Here in northern IL we had early bud break followed by hard frost and then drought and now nighttime temps in the 50s. I am seeing terminal bud break and catkins on river and white birch, both young and old. How will this affect them in the spring 2013?
The weather has been odd this year and the plants are confused. The early break (followed by cold), current light and warm weather are telling the plant it is spring.
If the plant gets through this and goes properly dormant before winter, it should be fine. The problem will be if the plant does not go dormant in time for winter, you could see severe cold damage to them this winter.
There is not much you can do for them except to try to help them into dormancy. If you are currently watering, start to pull back that water. If you normally mulch, wait until you get a frost to do this. Other than that, hope that you get a cool but mild autumn that will help the plants realize that it is time to go to bed, not to wake up.
Please give me growing information on this tree and what area it is hardy.
Sorry, not familiar with a willow birch. If you are asking about a corkscrew willow, this link will help answer your questions: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/trees/willow/grow-a-willow-tree.htm
If you are asking about a contorted weeping birch, this link offers information: http://shirley-agardenerslife.blogspot.com/2012/08/in-spotlight-youngs-twisted-birch.html
My renters have surrounded my 19-year-old White Birch tree with soil and it is covering approximately 3 to 4 feet of the trunk of the tree. Their concern was that the roots of the tree were showing above ground and more and more soil was added. Will this cause the tree to die? I do not want to lose this beautiful tree. I would appreciate any advice you could give me to correct this situation.
It is possible it will damage the tree. That much soil could suffocate the roots below and make it difficult for the trees to survive. If you have exposed roots, this article should help: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/trees/tgen/exposed-tree-roots.htm
My river birch is weeping water from pruning sites done over a year ago. Is there something I should do? Don't want to lose the tree.
The sap is rising is all. It is common for this time of year and the tree will be fine. There is nothing you need to do for it.
I have recently taken some overhanging branches off a mature (30 year old) birch tree. The "wound" continues to bleed. I have, as recommended, used a blow torch to seal them and have liberally coated the cuts with Arbrex sealant. All to no avail. Will the sap eventually stop dripping or is there some way to seal the cuts?
I would actually not recommend using any sealer at all. It can trap bacteria and disease against wounds, which can harm the tree. The wounds will seal and heal well in the open air. The sap is rising and is common for this time of year and the tree should be fine, eventually healing itself.
Got a new baby Silver birch tree. How much water does it need? Book says 10 gallons daily, but it is only as thick as a pencil. Surely that is too much water every day.
I believe that would be for a fully mature tree, as that does indeed sound a bit much for such a small tree. Even 10 gallons for a grown tree sounds like a lot to me. Newly planted trees do require lots of moisture while establishing but not that much! It is really hard to say exactly how much water you need to give the tree in order to be watered enough, due to the fact that many factors can influence this. These articles should also help: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/trees/tgen/watering-newly-planted-tree.htm, https://www.arborday.org/trees/tips/watering.cfm
How and when do I prune the lead out of a silver birch to make it multi-stemmed.
You can do this at any time after it is 2 years old (unless you are doing it for bonsai, then it can be done sooner), Just nip the top of the terminal node (main trunk) off and this will force it to branch out. You don't need to take much. Just damaging the end of the terminal node is enough to stop it from growing, which means the tree must grow side nodes to grow upwards.