Insect Problems

• Birch leafminers tunnel between the bottom and top half of the leaf, leaving little trails. Tent caterpillars have unsightly tents constructed of webbing, and they strip all the leaves within the tent before moving on to another area. While these insects are seldom fatal to healthy trees, they can cause reductions in photosynthesis, a process trees use to produce food. The most destructive insect is the bronze birch borer, which bores into the bark and damages the phloem. The phloem is the pathway used to transport water and nutrients from the soil, so this disease is often fatal.
  
  

Diseases

• Anthracnose is a group of fungus diseases that cause small irregular brown spots on leaves. It causes leaf drop and loss of small branches, and can sometimes kill the tree.
  
  Birch canker is caused by a fungus that causes areas of branches or bark to be sunken or missing. Canker may eventually girdle a tree, affecting uptake of water and nutrients. Dieback fungus causes upper sections of the tree to die back, challenging the tree's ability to photosynthesize. All of these fungal diseases can be avoided with preventative fungal sprays.
  
  

Environment

• Deer forage on birch trees.Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  Birches have sensitive roots. They have a wide and shallow root system, so they are particularly sensitive to drought, and during long periods of dry weather they will need supplemental irrigation. They need good drainage and cool soils typically found in the northern continents of the world. In the wild, birches are forage plants, so landscapes where deer, rabbit or grazing animals are present may have challenges with the foliage being foraged for food.
  
  

Lifespan

• Birch trees have short life spans.Goodshoot/Goodshoot/Getty Images
  
  Birches have short life spans when compared to other trees. After exhausting all other possibilities of tree decline, consider that the birch may be at the end of its life span. One of the longest lived birch species is the sweet birch (Betula lenta), which can live to be 250 years old. Gray birch (Betula populifolia) and paper birch (Betula papyrifera) may live to 140 years old. River birch (Betula nigra) and European weeping birch (Betula pendula) have short life spans of about 50 years. Unfortunately the trees with the shortest life spans are those most likely to be found in landscapes.