A arm of a neighbours birch tree overhands my property – resulting in lots of bird poo all over my decking where the kids want a tramp. She does’t want to prune it till mid/end July to avoid bleeding. I read on a forum that it’s ‘BEST’ pruned in the Autumn but ‘CAN BE’ pruned from the end of Spring i.e. mid June.

Can anyone confirm either way? Its a big healthy tree with 5/6 main limbs. My request is for her to strip the overhanging branches from the 1 limb which will result in about 10% reduction in foliage. I also believe she will eventually prune the rest of the tree back 25%.

Lots on Google but they always talk about ‘BEST’ times not ‘POSSIBLE’ times to prune.

Yes I would execute law and prune back myself but here property is above mine so without access to her property I would need a over 6m freestanding ladder to reach anything. And of course starting a feud is best avoided.

When leaves have reached full size so late spring early summer is best time to prune. Shouldn’t bleed much then if at all. Why not take the whole limb off if it’s growing over your property and save future pruning? Btw I am in Australia and we don’t work on to many birch here.

I agree, get the whole branch off, save doing it again.

There’s no easy answer to this one.
Birch are notorious for bleeding and don’t generally respond well to anything but the lightest of pruning.
If your neighbour intends to take off 25% of the crown I would suggest it’s best to get rid of it entirely and plant something that’s easier to keep in check.
It’s a shame, they’re beautiful trees but they’re really not suitable for garden boundaries.

Probably not the best option if you wish to continue a good relationship with your neighbour, but I believe you can legally prune the branches of a tree that overhang your property (upto the boundary line). You must return the branches tho

I agree – its a lovely tree and I don’t want the whole thing down – just the branches that the wood pigeons sit on that overhang my trampoline spot.

She hasn’t had it pruned for 5 years at it gotten very big – overhanging 3 neighbours properties.

As above, I cant easily prune myself as I cant reach them from my property and of course happy neighbours etc…

I don’t know much about birch besides what i have read but surely late spring pruning of branches off a single limb (or removal of the limb) is not going to kill it?

IMHO – if you are going to grow a big tree on the boundary of a a mid terrace garden you need to take some responsibility…