Willow Tree - What to do?

[Zako51]

Good Afternoon Everyone - Attached are pictures of my weeping willow. Long story short, I planted two willow's at my old house. When we moved 3 years ago, I took some cuttings with the hope of planting them at my new house. There was not room for them so I planted them in a pot and one made it.

This monster...

I have been growing it in a pot for 3 years. The roots actually grew through the bottom of hole of the pot and I cut the main root about 6 months ago. At that same time, I also cut it back. I have all new growth for this year coming in.

Question? Where would I start if I wanted to turn this into a Bonsai? How would I get the leaves to be smaller? Or am I out of luck?

Thank you all for you help as I am just trying to figure out what to do next.

 

[Nanuk]

To me I don't see the leaf size as a problem.
You already have a pretty good trunk size.
Depending on what size tree you want it to end up as, I think the leaf size looks okay.

As to getting the leaves to reduce in size, I have no idea.

Have you had it out of that pot and checked the roots and nebari?

If you are satisfied with the trunk size it may be time to start working/training the roots.

But then again I'm just a noob at this, so you might should wait till someone more in the know chimes in.

It does look like a real nice candidate to me.

 

[atlarsenal]

I think you are out of luck but I’ll let other weigh in on it. I do like the rock in the pot. You should use that in ROR planting.

 

[Zako51]

To me I don't see the leaf size as a problem.
Have you had it out of that pot and checked the roots and nebari?

If you are satisfied with the trunk size it may be time to start working/training the roots.

It does look like a real nice candidate to me.

Thank you both, I was thinking of cutting these two off and just focusing on the one trunk line. As for the nebari, I have not taken a look. It was put in the pot as a seedling and I have not touched it.

 

[Forrestford]

I don’t think I would take off both of those front branches maybe take out the one closest to the camera. reveal some more of the truck to decide on the front and then figure out which to cut. I’m not sure how weaping willow back bud but be weary about cutting too much. That all said, nice tree!

 

[Zako51]

Good evening everyone, just following up to see if there is some more advice. I’m going to chop the front branch here shortly and reveal more of the trunk. It is growing real well right now and in the winter, when it goes dormant, I will repot and inspect the roots. At that time I will put it in a training pot or should I do that now?

 

[JoeH]

the pieces you chop off will root easy too. I just keep them in water and they do it.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I would remove those two slender branches right away. I think your trunk is large enough, so I would cut all the branches remaining to about 4 inches each, at least shorter than the distance between the roots and the first branch. Then on the same day I would repot to a smaller and more importantly, shallower pot, preferably 4 or so inches deep. Be brutal with shaping the root system. You want to create a shallow root system, less than 3 inches deep if possible. Because you were aggressive pruning the top, you can be brutal with the roots.

Pot it up, seal cut wounds above the soil line. Set in full sun, water heavily. Once growth starts, which might take 4 to 8 weeks, stand in a shallow tray of water if needed to keep it wet in Texas summer.

Willows need frequent repotting because of rapid growth. Every other year, to maybe every year. Keep working on shaping the nebari. Keep nebari buried until exhibit ready, you will get better, quicker development of nebari that way.

 

[Zako51]

I would remove those two slender branches right away. I think your trunk is large enough, so I would cut all the branches remaining to about 4 inches each, at least shorter than the distance between the roots and the first branch. Then on the same day I would repot to a smaller and more importantly, shallower pot, preferably 4 or so inches deep. Be brutal with shaping the root system. You want to create a shallow root system, less than 3 inches deep if possible. Because you were aggressive pruning the top, you can be brutal with the roots.

Pot it up, seal cut wounds above the soil line. Set in full sun, water heavily. Once growth starts, which might take 4 to 8 weeks, stand in a shallow tray of water if needed to keep it wet in Texas summer.

Willows need frequent repotting because of rapid growth. Every other year, to maybe every year. Keep working on shaping the nebari. Keep nebari buried until exhibit ready, you will get better, quicker development of nebari that way.

So are you suggesting I cut off the two I marked in the picture above, and then cut the rest of the branches I am keeping down to about 4”? Also, should I keep any leaves on some branches. When I cut the roots going into the ground about three weeks ago and then trimmed at the top the tree did not react at all and is still sprouting new shoots.

Then at the same time I hack the top, take it out of the pot, reveal the Nebari and cut the route mass down to about 4 inches?

I plan on building a grow box about 4 inches deep. And then moving it to that. Thank you all for your help

 

[Zako51]

So I took the first step and cut it back and put it in a grow box. I also cut away about 1/4 of the root mass. I am going to let it recover this year and then do a heavy prune again next spring. Thoughts?

 

[BubblePopScott]

Why did you leave the branches so long?

 

[BonsaiNaga13]

So I took the first step and cut it back and put it in a grow box. I also cut away about 1/4 of the root mass. I am going to let it recover this year and then do a heavy prune again next spring. Thoughts?

The branch crossing the trunk needs to be removed

 

[Zako51]

Why did you leave the branches so long?

My plan was to begin wiring in a couple weeks and start to give it that willow look. Should I go a lot shorter?

 

[Zako51]

Here are some updated pictures. Back budding had gone crazy. I was going to wait and let it recover before I take off that straight branch on the left. What do you guys think?

 

[BonsaiNaga13]

The tree looks pretty congested, a few of the trunks are overlapping. if you do remove it don't cut flush leave a stub and let the stub die back to the trunk. What's your style plan for this?

I would go a lot shorter on this and instead of wiring I'd find something to weigh down the branch tips so they weep like clothes pins or something. Willow shoots thicken so fast you'd waste a lot of wire and have a lot of scaring

 

[Zako51]

The tree looks pretty congested, a few of the trunks are overlapping. if you do remove it don't cut flush leave a stub and let the stub die back to the trunk. What's your style plan for this?

I would go a lot shorter on this and instead of wiring I'd find something to weigh down the branch tips so they weep like clothes pins or something. Willow shoots thicken so fast you'd waste a lot of wire and have a lot of scaring

The overlapping trunks on the left and the back are going to be removed. I took it down a lot from where it was, to where it is now. the root ball is only about 1/2 the size of the box. Will all of the pruning and trimming I did, I wanted to let it recover. It is recovering great and has back budded quite a bit. It eventually be about half of what it is right now, which I will do either in a couple months or next year.

 

[Mike Corazzi]

I kept a willow in a fish tub for years. Submerged to the rim of the pot. Grew like wildfire.
The pic is old but it eventually got big and did its "weeping" and covered a lot of the tub.