Weeping willow

Nightshade76 wrote:jonkatzmail

I wonder if it was just at type of weeping willow, or all in general. I suppose I will find out eventually!

Yeah, it was a kind of Weeping Willow, same species but a kind they found with circular-curled leaves. The twigs look like they are chains of giant green Cheerios or something.

I decided yesterday to find a wild willow tree and break off a branch to try to root it. I found a small tree knocked over next to a pond in a park that isn't a weeping willow but I'm not sure what kind of willow is native to Indiana... Anyway, I broke off the end of a branch that was already broken a little at the end and took it home and stuck it in container with some water in it so the bottom end at least is in water. I thought it would probably be all wilted today when I got up but it seemed to be about the same as yesterday. The branch is probably half an inch wide or so on the end in the water and branches out to twigs and is about 2.5 to 3 feet long. Instant bonsai if it grows! Well, okay, it doesn't look like a tree yet, but it will have branches already so that will be something anyway....

jonkatzmail

Good luck with your new willow! Insta-bonsai just add roots. hah. That is terrific though, keep us posted!

Hey Guys the article is in Bonsai Focus #113 1-2008 January-February.
Here is the final pic from the procreational article. It is a must read for anyone doing Willow.


I have been mucking around with Willow Bonsai since I started doing bonsai about 6 years ago. I watched others give up on them and finally to my despair so did I. But after reading this article I decided to give them another go. Found a ripper cutting but as I said I nearly killed it last year by doing away with the gravity fed system that kept clogging up on me and had it sitting in over fertilised stagnant water pot
After an emergency repot in Autumn it came back but I lost most of the top over Winter. It is close to going in the bin but maybe there is a cascade there.
I plan on searching out a new cutting this spring to go again.
You can see this last attempt here
http://www.ausbonsai.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=129&t=3453&p=37582&hilit=weeping+willow#p37582
It also shows the type of gravity fed system I used with a poly pipe and small soaker hose. It was the small soaker hose that kept clogging so I plan on trying multiple drippers or the like instead. Basically anything that will slowly feed water into the top of the soil. The idea is that roots will grow strong at the surface instead of out the bottom of the drain hole as when the pot is sat in a tray of water.
The great thing with Weeping willow is you can make a cutting of virtually any size.
Here is a couple I did years ago.



Basically the idea is that if you keep the willow happy with lots of water and lots of nutrients then it will not go into it's survival mode of dropping twigs and branches. It is not an easy subject but as the article shows if you work it out you can get some amazing results pretty quickly.

Thank you for posting those pictures Brett! That styled one is beautiful! I would only hope to get something remotely that amazing!! The second photo, and link, I have to say when I took my cutting it was a small branch. That puts mine to shame by sheer size! I would think my "trunk" is about the thickness of my index finger hah. (size 9 ring maybe) Yours looks very healthy though! Will start feeding once Spring has sprung in the hopes that the trunk will get a bit thicker! Thank you again!