The deciduous birch delights year after year with its colorful leaves. It is all the more surprising for hobby gardeners when the deciduous tree suddenly develops yellow leaves and loses them during the hot season. How can it come to that? You can find the answer to this question in our article.
Why does a birch tree lose leaves in summer and what can you do about it?
A birch tree loses leaves in summer due to lack of water, lack of light or disease. To remedy this, you should water the birch regularly, check its location for light or examine it for diseases, fungi and pests and take appropriate measures.
Is leaf loss in summer a bad sign?
Yes, unfortunately. While it is completely normal in the autumn season for the leaves of the birch tree to change from a deep green to a beautiful golden yellow and then finally fall off, this process actually has no place in the summer. This means that leaf loss indicates that there is a problem.
The good news: If you get to the bottom of this problem, it is usually easy to take appropriate countermeasures and avoid further summer leaf loss.
Possible causes of birch leaves falling off in summer
If your enchanting birch tree suddenly loses leaf after leaf in the summer, this can have three main causes:
- Water shortage
- Lack of light
- Disease(s)
Water shortage
Even if the birch tree itself is very easy to care for, it is important to avoid prolonged dryness. Otherwise, initially yellow leaves and then leaf loss in summer are not uncommon. So you should make sure to water your birch tree regularly.
Lack of light
Birches want to be in sunny to light partial shade. In a location that is too shady, the leaves tend to die (already) in summer.
Disease(s)
If you can rule out both a lack of water and a lack of light as the cause, it is probably diseases, fungi or pests that are causing problems for your tree and are therefore responsible for the loss of leaves in summer. In this case, the yellow discoloration and the subsequent shedding of the leaves serve to self-regulate and heal.
Preventing leaf loss in summer
Water deficiency is the easiest way to remedy it. When there is a lack of light it becomes a little more difficult. Maybe you can shorten other trees so that the birch gets more light? Or do you perhaps even have the option of transplanting them to another location? In the case of diseases, fungi or pests, it is important to get to the bottom of the exact cause and take appropriate countermeasures.
Note: Please note that in some years birch trees tend to drop their leaves for no apparent or preventable or combatable reason.