The Best Time to Prune a Birch Tree for Winter Freezing

Birches are an exception to the "prune when dormant" rule.

Slender, pale birches with their delicate leaves add a romantic touch to your backyard. Although sturdy and hardy, birches are bleeders and cannot be pruned at the same time as other ornamental trees.

Identification

Birches -- deciduous trees of the genus Betula -- thrive in temperate climates. Their toothed leaves are bright green in spring, butter yellow in fall. Like the dogwood, elm, honey locust, maple, and walnut, birches exude sap from wounds, making normal pruning problematic.

Winter Pruning

Foresters generally recommend pruning deciduous trees while they are dormant, in late winter or early spring. However, birches are an exception to the rule. If a birch is cut at or just before the time the sap rises in the spring, its sap loss is substantial.

Prevention/Solution

You should minimize birch sap loss by forgoing regular pruning during winter. Instead, trim only when absolutely necessary and only after the spring rise of sap. Optimal periods include late spring, summer or early fall.

References

• North Carolina State University: Pruning Trees
• The Ohio State University: Ohio Trees, Birch