Curly Willow 2.5 year progression from hard chop to detail wiring

[Mikecheck123]

They grow so fast thought lol. What's a year in the long game?

Speaking of, how do these heal? From my brief encounter with Salix Discolor, wood rots a bit in one season. But wounds rolled over pretty fast too. Wonder if Salix Babylonica is similar/

You convinced me to saw off that gigantic branch on the top left.

And my 7-year old apprentice mossed it up tonight.

 

[Mikecheck123]

Full wiring and defoliation. See you in six weeks or so.

 

[Mikecheck123]

From today:

 

[Mikecheck123]

Setup:

 

[Mikecheck123]

Showing the leaf reduction compared to a normal curly willow leaf.

 

[Mikecheck123]

All my other curly willows dropped their leaves weeks ago. But not this one, I guess due to the late defoliation (on July 31)? It's been getting down to the mid 20s, but these leaves aren't even yellow yet. Waiting to see what kind of dieback there is this winter. The new branches are somewhat lignified, so I'm hoping for none.

 

[Mikecheck123]

Winter silhouette.

 

[JackHammer]

I have a weeping willow and it seems to weep more in direct light. Not sure why. I can tell it is a little stressed but it seems to give the desired effect. Has anyone else had the same experience?

 

[Mikecheck123]

I have a weeping willow and it seems to weep more in direct light. Not sure why. I can tell it is a little stressed but it seems to give the desired effect. Has anyone else had the same experience?

Start a new thread and post pictures and I'll take a look.

 

[BobbyLane]

Winter silhouette.

View attachment 472133

This is a Corkscrew willow in my allotment. been chopped a few times

 

[Mikecheck123]

This father's day I told my kids I love them but want to spend the morning on my first ever root grafting attempt.

The grass and weeds got way out of control.

 

[Mikecheck123]

One thing that has always bothered me is the unbalanced root base. One side looks ok:

 

[Mikecheck123]

But the other side does not.

 

[Mikecheck123]

I placed two rooted cuttings in grooves drilled into the trunk.

 

[Mikecheck123]

Looks better already!

 

[Mikecheck123]

I also sawed off the bottom half of the root ball, so the tree is also shorter, which is also an improvement.

 

[Mikecheck123]

I left both scions taller than the rest of the tree to encourage strong growth and thickening.

I'm reasonably confident that this will work because curly willows readily fuse naturally of branches are touching.

 

[Mikecheck123]

Some scion leaves were getting a bit crispy, so I slipped into another pond basket without holes for full root submersion. Problem solved.

 

[Mikecheck123]

Nice little accidental winter silhouette.

 

[Mikecheck123]

Looking nice in the snow storm.