I have a row of a dozen silver birch trees at the front of my
property, they are about 30 years old and 15 metres high.

I don't want them to grow any taller and would like to take maybe 4
metres off the top of each of them.

I understand silver birch sometimes don't take kindly to this sort of
thing so want to minimise the risk of killing them !

When is the best time ? Now when the leaves are off and they have
plenty of time to recover - but the cut is open all through winter -
or should I wait until say March when I assume there is less chance of
frost / rot but also less recovery time.

Thanks,

David C

I chopped back a mature silver birch, leaving a stump about 12 feet
high, and it responded very vigorously, sending out a mass of shoots
around the top of the stump. So in my experience at least they aren't
over sensitive to this sort of treatment.

I'm not an expert but I imagine the best time to cut yours would be
when they are at their most dormant and well before the sap starts
rising in the spring. March might be leaving it a little late?

Robert

----------
In article ,
(David C) wrote:


I have a row of a dozen silver birch trees at the front of my
property, they are about 30 years old and 15 metres high.

I don't want them to grow any taller and would like to take maybe 4
metres off the top of each of them.

I understand silver birch sometimes don't take kindly to this sort of
thing so want to minimise the risk of killing them !

When is the best time ? Now when the leaves are off and they have
plenty of time to recover - but the cut is open all through winter -
or should I wait until say March when I assume there is less chance of
frost / rot but also less recovery time.

Thanks,

David C