AusBonsai

My aunt has given me these 2, I believe they are birch? I have done a little reading into the species, and they seem to be a bit painful to work with. I think both have had a branch die off already, being a beginner I don't want to get discouraged working too much on them. Both are pretty long and leggy and I am struggling to work out what to do with them.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Yeah they look like Birch to me, although I'm no expert.
My advice would be to plant them in the ground and let them grow freely to thicken the trunk if possible.
And maybe get a slightly more established/older tree so in the meantime you can have a go wiring, pruning etc.

Unfortunately no ground space at my place to plant, would it be worth getting some bigger pots? trunks are currently about an inch or so wide, but they fork very low, almost at the soil

Taking another look, it seems half the trunk on one of them is buried in soil, would now be a good time to repot them both? It also appears the leaders on both are the ones pruned right back, they don't appear to be dead to my untrained eye

I don't believe these are birch. All the birch species I have here have the widest part of the leaf at the top and gradually narrow to a point - sort of triangular in shape. The leaves on these are more elliptic (widest part near the middle).
The birches I am familiar with have relatively smooth surfaces and these look like they have crinkled/ribbed surfaces.

I'd be more inclined to say elm of some sort or possibly hornbeam.

Regardless of the species these are very young plants and will be better for some time growing. No room to put them in the ground then use larger pots and allow them to grow freely for a year or 2 with just occasional pruning to give taper to the trunks and branches.

The leaves feel quite furry too, if that is any help?
I will definitely put them into bigger pots, would now be a good time to do so?

Thanks for your help guys, much appreciated!

They look like Elms to me. Most definitely not Birch.
Cheers
Kirky

I have put these both in mucch larger pots now, but I have notice little spiders on some of the leaves, are these a threat? if so what should I do to prevent them?

twoshay wrote:My aunt has given me these 2, I believe they are birch? I have done a little reading into the species, and they seem to be a bit painful to work with. I think both have had a branch die off already, being a beginner I don't want to get discouraged working too much on them. Both are pretty long and leggy and I am struggling to work out what to do with them.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated

It seems to me that it's not a birch. May be it's a special kind of it, who knows...

Ulmus "Glabra" i think. Golden elm.

I don't know if its a Golden Elm or just a hungry one. Lack of nutrients will turn Elm leaves yellow too. Some of the smaller, younger leaves are showing mre green to them. I don't believe young leaves on Golden Elms are green.
Sounds like spder mites. Spray underside of leaves with confidor.
Cheers
Krky

thanks guys, should I be feeding after I have repotted? Will pick up some confidor, thanks for the heads up

ELM..Knock them back to 3 leaves..they will appreciate it.

Steve.

KIRKY wrote:. I don't believe young leaves on Golden Elms are green.

They are in my neck of the woods, i have many and they are light green going to darker green when hardened off.

Hi Bodi, I know what you are saying. Yes there is green but to me this does not look the same. To me it looks like a hungry Elm.
Hi Twoshay, you can repot now if you do a slip pot without disturbing the roots. In this case you can feed straight away.
This is a deciduous tree so you would only do a complete repot in winter once the leaves have fallen.
Personally, I would not repot/slip pot now, I would liquid feed with powerfeed or charlie carp etc... Fortnightly. Not Seasol as it is more a tonic than a feed. I would also throw in a couple of hand fulls of pallets these will break down and be ready to feed the tree mid- late summer.
Cheers
Kirky