Interested link @Plantminded thanks. Nice to see what an expert thinks. I believe I've read a fair bit from him before when I was first considering pruning mine.
I have always pruned them in October and the large one that grew on my dogs grave has had regular brutal pruning to keep it in check (I wouldnt have planted it and would choose a smaller specimen if I had done but because of where it is and when it grew we left it). It's been that way for the last decade, cutting back to three main branches most years and it still puts on 8-10 ft of growth every season. Not ideal but it doesn't look too bad to tell you the truth. I wouldn't advocate the hack but it's not done it any harm so far.
If I had a small tree like in the op, I would be tempted to chop it down in the autumn and see if I could make it a multi stem.
Perhaps I will try cutting it back and seeing whether it will grow as a multistem later in the year. Am I correct in thinking that a multistem tree will be shorter than a single stem? I thought that it was way too late to attempt to train it into a multistem shape and that this needed to be done when it was a sapling. My husband hacked off the ends of some of the branches facing the path as they were overhanging and getting in the way. I wish he hadn't because they look odd and stumpy now and will presumably never regrow. It was only a problem while the tree was quite short and would have been fine by now.
I'm a bit worried about how large it is already. It's not right next to the house but not sure the height is easy to gauge from that photo. Possibly over 3 metres already? I could swear it looked like a twig sticking out of the ground only a couple of years ago. My driveway is quite sloped so it looks tall in comparison with the house now. I have a more mature one at the bottom of the back garden and that is now taller than the house even though the back garden slopes downwards.
Are the roots that shallow? I don't want to be responsible for a tree uprooting and damaging my neighbours car or house. I think they'd definitely prefer that I not have a tree there as they tend to like things being neat and tidy. It will drop leaves over their front lawn and drive.
Not sure how deep the soil is, sorry. I think it's probably just normal soil underneath the bits of weed membrane and gravel/slabs. It was originally just a front lawn. I would eventually like to remove the odd slabs and have that area planted up.
A multistem tree or one that has lost its leader will be less vigorous in upward growth but not necessarily less rampant, as the growth is just shared between branches. It certainly would be better to create a multistem when it was young but if the tree needed to be removed anyway then it's a might as well give it a go type scenario.
I wouldn't want a mature birch right next to the house either but I wouldn't worry about yours at the moment because it might be tall but it doesn't have much biomass yet.
I'm a huge fan of birch, they are possibly my favourite tree and I do like trees. I have a really nice swedish cut leaf birch in the bad garden but it's far enough away that it won't cause any problems for me or the neighbours (it's one i will never have to prune hopefully). If you do like a tree in that situation then perhaps you could think about replacing it next autumn with something that stays a suitable size and that you don't have to worry about in the future.
Posts
I have always pruned them in October and the large one that grew on my dogs grave has had regular brutal pruning to keep it in check (I wouldnt have planted it and would choose a smaller specimen if I had done but because of where it is and when it grew we left it). It's been that way for the last decade, cutting back to three main branches most years and it still puts on 8-10 ft of growth every season. Not ideal but it doesn't look too bad to tell you the truth. I wouldn't advocate the hack but it's not done it any harm so far.
If I had a small tree like in the op, I would be tempted to chop it down in the autumn and see if I could make it a multi stem.
I'm a bit worried about how large it is already. It's not right next to the house but not sure the height is easy to gauge from that photo. Possibly over 3 metres already? I could swear it looked like a twig sticking out of the ground only a couple of years ago. My driveway is quite sloped so it looks tall in comparison with the house now. I have a more mature one at the bottom of the back garden and that is now taller than the house even though the back garden slopes downwards.
Are the roots that shallow? I don't want to be responsible for a tree uprooting and damaging my neighbours car or house. I think they'd definitely prefer that I not have a tree there as they tend to like things being neat and tidy. It will drop leaves over their front lawn and drive.
Not sure how deep the soil is, sorry. I think it's probably just normal soil underneath the bits of weed membrane and gravel/slabs. It was originally just a front lawn. I would eventually like to remove the odd slabs and have that area planted up.
I wouldn't want a mature birch right next to the house either but I wouldn't worry about yours at the moment because it might be tall but it doesn't have much biomass yet.
I'm a huge fan of birch, they are possibly my favourite tree and I do like trees. I have a really nice swedish cut leaf birch in the bad garden but it's far enough away that it won't cause any problems for me or the neighbours (it's one i will never have to prune hopefully). If you do like a tree in that situation then perhaps you could think about replacing it next autumn with something that stays a suitable size and that you don't have to worry about in the future.