Ahhhh. So it begins.
I worked with birches in the landscape nursery business. We only had a survival rate of about half on just transplanting. Pines survived better. Also the ones that did survive dropped branches like crazy afterwards. They don't seem to like too much roots cut off at once and don't like to have them restricted too much. We never put them in buckets when we got them. We had to put them in the ground in order to get a good survival rate. But when dug up after being in the ground a couple years and transplanted they would just die.
After too much of that we didn't mess with any birch trees. The ones that I put in the ground are still there when I drive by. Some of them anyway.
Some trees,no matter how much we wish to be bonsai just don't make the cut for some reason or another. I see it here all the time. Eastern White pine. Red maple. Willow. Poplars or cottonwood. Wild cherry. Birches. None are good bonsai candidates. People know this but yet they still try because they think they have what it takes to make them work.
The trees are the problem though. Not the people. No matter what you do or tell yourself none of the trees listed above and more do not make for good bonsai. Yeah maybe there is a red maple that Art Joura has been working on. It's giant. How many others. EWP? Forget about it. Popel trees? Willows? Come on.
I know I'm coming off as harsh. It's the truth. Maros is coming to realize he has spent a lot of time on a tree that is probably going to be dead in a year or two. It sucks but it's the truth. He can see the time coming when it will just die no matter what he does. I'm sorry Maros but deep down you know. It's a shame but it is a great learning lesson for everyone else trying to use these trees.
And this was a very nice birch bonsai. Sorry Maros.
Since this thread got revived, I figure I'll throw in my 2 cents on this old comment since I never saw it the first time. This tree doesn't look like a tree that's going to be dead in a year or two, and not sure why the doom and gloom on birch. I work on them too, and while they are finicky about certain things, they absolutely work as potted trees. I have a few of them (river birch, specifically), and one in particular I've been playing around with for years now, and it improves every year.
I've just learned to work it very slowly. If you work them too fast they definitely drop branches. I ramify them by chasing the foliage down the branch rather than pruning hard and re-growing. They back bud reasonably well under those circumstances. It takes a while, but they develop really nice, natural looking branches over time. They also don't mind a bit of root work, although I try not to do too much at once on general principle.
The biggest complaint I've heard is that they aren't very long-lived. But I've not killed one yet, and I don't see any reason right now that the ones I have won't outlive me. Beyond that, it's somebody else's problem. And if I'm just building sand castles, so be it ... but they're going to be beautiful sand castles. =)
