arborrelli
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Posts: 41
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 8:53 pm
Location: Western New York USDA Zone 6

Weeping Willow

I know I am probably overreacting. I've got two weeping willows that I pulled up from my grandma's rock barrier this summer. They were very young, but managed to spring back from being torn up with very little root intact.

I planted them out in the yard over pieces of brick to encourage proper root growth for later bonsai use.

They've been covered in snow for quite a while, and the snow has finally melted this week so I went looking outside to see how they were doing. The trees look a little brown, and I'm not sure if that is normal for them during the winter months. It'd be a pity to lose them, one of them has some nice trunk thickening going on.

[img]https://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k192/demongirl12000/100_4995.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k192/demongirl12000/100_4993.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k192/demongirl12000/100_4997.jpg[/img]

Rosaelyn
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Posts: 244
Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:40 am
Location: Brighton, Michigan

Wow. I have not seen that much green since about Thanksgiving. ;) <wishes for spring again>

I think it would be very difficult to tell how healthy they are at this point. If it helps, they look like normal, dormant trees to me. Were the trunks more green when you collected them? Is that why are worried with them getting brown? It looks like a normal colour of a tree trunk to me. Although, I will admit, I have little experience with young willows.

arborrelli
Full Member
Posts: 41
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 8:53 pm
Location: Western New York USDA Zone 6

Our yard is surprisingly green (except for the few places that the dogs enjoy to patrol).

Apparently, the trunks were not as green as I thought when I collected them.
[img]https://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k192/demongirl12000/100_1863.jpg[/img]

They appear to be at least a golden yellow-red (though the pictures are dark).

I guess I'm just worried because of how new I am to the art, and that I've never seen a young tree in dormancy.

Rosaelyn
Senior Member
Posts: 244
Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:40 am
Location: Brighton, Michigan

They have gone through quite a journey, from one garden to another, but they look as normal as a dormant tree can. ;)

I know that I am anxiously awaiting for all my trees to bud again. It is a tad stressful wondering if I am properly wintering them to make them survive such a harsh time period, as this is my first winter with my trees. (It is over freezing here in Michigan for the first time in over a month!)

They are also in the ground, which will provide them far more protection at this time then if they were in a pot.

When did you transplant them? Were in they in the ground before or after leaf-fall?

arborrelli
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Posts: 41
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 8:53 pm
Location: Western New York USDA Zone 6

I'm pretty sure I planted them in the ground sometime in August. I left them in their pots to recoup for maybe 3-4 weeks, then planted them in our yard (then I had to fence them off because of the rabbits, who decided that my plants would make a delicious salad).

Most of the snow here has melted, but the ground is still frozen. I can't wait till spring, I hate being cooped up in the house all the time (thankfully, my classes are starting up on Tuesday, so I won't be home all the time).

Rosaelyn
Senior Member
Posts: 244
Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:40 am
Location: Brighton, Michigan

If they were leafy and happy prior to fall, I think you can be confident they will leaf out in the spring. Willows are tough critters, from what I have heard. :)

Victrinia Ridgeway
Senior Member
Posts: 264
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2009 11:46 am
Location: Bremerton, WA

They are likely fine... But I will say if you pulled them out of a bed they must be suckering from a larger specimen... in which case you would be well to just go cut off a limb (and really you can do a BIG limb if she'll let you)... put it in a bucket of water. It'll throw roots and then you can plant it in a container with some firbark and pumice and it'll grow like a fiend. The best way to get decent bonsai from willow is to hack a limb... it can be a limb even as much as 5-6 inches thick... and since willows tend to do better as yard trees when periodically hard pruned, it's a great way to get something big.

Important things to know about willows as bonsai... you will always be fighting suckers... and you'll always have times when some random part of the tree decides to die back. But since they back bud so vigorously rebuilding a willow bonsai is not that hard. Just don't be surprised when parts of it die back is all... it's just something you have to live with when dealing with them.

Also... another good tip... save the water from the rooting of the willow branch and use the water on trees which have been transplanted, and you'll get a higher rate of success on transplants. The same properties (asprin is derivied from it as well) which allow willows to throw roots when put into a water bucket, help other species put on more vigours roots... and works well even for trees which are weakened in general (since general weakness in a tree is often root related). This was a common practice prior to rooting hormones.

If you don't plan on doing a large branch, you can even just harvest small branches from the tree to create the willow water, just put the small branches in a bucket of water for a few weeks. So if you time it before you plan on transplanting/repotting trees... you can get a great additive and a potential bonsai or rooted cuttings.

Kindest regards,

Victrinia

arborrelli
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Posts: 41
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 8:53 pm
Location: Western New York USDA Zone 6

Victrinia Ridgeway wrote:They are likely fine... But I will say if you pulled them out of a bed they must be suckering from a larger specimen... in which case you would be well to just go cut off a limb (and really you can do a BIG limb if she'll let you)... put it in a bucket of water. It'll throw roots and then you can plant it in a container with some firbark and pumice and it'll grow like a fiend.
I would get a larger limb, but there are two problems with that: The tree is too tall for me to reach a thicker branch, and the tree is not on my grandmother's property.
Important things to know about willows as bonsai... you will always be fighting suckers... and you'll always have times when some random part of the tree decides to die back. But since they back bud so vigorously rebuilding a willow bonsai is not that hard. Just don't be surprised when parts of it die back is all... it's just something you have to live with when dealing with them.
I figure that my willows will be good practice plants while I am trying to figure out what I want to do with my other plants, just because they will most likely bounce back from stuff that I do to them. But thank you for warning me about possible die back :).
Also... another good tip... save the water from the rooting of the willow branch and use the water on trees which have been transplanted, and you'll get a higher rate of success on transplants. The same properties (asprin is derivied from it as well) which allow willows to throw roots when put into a water bucket, help other species put on more vigours roots... and works well even for trees which are weakened in general (since general weakness in a tree is often root related). This was a common practice prior to rooting hormones.

If you don't plan on doing a large branch, you can even just harvest small branches from the tree to create the willow water, just put the small branches in a bucket of water for a few weeks. So if you time it before you plan on transplanting/repotting trees... you can get a great additive and a potential bonsai or rooted cuttings.
I have heard of using the water after rooting willows. I just never put forth the effort to create some :oops:.
I could easily get the small, whip like branches sometime in late spring or summer. Those I can reach, and they overhang on my grandma's property. Would those work for the water?

Victrinia Ridgeway
Senior Member
Posts: 264
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2009 11:46 am
Location: Bremerton, WA

Hehehehe.... cozy up to the neighbors girl... :lol:

whips are fine... just get as many as you can. :)

Marsman
Green Thumb
Posts: 650
Joined: Wed Oct 28, 2009 9:19 am
Location: Coventry, CT

There is an ancient willow in the parking lot of my office. Guess who's going limb hunting this Spring? :wink:

Rosaelyn
Senior Member
Posts: 244
Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:40 am
Location: Brighton, Michigan

<Starts to keep a lookout for neighbors with willows...> :lol:

FLBonsai
Cool Member
Posts: 61
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2009 3:15 pm
Location: Florida

arborrelli,

An easy way to tell if your tree has suffered irrecoverable frost damage is to gently pinch and rub the bark. If the bark easily slips away from the harder wood underneath cut this area off. Also I would highly suggest pruning any dead leaves and smaller twigs off before spring budding occurs.

I am excited to see how your willows turn out! I collected a wild one and am still waiting for it top bud :D

arborrelli
Full Member
Posts: 41
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 8:53 pm
Location: Western New York USDA Zone 6

I'll check, and do some light pruning when the snow melts. We got at least 3-4 inches on the ground now :(

Victrinia Ridgeway
Senior Member
Posts: 264
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2009 11:46 am
Location: Bremerton, WA

Actually Willow (unlike many species) blackens in places where the tree has died. Otherwise the bark (on young wood) will have a yellowish brown apprearance. From the photos it looks like there is still a lot of yellow on the trees. I would not be overly concerned. Even if parts of it are blackened it will sprout in areas where the bark is still yellowish brown.

Nothing wrong with a small scratch test though... but know that visually you'll know just by looking which parts are dead and which are not.

Have faith in one simple fact... all things being equal - the tree wants to live. Being in the ground is the best place for it, if it expires then there was some factor not accounted for, but being covered in snow (which is highly insulating and keeps the ground moist) is a saving grace... so for your part, you gave it the best enviornment you could.

The only thing I have not asked is when in the summer you pulled them? If it was too late in the summer, they might not have had a chance to put on enough roots before winter set in... Root growth is directly associated with leaf/branch growth. Which is why one should disturb roots at the time when leaf extension is about to happen, to promote recovery.

In anycase... if it does not make it... I'll send you a willow branch you can root out that would be better. I have family with willows, I could certainly snag you a bit of something. :wink:

And if you think a branch wouldn't make it through the mail, I once cut a ton of branches off a willow and put them in a burn pile... weeks after they were in it I found they were all growing new leaves.

Kindest regards,

Victrinia



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