How To Plant Willow Cuttings Arches, Hedges and Shelterbelts
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In this video we'll show you what we've done with willow in our gardens and how to plant willow cuttings. Willow is a powerful and versatile tree, especially the fast growing variety with large flowers producing abundant pollinator food in early Spring. You can create a hedge, a shelterbelt or even a living willow structure by simply sticking cuttings in the ground. Once they have taken root trees will be off to a quick start particularly when mulched. Shelterbelts can provide wind breaking, privacy, pollinator forage, firewood and materials. We like to plant willow arches to divide the garden into sections and to give it a 3 dimensional feel as well as to provide a trellis for climbing roses, berry kiwis and grapes.
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Martin, I've been googling willow "how to" videos and none covered my query. Then i found yours. Brilliant video, demo, descriptions and advise. 👍👍👍
Thanks so much for leaving your comment! Glad it helped!
great video ! i have planted loads of willow like this on my 4 acre horse track system, i also experimented and cut some willow that was 5cm diameter into 2ft long logs, i then put them in buckets of water and about 5 weeks later there was an amazing amount of root growth! i did this in spring as the leaves emerged, then once the roots were established i used my petrol post auger and made holes for each log cutting. (my soil in norfolk is heavy clay) i then used compost in each ole for each log then used the same method as you with cardboard and woodchip to mulch. that was done this year at the end of April, i now have a run of 200 meters 2 staggered rows of willow trees that have an immense amount of growth, i think each 5 cm dia log sent out an average of 5 new stems and most of those have also sent out offshoots! i planted like this to provide natural forage for my horses, nut it has also provided a windbreak and looks fantastic!
Thanks for your comment! Sorry didn't spot it sooner. Willow is great for forage, even for sheep and rabbits. I always found it easier to stick unrooted willow and poplar cuttings in the ground, if you root them in advance you'll dig a hole and be careful not to brake off too many of the roots. It's my dream to have a forest garden and willow will be a major component. :D
Excellent video. Thanks so much for the info. Alberta Canada
I dipped them in the water first last year october to let them shoot roots and put them in the groudn yesterday🙂
Very interesting and educational. Thanks
Very enjoyable video 10:40 and I will plant slips already taken with cardboard and wood chips on top and do the same with shrubs also. Thank you.❤
Thanks very much for your comment! :D
Thanks for the video. I was interested in seeing how to create the arches. Maybe another video?
I will make some more specific willow videos once i go full time on the garden in the coming weeks. To make an arch we use 8 ft / 2.4m long willow and simply stick them in the ground and intertwine them on top. I would recommend watering them during extreme hot spells in the first summer.
Great video! Well done. From Saskatchewan, CANADA
Thanks for the advice! Trying to grow some willows because I love them. No idea where I will put them though!
We're always out of room too lol.
Wow it almost looks like bamboo in that arch
It takes 5 days to grow some little roots in cuttings of white willow. Even in july they grow roots. Amazing tree.
They are quick! :D
Amazed at the Willow growth, I'm definitely going to sow a shelter belt this year!
Great investment for life!
Great Work
Thanks!
Cardboard - how have I not come across that idea before? We've been trying to grow willow along the river bank at our cricket club in very adverse conditions (Himalayan balsam will outgrow anything, and the nettles and creepers aren't far behind. And that's before the deer start feasting on the new growth), so out of the 800 or so we've planted, we only have about 30 that have made it to viable growth. I've just planted another 100 this week, but still have 100 to do next week - and I have cardboard so...
Thank you :)
Very helpful video, can you do a follow up video to show how all your plants did.
Thanks! Will do
Beautiful work!! I noticed your arche is very close to the house. I'm wanting to make a living structure but every where says to.plant at least 30 feet from building?
This was good and informative very professional content. Thank You From Atlanta GA!
I have old willows growing alongside the creek that borders my property. A friend told me years go how easy they are to propagate bit for some reason never got to it? I just told my daughter yesterday that I was finally going to go out and get some cuttings. Just came across your video and it gave the extra incentive to get up and go to it! Great tutorial. Now I only wish I had better set of pruning shears like yours! What was the brand name again? Hopefully I can find some at least similar here!
That's nice! Thanks for watching. It's a Felco No. 8, it's expensive at 65 euro/dollars but an investment for life and easy to sharpen. Quality swiss steel. You could also start off with any branded secateurs for around 30 euro. Just bother with the super cheap ones. Any variety of willow will just grow if you stick cuttings in the ground. Good luck from Ireland!
Great vid thanks. We’re going to do this at our community garden.
Thanks! Great to hear. Once you have the willows and poplars you can always multiply them year after year.
Really good guy here, thanks for your expert advice made simple but logical
Thanks for watching! Glad it helped.
Very interesting, just recently found out the application for livestock health so I'm looking to plant some in fields for the sheep, thanks a lot!
Willows leaves and bark are great delicious fodder for sheep and rabbits. Not sure about cows, but i'm sure they would eat it because they eat about 30k different plants around the world. :D
Goat willow is best for pollinators, also willow supports many other animals apart from pollinators via bark sap and the leaves... Pretty much on a par with Oak trees
Wow, i never knew willows were anywhere near as powerful as Oak. I remember Bill Mollison once saying that the Oak has been identified to have more than 500 connections with it's environment that we know of.
Great video Martin like yourself I planted trees just over three years ago, I know this sounds a lot but I planted the sides and rear of the property which sits on 0.6 of an acre with 400 hawthorn, but the westerly side is slow to grow due to winds, to the front of the property I have planted hawthorn and willow as it also has a ditch along the boarder, I need to go and plant more willow this year in the front section. the willow like yours seems to be biomass type and not the red colour type.
Thanks! Hawthorn is great one for hedging as it's also medicinal and forage for the birds in the Winter. I'd mix in a few flowering shrubs such as buddleiah and especially elder for the flowers and the berries. We have red willows but they are sold out already for this Winter.
@@GardensforLife I need a 2-3 fingers my application would be I need a bow :).
This great thank you
Cracking video Martin, just what I was looking for cheers 👍
Thanks for watching! :D
Useful video. It's a tumbs up from me!
That was interesting! Thank you.
Thanks for leaving a comment :D
Ummm... Your way too cute ! Love the accent. Plus you coppice. I've subbed dearie.
Very helpful information. Thank you!
super thanks
If you dipped the cuttings into rooting powder would this help them root a bit quicker?
Sorry didn't get notified of your comment. With willows there's no need to use rooting hormone as they produce their own.
Great vid. Tubers and cuttings arrived today in Portugal, tks Maritn.
Thanks for letting us know! :D
Great video very Informative.
I love willow, but I´ve heard that the roots ¨seek¨ water and will invade your water lines and sewer lines. I enjoyed your video very much!!
Thanks! Yes willow can even grow up a gutter if you let wild willow grow in your old water tank. Ask me how i know :)
I have a Hazel tree on my new allotment, I trimmed it back a lot over winter as it was becoming very tall. I'd like to use the branches I cut to make arches to grow things up, esp food. Do I trim off the side shoots then put them in the ground then weave other branches around them to make them secure? Will they root if I put them into the ground? I'd prefer them not to root.
I've always heard that hazel is very difficult to root, however i would and will try rooting cuttings. Please let us know if it works! We only started growing cultivars of hazel last year. It's a slow start. :D
Great video
Thanks for watching and for the encouragement!
May I ask what varietal you recommend? I'm in Canada, zone 5. How far apart do you plant the cuttings for the sake of a hedgerow/wind break? Thank you!
Great content video you do put information across very well👍
Thanks a mill! :D
How much distance does this need to be from septic, underground pipes, the house, and pavement?
I believe i have just emailed you back. For everyone else here's my answer: We have not found them to be invasive at all in the 25 years that we've been growing them on many properties. We planted a 1 meter wide mixed hedge consisting mainly of willow (the fast growing kind) some of which is right up again a neighboring wall without issues nearly 6 years later and the trees have grown prolifically. This is in our front garden. Now this is no guarantee, but in your context I wouldn't think you'll ever any issues with the roots damaging the concrete, they'll simply grow around it and soak up excess nutrients and turn it into wood and pollinator forage.
There was no detail instruction on the on growing and tying in etc. Like how to make the arch.
Very good vid besides. Thanks
Indeed and thank you, i will make a dedicated video on this. In the meantime here's another willow arch video that will give you a fair idea. th-cam.com/video/8itsr6nadAE/w-d-xo.html
@@GardensforLife ah your very good. Thanks for that, subscriber for life now for sure 👌☀️☘️
I am trying to grow willows from branches, but all of them die when I plant them in potting soil. They develop a brown color on the leaves and it spreads around the plant. What is wrong?
What species of willow do you grow? Do you know? Thank you for the video
Thanks for watching! It's a biomass variety (most likely Salix spp) that we helped plant on a friends land 8 years ago and we've been growing in every garden we've had ever since with great success.
Why do you have to wait till the plant is dormant to take a cutting from it? What would happen if you didn’t wait?
You don't have to wait, you could simply brush most of the leaves off during the growing season and it would be a semi-hardwood cutting. Taking cuttings during the winter is more efficient though and less work.
Complements 👍
Can someone tell me if their roots are invasive.
We've never seen our willows root sucker.
@@GardensforLife Thank you so much!
Would you grow a shallow rooted vine up your shelterbelt willows like apios americana or runner beans hops etc. I had planned to use hedges to grow food on as a trellis but haven't tried it yet
Yes we do mashua and it works quite well. Apios far more productive indoors. Climbing beans are a great idea! Will try.
Hello there Martin, I'm looking into this to supplement some fuel for the stove. How do you grow and coppice your plants so they grow those thick stems? A lot of other videos on willow biomass shows very thin branches after coppicing
I'm not sure to be honest, you could a central leader but it's too much management. Coppiced trees are mainly stick wood which is suitable either for kindling or rock mass heaters. We are looking to produce our own woochips and with that compost.
Willow Doesnt burn long and takes ages to dry out. If you want fast growing coppice try mountain ash. There's lots of slower growing options too. I've had field maple coppice well too,, but as regrowth from already established trees that I cut down. if the stems are too thin try cutting the thinnest out to focus on maybe four stems.
Will this not work after leaves come on ?
It's the best time of year as the sap will have risen and the cambium layer is most active early in the season.
Why do you cut the top length of them off? Thanks.
What do you mean by top length?
@@GardensforLife Thanks. You cut the tops off flat, and the bottom at an angle. On the tree, the top would naturally taper all of the way to a point at the end of the branch. I wondered if that was because trying to keep alive the whole branch would be too much work for just a short length of it with no roots?
@@jonahwhale9047 Willow is very easy to root, you could even stick 10ft (3m) lengths into the ground, but in our experience these sometimes dry up from halfway up during a drought. Shorter is better.
@@GardensforLife That was my guess, i.e. that without the main trunk, it wouldn't have the energy to pump enough water to the tips. I don't know the mechanics of how plants/trees "pump" water (or is it suction from the leaves?) but I once had to cut one of a semi-mature, birch tree's root, & it was amazing how much water came out. It was like cutting a domestic water pipe. Made me think that their whole system is pressurized or at least contain under a good deal of pressure.
I have a load of cuttings that are already budding along their length due to the unusually warm weather.
Does the field have to be particularly wet, or can you plant willow in a field that is a bit more on the dry side?
Willow will grow fine in any condition, except for a desert maybe. However it's one of the few plants / trees that thrives in very wet soils, even standing water. I believe alder and poplar also do well. I like to compare willows to mangroves of the swampland. :D
@@GardensforLife thank you!
Are these hybrid willows the same as what some people call austree willows? Also, if so would they be adequate for bentwood furniture?
Thanks
In theory yes, but i have not heard of anyone making bentwood furniture with it though.
@@GardensforLife thanks
How big and wide do these grow? Can you trim them back if they are too wide for my area?
Sorry didn't see you comment here until now. Willow grow into medium sized tree or large shrub about 7 meter in height and 5 meters wide. You can always trim them back.
@@GardensforLife Thank you so much!
How do I know what to ask for at the nursery... is it called "hybrid willow" or is there another name for it?
There's a 1000 varieties of willow, it depends on what they've got. Generally hybrids grow much faster than heirloom.
@@GardensforLife Thanks! What type of willow best for a natural privacy fence that is dense with leaves, and can be pruned to be tall, narrow, and straight?
Great vid. I live in northern Ireland - do you grow hybrid popular trees and if so how do you find them in our climate. I struggling to enclose a open windy site and will use willow cuttings I have but want to mix it with more substantial quick growing trees such as the poplar. Thanks
i see your post is a year old, but there is a nursery called beech grove nursery. newtownabbey belfast, i bought 50 bare root lombardy poplars from them 3 yrs ago they arrived and were only about 15 inches tall and looked like they wouldnt stand a chance, but absolutely every single one of them survived and flourished, they are now about 4 meters tall ! and have made a wonderfull avenue of trees with a row of native hedge also planted bare root at the same time about half a meter from them, i planted each poplar about 3 meters apart.
Can I stop/slow the growing hight by cutting off the top ?
Yes, any time. It doesn't do them any harm, they'll bush out.
@@GardensforLife Thanks that what I want not real tall (5 ft +/- ) and brushy .
when i plant the sticks, do i have to water it every day? i want to cover an area of 250 ft, in a line..so that will be a lot to water everyday
Need to water them at all, unless you live in a very hot climate and you have 1+ month long drought, also only during establishment in the first few months after planting. In ireland we've never had to water ours.
@@GardensforLife Question..my fence is 5 inches away from the property line, how far away from the fence should i plant the willows..i just dont want it, that when the willows grow, the branches cross the property line..so how far away from the fence, is it safe?
@@newpass9434211 you can take a trunk about fist diameter and bury it shallowly, horizontally if you are worried it might dry out this will leave you a good water reserve. My trunks i lay over summer on a pallet in the open sunshine sprout for months.
What time of year / month would you advise to plant the cuttings please?
In winter when tree are dormant and the leaves are off.
Can some please tell me the exact name of the species?
This will work with any type of willow. In this willow it's biomass willow, salix spp.
Amazing stuff. Did your shelter belt grow that high in 3 years from cuttings? We have some willow in the Hebrides in Scotland and they've been a bit slow to grow - certainly not as fast as yours!
Most of the shelterbelt is now 4 years old and the grass around it was only mulched 1 year ago. They would've grown much faster if we had mulched them from the start, but the nutrient rich run off from the lasagne garden right next to it helped it catch up! :D