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Dear All, Feb 8, 2008
Some time ago (March 19, 2006) I made some negative comments about
White Birch as an ornamental and I am beginning to have second thoughts.
Perhaps the ornamentals I had seen were in largely unfavourable
circumstances.
I have noticed many times how responsive to soil conditions Wire
Birch is [~3 cm max diameter on Nictau Sand (est. avail water 5% vol.);
~10 cm max diam on Cornwallis Sandy Loam (est. avail water 12-15% vol) &
~25 cm max diam on Morristown Loam (North Alton, est. avail water 20-24%
vol)] and the converse generalization suddenly clicked a few weeks ago.
Behavior of Wire Birch on one soil condition is a poor indicator of
behavior on other soils.
Thinking back I suspect the same may be true of White Birch. I don't
e.g. recall ever having seen White Birch on Nictau Sand or Cornwallis
Sandy Loam. Drawing from memory, the better stands are on drumlins of
medium to heavy texture where one may expect deep, well aerated soils &
outstanding root zone water (~40 cm). I also remember seeing pure stands
of vigorous looking White on south facing talus slopes (granite, perhaps
Wreck Cove ?) about 1956 and a nearly pure stand of runted White near
Cloud Lake about 1959. This was north of the northernmost side of
Northeast arm (there was no path to the lake then but it was a short
cross-country walk from the sled road to Birch Lake to this arm). The
talus slopes would have likely have had good total water in the rooting
zone and the Cloud Lake I suspect poor. I have not been back to Cloud
Lake since and have often wondered if they have been replaced by
something else or persisted as natural large Bonsai.
Yt, Dave Webster, Kentville
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