Establishing Dogwood & Willow in Reed Canary Grass

TimberHawk

A good 3 year old buck
I have question about how to best get willow and dogwood established in large open areas of reed canary grass.

I have a 4+ acre section of my land that is almost exclusively reed canary grass and I'd like to turn it into a mix of bedding cover and browse. It's a relatively low area (not much standing water, but the water table is only 1-2' down) so I'm focusing on willow and dogwood. I tested the lazy way out last year with cuttings in four small areas. All cuttings were 12-16" and were shoved into the ground with only a few buds sticking out, usually around 2-3" above soil level. Soil moisture is not an issue at all but I knew I would need to fight the RGC to get sunlight down to the cuttings. I got all of the dead thatch off of the ground and sprayed the emerging RCG with clethodim (grass-specific herbicide) twice over the early spring & summer, hoping that would be enough for the cuttings to pop up far and fast enough to get established.

In short, I didn't have much luck. The RCG didn't completely die like I was expecting and in the few areas that it did die, I had sedge pop up and I think it shaded out the cuttings before they got tall enough. Some of the cuttings leafed out early in the season, but I didn't see any get above 6". Maybe I'm being to impatient too.

What is my best option considering how large the area is? I was thinking about trying some longer cuttings in hopes that the extra length would pop out of the sedge and/or RCG. Would that work? Or am I stuck with using a ground cover to beat everything back? I know that would work, but my brain and back starts to hurt just thinking of the work and money it would take to convert 4 acres. Maybe I could just do some 10x10' pockets to get some cover up?

Thanks in advance for any guidance.
 
I have done what you are trying to do. Those cuttings are establishing roots the first year or two and you won't see a ton of growth up top. The best thing you can do is exactly what you are doing and reduce the competition with the grass. I used a backpack sprayer with shield on the sprayer tip and sprayed glyphosate. The cuttings wouldn't do much until I started spraying the grass/weeds. I kept putting in rooted cuttings and spraying over several years and my Red Osier Dogwood finally took off. Once the roots are established you can't stop them. I posted about it on another forum a few years ago.


 
I have done what you are trying to do. Those cuttings are establishing roots the first year or two and you won't see a ton of growth up top. The best thing you can do is exactly what you are doing and reduce the competition with the grass. I used a backpack sprayer with shield on the sprayer tip and sprayed glyphosate. The cuttings wouldn't do much until I started spraying the grass/weeds. I kept putting in rooted cuttings and spraying over several years and my Red Osier Dogwood finally took off. Once the roots are established you can't stop them. I posted about it on another forum a few years ago.


Thanks for this.
 
I've had the same problem. Now I start my cuttings in pots and move them after a year or two. Survival went from about 10% to about 100%. It's a bit more effort, but at least it's not wasted effort.
 
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