Hello, Last summer, just about a year ago now, I planted 4 Dakota Pinnacle Asian White Birch (Betula platyphylla 'Fargo') in my north-facing backyard in Calgary. One of the trees is in full sun, one is in full to partial and two are in partial. I fertilized them once in early spring and once in late spring. The trees have been very slow producing leaves. The best of the four only has about 15% leaf coverage and the worst has only a few leaves. The leaves are dominantly coming from the main trunk with fewer coming out of the branches. All of the trees were "leaking" sap from the buds throughout the spring and the branches are not brittle. I have been watering the trees everyday (it's been very dry here lately) and I've been making sure the soil is quite moist. I've been told at a local greenhouse to really give the trees a lot of water but I'm getting scared that they may be getting too much now and that it may be affecting the leaf development. Can someone help with any advice as to what may be causing problems with the trees? Thanks, glenn
If they've had these problems from the start then they were afflicted when purchased. Were the acquired bare-rooted?
Hi, Thanks so much for the quick reply. The trees were purchased from a local greenhouse in approximately 20 gallon pots. The soil don't appear to be too compacted and I aerated it about a week ago. When I planted the trees I mixed what came out of the hole with new compost and made the holes quite large. I don't think the tress were planted too deep, they may be a little but no more than an inch. Perhaps another thing to note is that last fall the tree did not shed its leaves when they died. They remained on it throughout the winter and the ones that remained in the spring I removed. Thanks again, glenn
Could well be any of my guesses, or even all three combined; another possibility is root damage when they were dug at the nursery.
Thanks Michael. Is there any chance that the trees will recover or should I plan to return them to the nursery? Thanks again, glenn