[hoandere]

Hi. This is my first post but have been reading this forum for advice for the last year. I live in an estate and last March/April I planted four Silver birch trees to, in time, provide a non - intrusive (as opposed to Leylandii) privacy screen at the back fence of my back garden. I chose these trees after reading the admin's post on 'trees for privacy' so many thanks for that! The trees varied from 12 to 16 feet, were planted bare - root, dug up in the nursery in the morning and planted by me that very evening.

When the summer came, I was expecting a blaze of leaves and growth but was slightly disappointed. The leaves came on quite sporadically, and in one of the trees, the leaves were completely tiny.

Am I worrying unduly? Do the Silver Birch trees need a bit more time to root properly before there will be full foliage? Is there anything I should do over the winter? When should I expect to see these trees take off? Next year?

As you have probably guessed, I am a complete novice at gardening but I like to spend time in the garden pottering around and I am slowly learning.

Many thanks

[kindredspirit]

At that size, bare-root, they'd get quite a shock being transplanted, I'd imagine.

Did you backfill the hole with just earth or did you add a bit of compost to help the new roots travel?

I'd say they'd be OK next year. Maybe give them a low ratio fertilizer in the Spring?

[hoandere]

Thanks for reply. Yes. I backfilled with some compost but on hindsight probably not enough. In the spring time I will apply some of that fertiliser you have mentioned and have for a much improved showing next year!

[vincentdunne]

Hi,
Another point to add is that, although it did not seem like it, it was a very dry year for trees (here anyway) and birch is quite shallow rooting. They should be fine next year, but don't forget water (they do often grow in bogs)