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Planting Willow Cuttings?

S

singlecoyote

Proud member of the IBA
For those of you that have planted willow cuttings: What would you say was the success rate and how long until the trees really took off? Thanks.
 
Not personally but a neighbor planted a bunch about 5 years ago, I believe they all took and they're 15 feet in height or more now. Willow=weed!
 
I took some trimmings off of my brothers hybrid willows last year put them in water until they started rooting out and stuck them in the ground. I have about 80% survival. I noticed yesterday they are budding out. I also noticed the bigger one's took off better than the smaller ones, which I would have guessed opposite. The one's that were 2-3' did the best for the first year. I'm going to put a bunch more as a screen along the road at my farm. Good Luck!
 
Thanks. I wonder if those results are typical. I was planning on cutting 14" - 16" branches, maybe I will go bigger atleast with half or so of them.
 
Took a look at the sandbar willow cuttings the kids, wife and I planted on april 21st tonight and they all look like they are doing well. These were 12-16" cuttings from pencil thick up to about and inch. So far it looks as they are all doing well. Will get some picts. this weekend.
 
Were these planted along a creek/river? If so, were they planted down the bank or up top along the edge of the bank? Thanks.
 
I planted these on the low side of a pond where it cuts into a field. It stays wet in the middle and is dry on the edges as the elevation changes as it drains to the middle. I planted them all over in the wet and up the edges where it is dry. They all look like they are thriving.Here is a .pdf that should help you.
http://www.mostreamteam.org/Documents/Publications/willow.pdf
 
I planted some hybrid willows this spring (mid april).
The guy I got the cuttings from told me how to do it and I seriously thought he was messing with me, but he said this is how he did his and they're 20+ feet tall now and have been there 4 years:
We cut off the lowermost branches that were at least as big as your thumb. We then cut off all the branches that were coming off that main branch and cut them into 16"-20" long pieces, making sure to keep track of which end was the bottom so that end would eventually be put in the ground, and put them in a bucket of water. So from a 6' branch, you'd get about 5 'sticks'.
I had talked to our local DNR naturalist and he told me to wrap the sticks in a plastic bag & refrigerate them for a week, then put them in a bucket of water for a week & plant them after that. I told the guy I got them from this & he said you could do that, or you could just leave them in the bucket of water (about 4" of water in the bottom, and you NEED to keep an eye on it b/c they'll soak it up fairly fast), put the bucket on the north side of your house for a week or so and they'll start sprouting roots, then plant them. I had enough that I decided to do it both ways.
Well, both ways worked equally well, but since it's obviously a lot less hassle putting the bucket on the north side of the house, I'd recommend that method.
I've got 100% still alive and some of the branches are already above my head this year!! From what I started with, personally, I find these things nothing short of amazing!

Disclaimer: I planted these in my house yard and I am religious about watering the heck out of them. I've got a soaker hose on them and I'd say they get about 4 hours of soaking per week, but I haven't used any fertilizer on them. However, I would think that if you put them in a place that was fairly wet you shouldn't have any problem getting the same results.
 
I've had really good luck with the ones I planted a couple of years ago. The ones that didn't get hammered by the deer last winter are easily 15' tall and growing like crazy. I have a soaker hose to them as well but haven't used it at all this year with all the rain we've had.
 
We have a great deal of success with willow (and other species) pole plantings out here in the west. We do it frequently for habitat restoration projects along the riparian corridors where willows are common. I've seen anything from 12-16" to 3-4' poles take off and clear 10' in a year or so. I would think they would take off in the frertile midwestern soils, like people are saying. I don't know the exact success rate data but the above mentioned 80% is a pretty good anecdotal representation. When I get back into the office next week, I can do some literature searches for good peer-reviewed restoration papers if you want. Just let me know.
 
They ones I planted last year were hammered by deer as well. I will do more next spring and will probably tube them to keep deer pressure off. They are thriving again this year as well.
 
For those of you who have done this, do you think it would be a waste of time to plant some cuttings this Fall. This would be on river bank that says moist. Thanks.
 
Definitely not a waste of time. I have planted willows along streams banks in the fall a couple different times and have had good success. I will be planting a few hundred again this fall. Spring plantings do seem to do little better in my experience but fall plantings do well also. I particularly like doing fall plantings where spring rains might cause a lot of erosion before cuttings have had a chance to root in very much. Early September is when I have done this in the past and it has worked well. I think the key is to make sure you use fairly large cuttings (12-24" long and 1/2" diameter or so)and make sure to get the whips down into the water table.
 
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