A friend has requested i propagate these birch. Have no idea what they are or how to do it yet. Anyone know what they are? Would not know a river birch from a paper bark since neither are native in my area. My understanding is many birch can be rooted from cuttings. That is my friend in the photo. The tree has special meaning to them since it was a gift from a deceased family member.
They need to be vegetatively propagated as clones? Trees often have seedlings nearby that sprout in the spring.
Maybe you seen this link already:
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paper birch. never tried rooting them. i know there are babies under mature ones here from seed. if i get into the woods i could dig you a few. too wet right now.
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really surprised they grow there. next to poplars and willows they are the most water loving of the hardwoods. find them in swamps growing with the black spuce and white cedars.
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the 1st pic looks like a river birch but the 2nd more like paper birch. they grow in the same places here but the river doesnt get as big as the paper. when they’re young they look the same.
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Here’s a clump river birch in my yard behind mama deer. I may cut it out since I’ve built the pawpaw grove around it. I agree that the first pic looks like a river birch…2nd a toss between river and white/paper.
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If paper birch can survive in Kansas, I guess I’d be a bit surprised. River birch is a tougher tree and can take more heat IME. I see plenty of river birch used by landscapers and city street depts. Not so much with paper birch
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My vote is river birch as well. I have never tried propagating birch…but I bet root cuttings may work. Maybe try severing a root close to the mother tree and see if it sends up a shoot?
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Yeah, looks like River Birch for sure. Best would be seedlings nearby. They make a bazillion seeds and are such a prolific early succession plant. Unless this is a clean manicured yard, there are probably a bunch pushing up. Look for bronzish bark and lenticles, and pull them right out of the ground if need be. I doh t they’d resent it much. Maybe root sprouts would work. Even a cutting with some below ground crown tissue might root, but not much is going to match a young seedling I’d think.
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Not sure about birch propagation, but that’s river birch. The smaller side limbs on river birch are dark, while side limbs on paper birch are light, almost white. One advantage of river birch here in the PNW is that it doesn’t get the birch borers like paper birch does (at least not on my trees).
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