Propagate birch trees: grow them yourself from branches and seeds – instructions

Birch trees are pioneer plants whose job it is to colonize fallow areas as quickly as possible. Therefore, next to a birch, there are usually a lot of small birches that you can dig up and plant in your own garden. This is the best way to proceed:

• Look for birch trees in the surrounding area
• Unless these grow solitary from a concrete slit, young birch trees should grow nearby
• Whereby “proximity” can be defined generously – birch seeds are extra lightly “designed” so that they can fly far
• Since birches are shallow roots, birches can be dug up to a height of 1.2 meters
• The young birch is best “harvested” in April
• Ideal for moving: “Mouse ear stage”, early shoot formation
• Cut out the young birch with a spade so that the root is removed from the ball
• Removal with a ball of earth protects the fine roots that are important for growth
• In addition, there are special mycorrhizal fungi with which birch trees live in symbiosis
• In the garden, the birch and its balls are placed in the planting hole and watered
• Depending on the species (see below), keep more or less moist until they grow on

The excavated birch belongs to a property owner who will usually be more pleased about the loss of a birch sapling because he has to regularly remove young birch trees anyway. However, the legal situation and courtesy require a short (telephone) inquiry as to whether you are allowed to take the vehicle with you. In addition, the small pit that the birch tree leaves behind must of course be completely closed again – which on publicly accessible land also means pounding the earth so tightly that there is no risk of tripping.

Birch trees do not place great demands on the soil and should be one of the least problematic of all “plants brought from the forest”. Nevertheless, one can read again and again in forums that the relocation from the wild to the garden was not successful. Typically, one of the following errors will reveal itself:

• Birch was not moved in spring, but in autumn (already in hibernation)
• The tree was removed so roughly that too many fine roots were lost
• Too few mycorrhizal fungi were taken away from the excavation
• The plant did not get into moist soil quickly enough so that fine roots / mycorrhizal fungi died
• The birch was planted in a soil with the wrong moisture content for the respective species

If you avoid such mistakes, the young birch will actually always grow on.

Growing birch trees from seeds

As pioneering plants, birch trees have specialized in colonizing ungrown areas. Not an easy job – while the “normal average plant” spreads its seeds in fertile soil, these colonization experts send their descendants over long distances into the wide world, where they are supposed to germinate in soils in which most plants do not produce leaflets. In order to achieve this, special adaptations are required: Pioneering plants form a large number of seeds that are safely pollinated, are effectively spread into the distance by wind or birds and make little demands on the germination environment.

All birch species can do just that: They develop male and female (called catkins) inflorescences on a tree, with the female flowers hanging just right below the male on the branch for pollination. Pollination takes place in the flowering period from the end of March to the end of April with large amounts of pollen from the long, yellow male catkins (beware of allergy sufferers!), The green cones of the female inflorescences now ripen to infructescence, the nut fruits with winged membranes are “taken into the” from the birch in September, October Area sent ”to germinate wherever they land.

So sowing is the next very promising method to get new birch trees, all you need is a ripe birch fruit cluster and a pot of soil (it doesn’t matter what quality the seeds are). The seeds can easily be crumbled out of the brown infructescence in the palm of your hand, if you hold your hand over the pot with the moistened soil, the seeds will fall where they should be, “muddle through” the surface of the earth with your hand, and the birch will grow . It is not more, it can be understood better than with any written instruction by watching this 1-minute film: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vogV1-WRMhE. When the small birch is strong enough (in the film several birch trees that have been separated into other pots are likely to have sprouted), it can be planted out.

Pulling birch from branch

In theory, birch trees, like all other plants, can also be propagated from cuttings, but in practice this is not so easy with birch trees because pioneer plants are designed entirely for the spread of seeds. Since vegetative propagation “traditionally” does not play a major role in the birch tree, you should really offer a birch cuttings optimal conditions in order to persuade them to develop roots. It works like this:

• Cut strong, 10 – 20 cm long shoot tip cuttings from the desired birch species
• Quite firm at the bottom (half-lignified) and soft and green at the top
• The lower part should have several eyes (thickened areas that are ready to shoot, where roots start their growth)
• Remove the leaves from the lower half by wiping it off
• Halve the large leaves at the top with the scissors or remove individual, large leaves
• Snap off the buds, they only cost the cutting unnecessary strength
• Put the cuttings carefully and straight into a potty with soil
• It is debatable whether rooting powder for softwoods helps birch trees, but test existing rooting hormones
• Set up in partial shade (must not be burned by direct sun)
• Wait for the roots to develop, while keeping the cutting moist (not soaking wet!)
• In high heat with a hood made of transparent plastic, hold on to humidity
• It is essential to ventilate every few days so that nothing molds or rot
• When the cutting begins to grow at the top, the first roots have also grown
• When the first roots grow out of the potty below, the birch can be planted out

The best time to cut the cuttings is in the middle of the growing season, after budding and blooming and before the birch slowly adjusts to winter dormancy. The best planting time is spring (as soon as the ground is open until budding), the smallest planting distance is given as 1.3 – 1.5 m.

Why birch trees?

Birch trees are among the most beautiful native trees and have many admirers among romantics. One speaks of the “wind that whispers in the birch trees” and of the “gold-scattering princess birch”. There are also few indigenous trees that can be used to green areas or create small forests more quickly. Actually only poplars and willows, of which the birch creates the airiest, lightest-looking green cover. The birch grove in the garden is also an important contribution to nature conservation because there are many birds, mammals, insects, fungi, lichens and mosses that are worth protecting and rely on the birch as a habitat.

Because of the high decorative value, birch twigs are also often used as jewelry at festivities, e.g. B. on the maypole or in Bavaria at Corpus Christi. Fireplace owners love birch because they quickly provide good firewood with several beneficial properties and high calorific value.

But there is also a reason why opinions are usually divided when it comes to birch trees: birches have no business being near buildings, because they grow quickly and are so high in an instant that the crowns bring shade into the rooms and shoots in hang the power line while the roots on the other side conquer the water pipe.

This quick “shoot up” creates a trunk that is not very stable and at risk of wind throws, which can fall over in a storm. The need for water is also not without, especially not for the plants in the vicinity, which the birch digs the water from in dry phases. In addition, birch trees produce a lot of “vegetable dirt” that is not only annoying to allergy sufferers; and if the birch stands for a while, according to some local tree statutes, it may no longer be felled.

Which birch should it be?

Our well-known, indigenous birch does not exist botanically because some of the 136 species of the birch genus are native to Central Europe with very different demands on the moisture content of the soil:

• Sand birch, silver birch, Betula pendula or B. alba, maximum height 30 m, grows in sandy, dry soils
• Bog birch, Betula pubescens, grows in bog or similarly moist soils, also up to 30 m in height
• Dwarf birch, polar birch, Betula nana, grows in approx. 1 m high groups in the moor, rarely + under nature protection
• Shrub birch, Betula humilis, grows on moor meadows in a shrub-like shape, max. 3 m, highly endangered + under nature protection

All these birches easily form hybrids with each other, which is why when you are propagating or digging up you never know whether you are planting a sand birch or a downy birch and / or a sand-bog birch. This may be the reason why a “birch that was caught outside” refuses to work in the garden – sand birch and bog birch need opposing soils, with natural crossings it is unpredictable whether they tend towards “damp” or “dry”.

Conclusion
You can propagate birch trees or dig up a birch sapling nearby; however, if you want to plant a very specific birch tree with defined properties, it is better to turn to an expert nursery. In normal tree nurseries you will find refined birch trees (and non-native birch species such as Himalayan birch, linden-leaved birch, paper birch or water birch). You have better chances of “completely normal”, pure-seeded birch trees in a forest tree nursery, usually also a pleasant experience in terms of price.