lot of water in their first couple of years after planting, and we had a very dry March and April ...... even with the rain we had in May the soil deeper down is still very dry in some places ... you need the soil deep down to be nice and moist so that the tree's roots go downwards in search of the water rather than staying near the surface where they'll get scorched by the heat.

    I would give your tree two buckets of water every other day, (whether it rains or not) poured gently around the root area so that it soaks in and doesn't run off the surface.  Do that from now until mid September, and your tree will grow strongly enough to fight off most stuff that nature throws at it.  Start again with the same regime next March.

    Hope that helps.  :)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • sophie_b_87sophie_b_87 Posts: 5
    That's great thanks, I hadn't bothered watering because we have had so much rain but you're right in that it won't have been nearly as much as two buckets!! Will start that today, thanks so much :smile:
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    👍

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • sophie_b_87sophie_b_87 Posts: 5
    Just popping back to this thread to say I've been following this advice for only a week and it's already made a huge difference, leaves look much healthier now so thanks so much :)
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited June 2021
    Really pleased to help 😊 thanks so much for letting us know 👍 

    I was planting out some cosmos the other day and although we had such a wet May and I’ve been watering the beds, but a couple of inches below the surface the soil is dry as dust. We’re watering night and morning … and we’re on a meter 😮

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





Sign In or Register to comment.