Wild willow air layering

[veles616]

Hello,
First of all excuse my english, I'm translating from my mind so some phrases might come out silly.

Since i was little i loved looking at bonsai trees and always wished to have one, sadly the first and only bonsai i ever had didn't survive cause my lack of knowledge and common sense as a child, it was a cheap ficus bonsai.
Well im 23 now and i have fallen in love again with this beautiful art form, and since i managed to purchase a nice piece of land in the middle of backwater country, there's a small forest or grove at the end of my field (mostly beech and elderberry trees) and i got a few oaks, walnuts and a big wild willow on my land. Now this big willow I've fallen in love with, and decided to make my first air layering out of a branch that has to be cut off, made one on the oak too.
Is there someone who has any knowledge to share about wild willows? From what i can see the roots are growing very fast, the oak isn't showing much progress.

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

Lot of people hate em. You rarely see them. I cut roots back once and they went black in favor of brand new roots. Gave up and haven't looked back.

I think an airlayer is the most effective way to have something enjoyable for whatever time it may allow.

Sorce

 

[veles616]

you are talking about willows or oaks?
i decided to airlayer cause i like big bonsai trees, i always thought that bonsai are indoor plants and now i feel stupid to even think that a tree could survive indoors, so if the tree will live on my porch why not go big is say.

 

[LittleDingus]

you are talking about willows or oaks?
i decided to airlayer cause i like big bonsai trees, i always thought that bonsai are indoor plants and now i feel stupid to even think that a tree could survive indoors, so if the tree will live on my porch why not go big is say.

Welcome!

I have a weeping and corkscrew willow both grown from 9" lengths of 1 1/2" thick branches. No leaves. Literal stick in a pot. They both grew roots and branches no problem. Air layer is even easier!

Oaks aren't known to air layer If you ever get one to work, I'd love to hear about it!

 

[veles616]

oh too bad about the oaks i didn't inform myself enough before doing it, so there is no way of getting a tick oak bonsai from branches?
I'll keep you updated about the willow, by the look of the leaves it looks like a salix caprea it has fairly strong branches so i hope it will behave.

 

[Tieball]

The willow should root well. My only experience though has been with whips that are 13mm to 20mm diameter. I just set them in a water container, like a bucket, and they root quickly. I’ve also cut live willow branches, cut them down to 50mm to 75mm, and soaked them several days in a bucket of water and used that for watering trees after tossing out the soaked willow branch stubs. Willows have a lot of root building power.

This is an interesting review of Willow water:

How to Make Home Made Plant Rooting Hormone – Willow Water

Weeping Willow (Salix babylonica) Willows are fast growing, deciduous trees that are mainly found in the Northern Hemisphere, in cold arctic and north temperate zones, in regions with moist soils. …

deepgreenpermaculture.com

I have not tried this but found it interesting within the Willow water review:
“One of the most amazing properties of willows is their growth! ... A broken willow branch left in water will grow roots. Willows successfully root from very thick pieces of stem, this method is known as taking “trunk cuttings”, and a stem as thick as a human thigh will take root if put into damp ground.“

 

[Woocash]

I keep meaning to try it but haven’t got round to it yet, but I’m pretty sure if you took a fresh sawn willow log and planted it in moist ground it would grow. They throw out shoots and roots like nobody’s business.

 

[LittleDingus]

I keep meaning to try it but haven’t got round to it yet, but I’m pretty sure if you took a fresh sawn willow log and planted it in moist ground it would grow. They throw out shoots and roots like nobody’s business.

I keep meaning to try and find a nice thick curvy brach and cut it in half lengthwise and try to create a raft from just the branch. I might have to try that next spring!

 

[AJL]

Oaks can be air layered but take time . willows are much easier to root but require lots of water to keep them alive in a bonsai pot and need continuous pruning to keep in shape, but are a good tree to learn and practice on . Every branch you cut can root if you plant it in the ground!

 

[Potawatomi13]

oh too bad about the oaks i didn't inform myself enough before doing it, so there is no way of getting a tick oak bonsai from branches?
I'll keep you updated about the willow, by the look of the leaves it looks like a salix caprea it has fairly strong branches so i hope it will behave.

Not necessarily impossible. At least one person on BN has layered Oak. How big remains to be seen.

 

[leatherback]

Take a chainsaw. Cut a 6 inch thick willow branch off. Put the bottom 4 inch in substrate and place the pot with substrate in water. Wait 2 hours. The willow has rooted.

Not completely joking either. Layering on a willow is not needed. 6inch cuttings root in water. I did it in a pot of substrate and after some 6 weeks i started reducing the water level in the bucket untill the pot was just sitting in a think layer.

 

[veles616]

The willow should root well. My only experience though has been with whips that are 13mm to 20mm diameter. I just set them in a water container, like a bucket, and they root quickly. I’ve also cut live willow branches, cut them down to 50mm to 75mm, and soaked them several days in a bucket of water and used that for watering trees after tossing out the soaked willow branch stubs. Willows have a lot of root building power.

This is an interesting review of Willow water:

How to Make Home Made Plant Rooting Hormone – Willow Water

Weeping Willow (Salix babylonica) Willows are fast growing, deciduous trees that are mainly found in the Northern Hemisphere, in cold arctic and north temperate zones, in regions with moist soils. …

deepgreenpermaculture.com

I have not tried this but found it interesting within the Willow water review:
“One of the most amazing properties of willows is their growth! ... A broken willow branch left in water will grow roots. Willows successfully root from very thick pieces of stem, this method is known as taking “trunk cuttings”, and a stem as thick as a human thigh will take root if put into damp ground.“

Yeah i see them evrywhere around water, but those are a thinner kind of whillow

 

[veles616]

Oaks can be air layered but take time . willows are much easier to root but require lots of water to keep them alive in a bonsai pot and need continuous pruning to keep in shape, but are a good tree to learn and practice on . Every branch you cut can root if you plant it in the ground!

I went to look at the oak i did and it looks like it's a small clump of roots so i hope it'll work, didn't add any root hormone soo might go and buy some today

 

[veles616]

Waw! Thank you for so many replies guys

 

[veles616]

Take a chainsaw. Cut a 6 inch thick willow branch off. Put the bottom 4 inch in substrate and place the pot with substrate in water. Wait 2 hours. The willow has rooted.

Not completely joking either. Layering on a willow is not needed. 6inch cuttings root in water. I did it in a pot of substrate and after some 6 weeks i started reducing the water level in the bucket untill the pot was just sitting in a think layer.

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Waw! That's amazing, do you think nebari would be possible?

 

[leatherback]

Waw! That's amazing, do you think nebari would be possible?

If you pot it properly after rooting and work the roots, yeah you will over time develop a nebari. For thick roots you will need to do a bit of topgrowing, of course.

 

[veles616]

If you pot it properly after rooting and work the roots, yeah you will over time develop a nebari. For thick roots you will need to do a bit of topgrowing, of course.

For topgrowing you mean to let it grow freely on top? sorry don't know all the words yet

 

[leatherback]

For topgrowing you mean to let it grow freely on top? sorry don't know all the words yet

Yeah, let the branches etc grow. That stimulates rootgrowth. Initially of course the roots are very thin. They need to stretch their legs a bit so they fatten up, creating a decent nebari.

 

[veles616]

Yeah, let the branches etc grow. That stimulates rootgrowth. Initially of course the roots are very thin. They need to stretch their legs a bit so they fatten up, creating a decent nebari.

Could i puti it in a fruit box and into the ground?
One of those pop plastic boxes for vegetables and fruits, with holes everywhere.

 

[leatherback]

WHy would you put it in a box if you put it in the ground?