Pruning Weeping Birch

[Dirk Overturf]

I have a weeping Birch tree that needs pruning. I am unsure about how far back I should prune the tree. I have been told that these trees will tolerate a severe cutback and come back well the next season. How severe is severe?
Dirk

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Many weeping cultivars are slow growing, so heavy pruning can be detrimental. As a rule of thumb the industry says to stop at 25$ of the dynamic mass. that is leaf surface and twiggy branches that still do the photosythesis (make carb's). I would go with 10% on a slow growing tree.

Then there is the proper technique for prunning, it is even mor difficult with a pendulus tree since the branches spill together. It is easy to damage the form.

Here is a search link that has a numbe of good pages on pruning.

http://search.dogpile.com/texis/search?q=proper+pruning&geo=no&fs=web