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I went out and purchased a putty willow in a gallon pot. It's about 5 feet tall, with lots and lots of branches. It was love at first sight, but I watched it for 3 weeks at a local farm supply store, and finally broke down and bought it. It kept whispering to me.
I have read that you can simply put willow switches in the ground in wet areas, along creeks and ditches, etc. I imagine that'd work in this fairly wet climate.
They grow well at the edge of my parent's swamp in Michigan. so they like a cool climate, not sure about hot. To root them, they just cut off a piece dip it in rooting compound and then put in in a pot of gel until it gets root, sr they just stick a whole bunch in the ground after dipping them in rooting compound and a few of them evnetually grow.
Willows are one of the easiest to root trees around. My grandmother had my uncle from AZ ship her some switches of putty willows up here to WY. He just cut them off his tree, wrapped them in some wet paper towels about half way up the switches and then wrapped them plastic to keep the paper towels wet and the box dry. He shipped them priority mail so she got them in 2-3 days. She stuck them in a large jar with rain water. In a very short time she had all sorts of new little trees. She had so many she was giving them away.
She also had my step dad send her some switches of a Ball willow down from WA to WY. He sent them the same way. When she got them 3 years ago they were about 18"-2' long. Now she has couple of nice trees that are close to 6' tall now. She had more little trees than that, so again she was giving them away as well.
I have a large Weeping Willow that I started from a twig from a large Weeping willow that my aunt had in her back yard (has since been chopped down about 7 years ago). I placed it in a bucket of water and it grew long white roots. I planted it and now its about 40 ft tall. I also HAD a Black Willow that I rooted the same way, but the wind ended up blowing it over (uprooted) a couple of years ago and we had to cut it up.
Its my understanding that they will survive in zones down to 4 or 5 and in Florida and coastal southeast keep their leaves all winter. Up here, SOME will keep their leaves until December and grow then back in late February or early March.
Now I have a question, are there different species of your typical weeping willow? Some seem greener than others and some seem to keep their leaves longer, even in nearby areas... at least around here.
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Originally Posted by southward bound
What zones can they be grown in, and has anyone tried to root them? I understand it's not difficult but so far I haven't been successful.
Sheeesh...a perfectly good English word censored! Well, then let's call them putty willows (as in Tweety and the putty tat), shall we?
My husband has made a lot of willow furniture. He's been around this tree all his life and knows a bit about it.
If you want to make a rooting solution for other trees or shrubs that don't root so well on their own such as lilac, cut the new growth from a willow tree in the spring, about two cups worth for a gallon of water. Chop them up and let them sit in the water for 24 hours. Then place your cuttings into that water. I got lucky though and was able to get my lilac starts a couple weeks ago with plenty of root so that we will probably even see them bloom this year but I was prepared to do this.
Willow is suppose to be pretty easy to transplant. My mother said to cut the bottom and an angle and then stab it into the ground and water a lot for the first couple weeks. My husband read an article in a magazine that told him how to do it better. Slice into the bottom, criss crossing your cuts so that you have a bunch of wedges at the bottom. Then spread them slightly, stick it into a potato and then bury it.
Don't over water a new tree. Water a lot for the first couple weeks and then only when it looks like it needs it. You want the roots to dig deep vs spreading out to get a good hold. Instead, water a lot in the fall and mulch before it freezes. This will help keep them from being blown over in a wind storm.
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