Long Shoots in the Crowns of Maturing Silver Birch

Three dimensional digitizing was used to examine the influence of both neighbouring trees and the target tree structure on the number and length of current long shoots in silver birch growing with different neighbour species. Long shoot length was found to increase from crown bottom to its top, and from high to low branching orders. Number of long shoots was highest with birch neighbours and lowest with alder, and it increased towards the crown top with all neighbour species. Silver birch was able to adjust its current growth as a response to neighbouring trees.