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Best Source For Hybrid Willow Cuttings
- Thread starter Victor Van Meter
- Start date
Ohio Darin
Yearling... With promise
I purchased a Dappled willow from a nusery as a potted ornamental plant. I planted it in the summer in our landscape and that first spring I probably got 50 cuttings off it. This year is the second full year and will probably get over 100 cuttings. I gave maybe $30 for the bush in a 2 gallon pot. Not sure of your timeline but you only need a little to then make your own.
Spike_Horn_Shooter
5 year old buck +
Foggy,
I tried planting into existing grasses - zero percent survival after year 1. They just didn’t take. I’d run a 3’ weed mat where your road meets the swamp. I think in the 45 degree angle of the road will be too dry or you will need longer cuttings increasing cost.
The weed matt will keep the plantings clean and free from weeds for the foreseeable future, and you’ll never have to weed whack that area.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
^ Thanks for this advice. Been concerned on what to do here. I have a sickle bar mower that could cut the grasses to about 4 or 5 feet from the road bank. Then could hit it with glyphosate and run that suggested weed mat along the same path.....and finally plant the cuttings into the junction of the road with my swampland.
Not sure of the weed mat yet....but does this sound like a reasonable plan? I suppose I need 200 yards of weed mat. Source??
sandbur
5 year old buck +
Would black plastic be a cheaper alternative? You would still need some landscape staples like with fabric.
I planted a small area with black plastic and then used a crow bar to punch a hole. Pushy the willows in thick end down and snipped off with about 6 buds buried and two exposed. I just grabbed willows from a nearby bush.
I had round upped the area the fall before.
BuckSutherland
5 year old buck +
I'd think you could plant into the bottom edge of the sand. That entire grassy area looks like a great spot to plant some tamarack as well. I bet they would thrive in that open sun. I see LOTS of rubs on tamaracks. They'd grow quick and help fill in that low area. I see places around me that seem like wet bogs that have tamarack growing in them.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
That always surprised me too. I do have other nearby bog areas where tamaracks are thriving....but not in this bog. Not sure why that is. May be worth a try.
In my bog, the wettest areas are filled with the swamp grasses like you have. The slightly drier areas have tamaracks and black spruce. The driest areas have a mix of tamarack, black spruce, wetland shrubs and young birch. If you don't already have tamarack or black spruce growing there, I'm guessing it is too wet (unless for some reason your bog was cut in winter or burned recently to prevent tree growth).
I would reconsider hybrid willows as they were not winter hardy enough to survive my Rusk County place. They would live a year or two, then winterkill back to the ground level and repeat until they eventually died. i'd look for willows already growing in your area and use them as a cutting source. Cut a truckload of them when they are dormant, and press them into your planting location and keep your fingers crossed.
Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
@Foggy47 I planted a row of hybrid willows the past two years at my place in pretty wet ground. Was mostly reed canary grass and sandbar willows growing there. I just mowed a strip with the flail mower and rolled out 4' weed mat fabric in a straight line. Then i cut little slits in the fabric and dibbled in rooted cuttings. They have taken well but i didn't protect them so they have gotten browsed hard. Not enough to kill them but they are not getting tall.. The seedlings from cold stream farms are priced like cuttings (64 cents ea if over 100) and i think have much higher odds of doing well but are more involved to plant. https://www.coldstreamfarm.net/product/hybrid-willow-salix/
This is best pic I could find from a few weeks after planting this spring.
This is best pic I could find from a few weeks after planting this spring.
Last edited:
Bill
Administrator
My only caution with landscape fabric is you must go back later and cut the fabric away from the tree or it will girdle them as they grow. I've used it and plastic. The problem with plastic is when deer step on it they poke holes in the plastic. Nothing is perfect......
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
^ Thanks for all the inputs here guys. Good info. Considering all. Gotta say, I am looking for cheap and easy......and even at easy.....I don't have much juice to put into this project. Seems each year I may lose 1/3 or more of my strength and ability. Strange how that happens. Gonna have to hire some kids to do this work. Maybe I can make a few new young friends? But Having a plan, organizing, and supervising the kids seems fundamental to success for this project.
Like so many things....I wish I would have done this sooner. It is what it is. I am grateful to have this project at its current state. At this point this project(s) is more like a diversion from everyday life for me....and away from dealing with my wife's health issues. She is going thru some tough times due to congestive heart failure. Not gaining on it. Projects like this give me some relief from these concerns.....and something else to do.
Over the weekend, I decided to give up my plan for a new product development and patent I had. Simply not worth the time and effort in light of where we are in life. Gotta pick my battles. Been a long road.
Thanks for all the ideas shared here. Helps to have such good guys here that offer up their experience in such things.....and good advice and some fun things to plan for the future.
An old saying I once read rings true: "Plan plans....not results". We keep planning. Results may vary. Hug your wife tonight. :)
Like so many things....I wish I would have done this sooner. It is what it is. I am grateful to have this project at its current state. At this point this project(s) is more like a diversion from everyday life for me....and away from dealing with my wife's health issues. She is going thru some tough times due to congestive heart failure. Not gaining on it. Projects like this give me some relief from these concerns.....and something else to do.
Over the weekend, I decided to give up my plan for a new product development and patent I had. Simply not worth the time and effort in light of where we are in life. Gotta pick my battles. Been a long road.
Thanks for all the ideas shared here. Helps to have such good guys here that offer up their experience in such things.....and good advice and some fun things to plan for the future.
An old saying I once read rings true: "Plan plans....not results". We keep planning. Results may vary. Hug your wife tonight. :)
sandbur
5 year old buck +
Prayers sent for both of you, foggy.
Projects like this and planning give us something to think about.
If it all doesn’t get done, maybe I could stop some day in the spring and shove some native willows in the ground. Get a start on it and see how they would do.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
Looks like a good source and price ($1.10 each)....but they pretty short at 12". Is that enough? I think I can plant them at the waterline.....so I suppose it is enough. (I answered my own question. grin). Tubes required? I may tube those nearest the shoreline and leave them bare in the middle. Thinking I should plant them every 10 feet.....and then make my own cuttings from these hybrids in future years.
