Replacing silver birches

[ljpoole]

Hi

Complete novice looking for some advise please. I have two silver birches which are sadly decaying in the trunk. Not sure if visible on the picture but the trunks are cracking as well and the decay is making them potentially dangerous so am going to take them down to stumps myself.

Can anyone advise if its possible to plant new birches next to the stumps or if I would need to wait for the stumps to decay first or advise of anything else I could plant next to the stumps that would grow quickly and help provide screening at the back.

 

[Sean Regan]

Hi and welcome.


A way of removing silver birches yourself is to cut them down to around six feet, then saw through what roots you can get at, then attach a rope to the top of the trunk and pull it, you might need a friend to help.
It'll be years before silver birches will provide effective screening. They aren't really suburban garden trees, you and your neighbours will have the fallen leaves with which to cope each autumn. You'd be better off with conifers.

I have to contend with silver birches in next door's garden, planted close to the party fence. They're a pain. I have to prune the overhang which blocks out the light, each year, plus clear all the fallen leaves.

A better screening is bamboo like ours at the bottom of our garden. It's a non-invasive variety. But it took years to grow.